Delta allometry: Growth laws for river deltas

Details Delta allometry: Growth laws for river deltas Delta allometry: Growth laws for river deltas

Nov 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010georl..3721403w&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 37, Issue 21, CiteID L21403

Physics

Geophysics

4

Hydrology: Geomorphology: Fluvial (1625), Oceanography: General: Coastal Processes, Nonlinear Geophysics: Scaling: Spatial And Temporal (1872, 1988, 3265, 3270, 4277, 7857), Nonlinear Geophysics: Fractals And Multifractals, Global Change: Sea Level Change (1222, 1225, 4556)

Scientific paper

Under projected scenarios of sea-level rise, subsidence, and sediment starvation many deltas around the world are expected to drown. Delta growth dynamics, which determine the ability of a delta to adapt to these changes, are poorly understood due to the difficulty of measuring change in slowly evolving landscapes. We use time-series imagery of experimental, numerical, and field-scale deltas to derive four laws that govern the growth of river-dominated deltas. Land area grows at a constant rate in the absence of relative sea level change, while wetted area keeps pace, maintaining a constant wetted fraction over the delta surface. Scaling of edge-lengths versus areas suggests delta shorelines are nonfractal, even though the channel network is fractal. Consequently channel-edge length, which provides critical habitat, grows more rapidly than delta area. These laws provide a blueprint for delta growth that will aid in delta restoration and help predict how existing deltas will evolve.

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