The Study of Vertical Channel Deformations Within the South of the European Center of Russia

Author(s):  M.A. Merkulova, Kursk State University, Kursk, Russia, marina.koltunova@mail.ru

Ya.V. Pavlyuk, candidate of Sciences, no, Belgorod National Research University, Belgorod, Russia

Issue:  Volume 42, № 2

Rubric:  Earth sciences

Annotation:  The article provides an assessment of vertical channel deformations (erosion of the bottom of the river bed or accumulation of sediments) of the rivers of the Don and Dnieper basins within the Kursk, Bryansk, Belgorod, Lipetsk, Tambov, Voronezh and Orel regions, and factors affecting these processes. For the analysis, 46 hydrological stations with a long duration of observations were selected. The direction and velocity of the vertical channel deformations were determined by analyzing the curves of the water level change at a fixed water flow rate. For each post, two fixed water flows were selected: the maximum water discharge before reaching the floodplain and the minimum water discharge equal to the average low water discharge. Further, water level curves were plotted for given water flow rates. The analysis made it possible to isolate sections of rivers with the downcutting of the bed, as well as areas with a predominance of sediment accumulation. The speed of these phenomena was also determined. The revealed tendencies of vertical channel deformations on individual sections were confirmed by constructing cross-section channel profiles from depth measurements made by the Department of Hydrology of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Central Black Earth Department for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring" when measuring the water discharge over a long period.

Keywords:  riverbed, water level, water flow, water content, vertical channel deformations, channel processes, accumulation of sediment, erosion, factors of channel formation, hydrotechnical structures.

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