CHARACTERIZING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHANNEL-BELT PLANFORM PATTERNS AND DRAINAGE BASIN CHARACTERISTICS

Reconstructing past environments from fluvial deposits is difficult because only remnants of the original river channels are preserved, and they often account for a small portion of the overall fluvial stratigraphy. Previous studies have reconstructed hydraulic variables, such as flow width and depth, from sedimentary structures like bedforms to estimate paleo-river water discharge. However, such results have uncertainties that can range up to an order of magnitude due to compounded calculation steps. In addition, these reconstructions typically do not distinguish river patterns, i.e., single channel versus multichannel, and so do not provide a complete picture of the past fluvial environment. To address this problem, we mapped and analyzed channel-belt planform patterns, including width and wavelength, from 30 different river reaches globally across a range of scales via remote sensing. We then characterized the characteristics of the associated drainage basin, such as its perimeter, area, and length, as well as water discharge based on gaging stations. We find that channel-belt planform patterns, such as channel-belt width, are well correlated with water discharge and basin area. Observed relationships are best described via power-law functions. Channel-belts are one of the most accessible and ubiquitous sedimentary deposits in the solar system, thus the relationships developed herein have a wide range of applications to reconstruct paleoenvironments.