Allen 1965

Sedimentology - Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands
A REVIEW OF THE ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT

ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS
I. R. L. ALL EN^
Sedimentology Research Laboratory, Department of Geology, University of Reading, Reading

(Great Britain)
(Received June 30, 1964)
SUMMARY
Recent alluvial sediments are reviewed with respect to their geometrical, textural,
structural and biological characteristics. These properties are related to the physio-
graphic occurrence and hydraulic geometry of streams and to the dynamics of
flowing water as controlling sediment transport-deposition and stream morphological
activities. Based on this data, three-dimensional facies models are presented as an
aid t o the identification of ancient alluvial sediments, which are briefly reviewed also.
INTRODUCTION
The sedimentologist’s chief task is to elucidate the history of the sedimentary rocks
which contribute to the earth’s lithosphere. Evidence must be sought concerning the
spatial and temporal distribution of erosion and deposition, and an attempt must
be made to infer the physiographic settings in which the rocks accumulated, that
is, to recognise modern depositional environments on all scales in the ancient strata.
Recognition of modern environments in ancient rocks necessitates two steps. The
first step is an analysis and integration of the attributes of the ancient rock to obtain
qualitative and, where possible, quantitative knowledge of the principal factors
which influenced deposition of the sediment. The second, involving detailed compa-
ritive studies and a careful consideration of processes, is the identification of an
equivalent modern physiographic unit where a similar balance of factors operates
today and has led to a deposit comparable to the ancient rock. The degree of com-
pleteness with which we can deduce the conditions of deposition of ancient strata is
in direct proportion to our knowledge ofrecent sediments and the factors determining
their attributes.
I Visiting: Department of Geology, Brown University, Providence, R.T. (U.S.A.)

Sedimentology, 5 (1 965) 89-191
92 J. R. L. ALLEN
Today streams can be observed playing vital geological roles. They are the
principal agencies whereby, and the main avenues through which, the products of
rock weathering are carried off the land to form new sedimentary formations. Some
proportion of the weathered product is deposited on the land by the activities of
streams, building up the land on interior floodplains, or extending it seaward as
coastal plains and the visible portions of deltas. This deposited fluvial material
constitutes alluvium.
There is every reason for believing that streams played the same important
roles in the past. It will be seen that very many writers have stressed the occurrence
of alluvium in ancient rocks. However, it will also be seen that many of these claims
rest on an uncertain basis because the interpretations were made without a proper
regard for studies of recent sediments.
The purpose of the present paper is to ease the task of future interpretation
by presenting a review from the geologist’s standpoint of existing knowledge of
alluvial sediments in relation to the circumstances, nature and behaviour of streams
today. SUNDBORG (1956) published a valuable review of a portion of this field, which
did much to stimulate amongst geologists an interest in the stream regimen. SHANTZER
(1951), BOTVINKINA et al. (1954), LOPATIN (1952), and SHAMOV (1959) have published
in Russian important studies of alluvial sediments and stream hydraulics which deserve
wide use in the west. Much more has since been learnt concerning streams and
stream deposits. Although the task of relating alluvial sediments to stream setting
and behaviour is far from complete, as is that of describing the gamut of alluvial
sediments, every effort should be made to use existing knowledge to the full. Our
success in the field of interpretation is also in direct proportion to our willingness
to apply data on recent sediments to the past.
PHYSIOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND
Drainage basin and drainage net
The drainage basin of a stream is the area enclosed by the divide separating the
system from adjacent independent systems (Fig. 1). The geometrical form of the drai-
nage basin is the result of the interaction of many complex factors, including the
lithology and structure of the bed rock, the relief and slope of the area when
the drainage was initiated, the climate, and the geological history. Most drainage
basins take a form in plan that is a more or less elongated, nearly symmetrical, pear-
o r tear-shape, with the narrow end at the stream outlet (e.g., HORTON, 1941). This
shape can be approximated by one petal of a lemniscate (CHORLEY et al., 1957),
and three-dimensionally can be modelled by the intersection of a lemniscate cylinder
with an inverted cone centered on the origin of the lemniscate (CHORLEY and MORLEY,
1959).
Apart from cases in which geological structure has proved of over-riding
Sedimentology, 5 (1965)89-191
ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS 93
0- 0-
0- 0-
Total 1 + Ad-f
Fig.1. Properties of stream nets and relationship of stream number, slope, length, drainage basin area
and discharge to stream order.
importance, little work has been done to determine the effect of other factors on
drainage basin plan. SCHUMM (1956) found that in badlands the elongation of basins
increased with basin relief, indicating that stream channels could become more closely
spaced as the slopes on which they were developed, increased in steepness.
A drainage net is the arrangement of streams within the drainage basin, and
drainage nets are of two different types (Fig.1). Where streams join to add their
discharges the net is of the contributive kind. Where a stream ends in a delta, a distri-
butive network is added below the contributive net. Streams of a distributive network
become increasingly smaller in the downstream direction, through repeated channel
division and dividing of discharge.
Geomorphological studies have so far been restricted largely to contributive
nets, which have been classified in several different ways. ZERNITZ(1932) grouped
drainage patterns into dendritic, rectangular, and radial, recognising the role played
by geological structure and history. Streams have also been classified according to
their stage of development in the theoretical cycle of erosion, such as youthful,
mature, and old (DAVIS,1889). DAVIS(1890) classified them again according to
origin on a land surface, such as antecedent, superimposed, and consequent. However,
the numerical classification of HORTON(1945) has proved more fruitful in analysing
landscape in relation to controlling factors (SCHEIDEGGER, 1965).
HORTON(1945) gave an order number to each of the streams in a drainage
Sedimentology,5 (1965) 89-191
94 J. R. L. ALLEN
net, beginning with the smallest unbranched fingertip tributaries which were desig-
nated as of order 1 (Fig.1). Tributary streams of the second order are those which
receive branches of the first order, while streams of the third order receive at least
one branch of second order and so on. Horton related several properties of the drai-
nage net to stream order, and formulated three ‘‘laws’’ o r correlations after the study
of many drainage basins. The law of stream number states that the number of streams
of different orders in a drainage basin tends closely to approximate an inverse geome-
tric series in which the first term is unity. The second law, of stream lengths, states
that the average lengths of the streams of each of the different orders in a drainage
basin tend closely to approximate a direct geometric series in which the first term is
the average length of streams of the first order. The law of stream slopes states that
the slopes of streams of different orders is related to stream order by an inverse
geometric series.
Although STRAHLER (1952) modified the method of determining stream order,
because of subjective features in HORTON’S (1945) technique, the general validity of
the above correlations has been confirmed by SCHUMM (1956), LEOPOLD and MILLER
(19561, CHORLEY (1957), HACK(1957) and BRUSH(1961). Two further morphometric
correlations were added by Schumm and Strahler to the three enunciated by
Horton. The fourth law, of drainage basin areas, states that the mean drainage
basin areas of streams of different orders tend closely to approximate a direct geometric
series in which the first term is the mean area of the 1st order basins. The fifth law,
of contributing areas, states that the drainage basin areas of streams of each order
and the total stream lengths contained within and supported by these areas is a direct
logarithmic function. Also, the discharge of a stream is a direct function of the area
of the drainage basin of the stream above the point at which discharge was measured
(WOLMAN,1955; LEOPOLD and MILLER, 1956; HACK,1957; BRUSH,1961).
Thus the major attributes of stream drainage basins and contributive drainage
nets show a delicate adjustment t o each other which can be expressed by the following
general relationships:
Om log N
om log I
om log s
OOC log A d
Adk
where Oequals stream order, N equals number of streams of a given order, I equals
stream length, s equals stream slope, A d equals drainage basin area, Q equals
discharge, and k is an exponent. These relationships are generalised in Fig.1.
Stream channel h-vdraulicgeometry
The geometrical characteristics of a stream channel reflect a state of quasi-equilibrium

Sedimentology, 5 (1965) 89-191
amongst the several factors which operate to mould the channel (LEOPOLDand
MADDOCK, 1953). Discharge and calibre and load of sediment are essentially indepen-
dent of the channel system, in that they are determined by the geology, climate, and
relief of the drainage basin. Channel slope can be adjusted by processes operating
entirely within the channel, and therefore is a dependent factor. Other factors,
neither wholly independent nor wholly dependent, are channel width and depth, flow
velocity, and bed roughness. The quantitative expression of the inter-relationship
of these factors for a particular stream is the hydraulic geometry of the channel.
Hydraulic geometry has an important bearing on the nature of sediments deposited
by streams.
The pattern of a stream is the appearance of a reach in plan (LEOPOLDand
WOLMAN,1957), and it has long been recognised, that the two commonest forms of
channel pattern are the braided and the meandering (Fig.2). LEOPOLDand WOLMAN
(1957) also noted that straight reaches occurred in streams, but were relatively uncom-
mon. They emphasised that a continuous gradation existed between one type of
channel pattern and another, so that a given stream could show more than one type
of pattern along its length. For example, RUSSELL (1954) noted that the River Meander
has straight and braided reaches as well as meandering ones, and further found that
particular reaches were meandering at high stage but appeared braided at low stage.
Sediment bar
Riffle
\
2
Sediment bar Sediment bar

Pool
C
Pool
Riffle or I I
crossing
Fig.2. Stream channel pattern. A: braided. B: straight. C: meandering.

96 J. R. L. ALLEN
SCHUMM (1963a) also recognised the continuum of channel patterns, proposing a

classification into five groups on the basis of degree of sinuosity (ratio of channel
length to valley length) of the channel: straight, transitional, and regular, irregular
and tortuous meanders.
Braided channels are those marked by successive divisions and rejoinings of
the flow around alluvial islands (Fig.2). The presence of only one alluvial island is
sufficient to make the channel braided, although most braided reaches show several
islands in a cross-section. Braiding is probably best developed on alluvial fans
(BLISSENBACH, 1954) and on glacial outwash plains such as the Icelandic sundur
(KRIGSTROM, 1962). Under these conditions many alluvial islands occur across the
width of flowing water.
Straight channels are those which have, at the bankfull stage, a negligible
sinuosity over a distance many times the channel width (Fig.2). Although relatively
infrequent compared to other channel types, straight channels have much in common
with meandering ones. LEOPOLDand WOLMAN (1957) showed that the talwegs of
straight channels are sinuous in plan, moving from near one bank t o near the other
between bars of sediment arranged alternately along the banks. The longitudinal
profiles of such streams therefore show an alternation of deep pools and shallow
riffles, the pools being opposite the sediment bars attached to the stream banks.
QURAISHY (1944) and BROOKS(1955) produced a similar arrangement of shoals on
sand beds in straight flumes. LEOPOLD and WOLMAN (1957) demonstrated that such
inflections in straight channels are analogous to meanders, twice the distance between
successive inflections in the straight channel being equivalent to the meander wave-
length.
Stream reaches called meandering show more or less regular inflections in the
directions of the channels (Fig.2). In the experience of L E ~ P O Land
D WOLMAN (1957),
reaches with a sinuosity of less than 1.5 would not be called meandering. Sinuosities
greater than 2.5 are seldom observed, and correspond to the tortuous meanders of
SCHUMM (1963a). Along meandering reaches, pools occur at the points of channel
inflection, whilst riffles (sometimes known as crossings) are found roughly halfway
between inflection points (Fig.2). FRIEDKIN (1945) made some classical experiments
on meandering streams in the laboratory, and LANE(1957) described the range in
form of meanders in natural streams.
Meandering streams appear very similar in plan, whether the reach is from a
small stream or a large one, and many workers have explored the geometrical pro-
perties of meanders (LEOPOLDand WOLMAN,1957, 1960). Meander length (wave-
length), amplitude, mean radius of curvature, channel width, and discharge as defined
in Fig.2 are related as follows:
L = 10.9~'.~' (6)
A = 2.7wl.l (7)
L = 4.7rmo.'' (8)
L = 36Q0.5 (9)
ORIGIN A N D CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS 97
where L equals meander length, w equals channel width, A equals meander amplitude,
rm equals mean radius of curvature of meander, and Q equals discharge. The expo-
nents in eq. 6-8 are so near to unity that the relations may be considered linear. Eq.
6 and 9 describe both meandering streams and the sinuous talwegs of straight streams.
Geomorphologists have tended to assert that a braided stream is an aggrading
one also, and whilst this is generally true of alluvial fan and sandur streams, it is
probably incorrect for many other braided streams. LEOPOLDand WOLMAN(1957),
stressing the variability of channel pattern in a single stream, showed that a braided
stream is not necessarily an aggrading one, and demonstrated that whether a
stream is meandering or braided depends largely on the relationship of channel
slope to discharge. As shown in Fig.3, braided reaches can be distinguished from
meandering ones by the expression:
s = 0.06Q-0.44 (10)
where s is the channel slope and Q the discharge. Thus, for a given discharge, there
is a certain slope at which a braided channel can change to a meandering one. Simi-
larly, there is a particular slope at which a small increase in discharge can cause a
change from meandering to braiding. SCHUMM (1963a) confirmed this relationship
by studies of other streams. LEOPOLD and WOLMAN(1957) noted that in a short
length of a stream showing both meanders and braids, the braided reach had coarser
sediment on the bed than the meandering reach showing the same discharge. A con-
nection between stream pattern and channel and bank material was later evaluated by
102 lo3 lo4 lo5 I06

BANKFULL DISCHARGE (CUSECS)
Fig.3. Slope-dischargecharateristics of natural straight, braided and meanderingchannels and a line

defining critical values which distinguish braided from meandering streams. (After LEOPOLD and
WOLMAN,1957, fig. 46.)
98 J . R. L. ALLEN
SCHUMM (1960, 1961, 1963a, b), who found that sinuosity increased as the mean
percent of siltxlay (< 0.074 mm) in the stream bed and banks rose. SCHUMM (1961)
further found a direct correlation between the width-depth ratio of a stream and the
coarseness of the bed and bank materials.
In considering the hydraulic geometry of stream channels, LEOPOLDand
MADDOCK (1953) stressed the importance of treating changes at a single place on a
stream channel (at-a-station), where discharge varies with time, from changes in the
downstream direction, when relationships can be explored for a constant discharge
frequency. Usually the mean annual discharge is taken.
Their work followed by that of WOLMAN (1955), LEOPOLD and MILLER (1956),
HACK(1957), BRUSH (1961), and WOLMAN and BRUSH(1961), showed that in stream
channels existing under a wide range of physiographic and climatic conditions the
factors of width, depth, velocity, stream slope, and load of suspended sediment both
at-a-station and in the downstream direction could be correlated with discharge as
follows:
U'oc p
doc Qb
vcc Qc
SOC QI
LP Q"
where M' equals stream channel width, d equals stream depth, v equals stream velocity,
s equals stream slope, L, equals suspended sediment load, and a, b, c, f and h are
exponents. Fig.4 is a diagramatic summary of these relationships, expressing the
average hydraulic geometry of stream channels.
STERNBERG (1875), measuring pebbles from the channel of the Rhine, was
amongst the first to demonstrate that the calibre of stream-bed materials declined
in the downstream direction. Similar observations were made on gravelly streams by
KRUMBEIN (1942), PLUMLEY (1948), BLISSENBACH (1952), HACK(1957), UNRUG (1957),
and BRUSH(1961). Downstream decline in particle size was found in sandy streams
by BURRI (1929), U.S. WATERWAYS EXPERIMENT STATION(1935), RUSSELLand
TAYLOR (1937), LEOPOLDand MILLER (1956). NEDECO (1959), and BOCARDl (1961).
In the typical case, particle size declines in the downstream direction together with
stream slope, according to the general expression:
M =Lhk (16)
where M is a measure of size, L h is the distance from the headwaters, and k is a
negative exponent. Exceptions to the downstream decline law were reported by HACK
(1957) and BRUSH(1961), who found that in certain streams particle size remained
steady or actually increased in the downstream sense.
Factors determining the size-distance relationship in streams are not yet clearly
understood, but the range can be narrowed between particle abrasion, as proposed
by STERNBERG (1875), and differential transport according to size, as reviewed by
- Change downstream
given frequency
for discharge of
---Change at gdging station for

discharges of different frequencies
Discharge +
and MADDOCK,1953, fig.19).

Fig.4. Hydraulic geometry of stream channels (after LEOPOLD
SCHEIDEGGER (1961). The balance of evidence favours differential transport as the

major factor, with abrasion playing a minor contributory role. The size-distance
relationship may therefore be viewed as resulting solely from processes operating
in the channel, to which other properties of the channel, such as slope, can adjust.
Drainage basin and net related to hydraulic geometry
Just as the factors defining drainage basin and net characteristics are delicately
adjusted and conservatively related within major physiographic provinces, so also
are those determining the properties of the stream channels supported by the drainage
nets. The physiographic and hydraulic factors can be related together (LEOPOLD and
100 J. R. L. ALLEN
MILLER,
1956), and since from eq. 4:
OX logAd
and from eq. 5:
Qm Adk
then it follows that the relation between stream order and width, depth, velocity,
slope, and suspended sediment load is of the general form:
OX log (w,d, v, s, Ls) (17)
where the symbols have their previous meanings.
LEOPOLDand LANGBEIN (1962) have attempted to develop models of natural
drainage basins and channel geometries by the use of the second law of thermody-
namics and random walk calculations. However, it seems doubtful if the assumptions
for the walk calculations are satisfied under real conditions, for natural drainage
basins are almost never homogeneous in lithology and geological structure, and the
effect of diastrophism and base-level change cannot be ignored. Furthermore, it would
seem that, in the application of the second law, there were differences from commonly
accepted practice.
DYNAMIC BACKGROUND
Flow of water in open channels
Intensive empirical and analytical studies have been made on the flow of water and
transport of sediment through open channels. The literature of this field is vast and
in a short space it is possible only to mention in a simple way the most important
principles of flow and transport. Detailed reviews pertinent to geological problems
are given by LELIAVSKY (1955), SUNDBORG (1956), PRANDTL and TIETJENS (1957a, b),
CHOW(1959), and SCHEIDEGGER (1961), who list the important authorities and
original papers.
A flow of water can be characterised by the manner in which the particles move.
It is laminar if the layers of fluid slide past each other without material lateral mixing,
so that the resistance to flow arises solely from viscous friction. The flow is turbulent,
and comparable to the gusty winds of common experience, if the particles move in
an eddying motion where there is intense lateral mixing, or secondary motion, across
the direction of primary translation. Resistance to flow is then due t o the natural
viscosity and and an “eddy” viscosity representing energy stored in the secondary
motions.
A laminar flow in an open channel becomes transformed into a turbulent one
when a certain critical flow velocity is reached given by the expression:
R=
inertia force
friction force
-
vrh
Pk
== Rcrit. - 500

where R is the Reynolds number, v the mean velocity of flow, r h the hydraulic radius
of the channel (area of cross-section divided by wetted perimeter), and ,uk is the
kinematic viscosity (natural viscosity divided by fluid density). A critical Reynolds
number of about 500 is generally accepted as marking the transition from laminar
to turbulent flow in rough open channels such as natural stream possess. Fig.5 shows
the laminar and turbulent flow regimes.
The Bernoulli equation embodying the specific energy concept leads to the fact
that for a given discharge through an open channel, there are two possible combina-
tions of depth and mean velocity at which the flow can occur. The faster, shallower
flow is termed shooting, rapid or supercritical, whilst the deeper, slower flow is descri-
bed as tranquil or subcritical. The critical depth for the transition from tranquil
to rapid flow is dependent on the flow rate only. Furthermore, the velocity at the
critical depth can be represented by the expression:
inertia force - V
F= - =1
gravity force d$
where F is the Froude number, v the mean velocity of the flow, d the depth of flow,
g the acceleration of gravity, and the expression v'gd is the velocity of a surface
gravity wave travelling over water of depth d. When F < 1 the flow is tranquil and
small surface waves can travel upstream. In rapid flows, for which F > 1, such waves
can be swept downstream. Fig.5 shows the boundary between the tranquil and rapid
flow regimes.
In a natural stream the transition from rapid to tranquil flow is often marked
by a hydraulic jump, a transverse roller-like eddy occurring where the flow increases
in depth and height. Hydraulic jumps are common at the toes of backwash flows on
Fig.5. Regimes of flow in a broad, open channel (after SUNDBORG,

1956, fig.1).
Sedimentology, 5 (1965) 89-1 91
102 I. R. L. ALLEN
wave-swept beaches, and frequently occur in streams where a reach widens or deepens.
Standing waves and regressive waves or antidunes may also be formed on the water
surface during rapid flow, and can be used in the field to identify this flow regime
(SIMONS and RICHARDSON, 1961).
The flow of water in an open channel is constant neither vertically nor horizon-
tally, for near the walls and floor the fluid is retarded by friction against the flow
boundary. Water in immediate contact with the boundary, assuming this to be fixed,
is stationary relative to the boundary. Away from the boundary the velocity increases
at first rapidly and then more gradually, until the velocity of water unhampered by
proximity to the boundary is attained. The zone of appreciable retardation of the
flow is termed the boundary layer (Fig.6). and flow in this layer may be either laminar
of turbulent or both depending on the speed of flow and the smoothness of the boun-
dary. In natural streams the boundary layer is largely turbulent and extends through
a considerable range of stream depth. SUNDBORG (1956) gives an equation for the
vertical distribution of flow velocity and PRANDTLand TIETJENS (1957b) discuss
equations for the thickness of the boundary layer.
Prandtl and his associates did much to establish the physical nature of tur-
bulence (PRANDTL and TIETJENS,1957a,b), and LEIGHLY (1934, R I C H A R D(1937)
~ ~ N and
KALINSKE (1940) have published studies that are of importance in geology. It was
shown that turbulence could result from the impression upon a laminar flow of oscil-
latory secondary motions (e.g., due to irregularities on the flow boundary), which
could die o u t or be developed depending on the frequency of the disturbance and
the regime of flow defined by the Reynolds number. Even when the boundary layer
is turbulent, however, there will be a thin layer of fluid in immediate contact with
the boundary in which the flow is laminar. This is the laminar sublayer of a turbulent
Free flow I
I -
. - - - - - - --- - 1000
V
W
\
v)
Turbulent boundary
layer
5
v
100
>
c
0
sw 10
>
sublayer
-
I
v 0.001 0.01 0.1 I 10 100 poo
VELOCITY GRAIN DIAMETER (MM)
A B
Fig.6. A. Vertical change in flow velocity in boundary layer developed under conditions of turbulent
flow. Laminar sublayer in contact with boundary. Turbulent boundary layer between laminar sublayer
and free flow. B. Fields of smooth, transitional and rough flow for material of 2.65 g/cm3 in water.
(After SUNDBORG, 1956, fig.13.)
ORlGlN A N D CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVlAL SEDIMENTS 103
A
Flow accelerated
Flow accelerated
Water surface
Flow retarded
/ \
B
Fig.7. Flow pattern and boundary layer separation associated with large scale ripples. A. Gross flow
pattern. B. Flow in boundary layer in immediate vicinity of ripple crest.
boundary layer (Fig.6), but it is present only when irregularities on the boundary lie
wholly within the layer. Such a flow is hydrodynamically smooth. When surface irregu-
larities such as sediment particles project through the sublayer, the coherence of the
latter is lost and the particles offer a form resistance to the passage of the flow. Such
a flow is rough and the resistance to flow is now greater than with a smooth boundary.
As shown in Fig.6 the boundary condition between rough and smooth flow is an
inverse function of flow velocity and grain size.
An important attribute of real fluids is the ability of a flow to separate from a
boundary on this changing in slope or direction. In Fig.7 the boundary flow is accele-
rated over the upstream side of the bottom obstruction (here a large scale ripple or
sand wave), so that the pressure falls downstream and the boundary layer is firmly
pressed against the back of the obstruction. Beyond the crest of the obstruction the
pressure increases with flow-line divergence and an adverse pressure gradient is
created which penetrates the boundary layer and produces a force opposing the motion
of the fluid. If the adverse pressure gradient is large enough, the slowly moving water
in the boundary layer can be brought to rest and its motion reversed. The boundary
layer then becomes separated from the flow boundary and on the lee side of the
obstruction an eddy is formed which, because of its unstable nature, absorbs energy
from the flow. The obstruction therefore presents a form resistance to the flow, and
the zone of eddying is divided from the live flow by a thin layer of high velocity
gradient which is a separated boundary layer. Depending on the bottom configuration
and the character of the flow, such a separated boundary layer may break up into free
Sedimenrology,5 (1965) 89-191
104 J. R. L. ALLEN
vortices and be absorbed and smoothed out by the general flow, or as a jet the live flow
may rejoin the boundary some distance downstream of the obstruction.
Since in natural streams obstructions abound in the form of stones, bed ripples,
projections from the banks, and changes in bank direction, the general turbulence
of a flow is subject to local increase due to secondary turbulence arising from flow
separation on a variety of scales. Bed ripples are associated with eddies having quasi-
horizontal axes, and bank projections or changes in direction give rise to eddies with
quasi-vertical axes. MATTHES(1947) included all of these in a valuable qualitative
study of stream turbulence. KALJNSKE (1943) and Velikanov (in: SCHEIDEGGER,
1961) have measured the “intensity of turbulence” in natural streams. It was found
that the turbulence increased from the top to the bottom of the channel, presumably
because it is near the bottom that most of the secondary turbulence is generated by
obstructions. Velocity departures of up to 50% of the average flow velocity were
observed by KALINSKE (1943). As will be seen, turbulence is important in the transport
of suspended sediment load.
For practical purposes the flow in natural streams may be taken as always
turbulent (Fig.5). The amount of flow at a particular cross-section varies through
the year, and this can be represented either by a flow-duration, a discharge-frequency,
or a stage-discharge curve (LEOPOLD and MADDOCK,1953). In stage-discharge curves
there is often a poor correlation between gage height and discharge (COLBY,1960;
DAWDY, 1961), although it was seen from eq. 12 and 13 that depth and velocity were
functions of discharge at-a-station. From Fig.5 it is clear that, as the velocity of a
stream increases, the flow regime may change from tranquil to rapid, provided depth
remains constant or does not increase too steeply. These changes in regime have been
demonstrated by COLBY(1960), DAWDY (1961), and BECKMANN and FURNESS (1962),
who showed that they accounted for the poor correlation in many stage-discharge
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.01
0.008
2 4 8
0.006
0.6 0.8 I 2 4 6 810 VELOCITY ( FT./SEC )
MEAN V E L O C I T Y (FT./SEC)
Fig.8. Depth-discharge relations in open channels as determined by flow regime. A. Variation of

velocity with d ( R h s ) , 0.45 mm sand in laboratory flume. (After DAWDY,
1961,fig.2.) B. Relation of
velocity to hydraulic radius for Rio Grande near Bernalillo, New Mexico. (After DAWDY, 1961,
fig.9).
relationships. Mean depth or hydraulic radius was plotted against discharge or mean
velocity to demonstrate a significant break in the curves in the region where rapid
flow took over from tranquil flow (Fig.8). It is evident from the voluminous data
given by DAWDY (1961) that rapid flow is a common regime in natural streams, in
some exceeding the incidence of tranquil flow.
Several empirical and analytical formulae have been developed to describe
the flow of water in open channels, the empirical ones being of the form:
v = kdasb (20)
where v is the mean flow velocity, k a coefficient of roughness, d equals the mean
depth (approximately equal to the hydraulic radius for large streams), s equals the bed
slope, and a and b are numerical constants. The well-known Manning and De Chezy
equations are of this form. Whilst such equations are in general valid for flumes with
static beds, they do not accurately describe either flow in flumes or natural channels
with movable beds, where roughness is a function of the bed material and the flow.
Fluid forces acting on sediment particles
A particle settling through water experiences a gravitational force proportional to

its mass and a resistance force from the water due either to viscous or turbulent drag.
In the case of viscous drag and a spherical particle, the final steady settling velocity
is given by Stokes’ law in the general form:
vs oc r2 (21)
where vs equals the settling velocity and r the particle radius. Since natural particles
are non-spherical a shape factor must be introduced into the precise expression of
Stokes’ law. With turbulent drag, beginning at a critical Reynolds number of about
0.2 for quartz grains in water of ordinary temperature, the settling velocity is given
by the expression:
Vs =dF (22)
Thus particle settling velocity is a direct function of size but at some critical size,
depending on the particle characteristics and the properties of the fluid, the nature of
the relationship alters.
A non-cohesive particle resting on the stream bed experiences a drag force pro-
portional to the square of the average velocity of the flow streaming immediately
past it. The particle will move, but not necessarily leave the bed, if the drag force is
just large enough to overcome the frictional resistance between the particle and the
bed. The critical flow velocity required to initiate movement can be written, according
to this simple theory, as:
v&. = kjcdr (23)
where vcrit. is the critical erosion velocity, k a numerical value depending on the water
density, f the coefficient of friction of the particle and bed, c d a drag coefficient
106 5. R. L. ALLEN
depending on the particle size and the Reynolds number, and r the particle radius.
The critical erosion velocity can also be treated in a more sophisticated manner, in
terms of a critical boundary drag and a statistical distribution of associated particles
which are not moved. According to the simple theory, however, the critical erosion
velocity is a direct function of particle size, for all particle sizes.
In theory particles on the stream bed can experience a hydrodynamic lifting
force. Whilst this force is of little consequence for the initial movement of a particle,
it may afterwards lift the grain from the bed sufficiently to be affected by turbulence
in the flow.
Many experiments have been made to measure critical erosion velocities, parti-
cularly for sand- and gravel-size materials (HJULSTROM, 1935; LELIAVSKY,
1955).
Experiments in this size range have confirmed that critical erosion velocity is a direct
function of particle size. Experiments using silt- and clay-grade particles, however,
gave velocities that were much greater than expectation and often higher than veloci-
ties obtained using sands. This can be explained, SUNDBORG(1956) emphasises, if
cohesive as well as frictional forces are considered to oppose the water flow, since
natural sediments of clay- and silt-grades generally contain clay minerals. As the
critical erosion velocity curve is important for sediment transport and deposition,
there is a pressing need for more experimental study of fine grained sediments, parti-
cularly non-cohesive particles such as crushed quartz.
It has also been observed that a particle once set in motion is brought to rest at
a lower velocity than the critical erosion velocity for the same particle. This lower
velocity is the deposition velocity, which is about two-thirds of the critical erosion
velocity (MENARD,1950).
Transport and depositionrof sediment
The manner and nature of sediment transport in a stream is of extreme importance

to the composition and structure of alluvial sediments. Hydraulic engineers have long
been agreed that in natural streams carrying a wide range of particle sizes, the
coarser particles are transported on or near the bed, whilst the finer ones are carried
in suspension in the flow.
Particles move over the bed mainly by rolling and to a lesser extent by sliding,
and this material forms the contact load, for the grains are in substantially continuous
contact with the stream bed. As seen in flumes, the contact load generally appears
as a thin layer of moving particles several particle diameters thick and with a diffuse
upper boundary. This layer has sometimes been referred to as the “traction carpet”.
Particles moving close to the bed by bouncing along it, or jerked momentarily from
the bed by the impact of bouncing grains, maintain an intermittent contact with the
bed. The saltation load so formed is relatively unimportant in aqueous transport.
The contact and saltation loads together make the stream bed load. The bed load
becomes deposited once the flow velocity near the bed falls below the deposition
velocity of the grains in the load.
The suspended load consists of grains in suspension because small enough

to be buoyed up by the vertical movements of fluid within turbulence elements
present in the flow. Suspended particles are essentially free of contact with the bed.
Whereas the bed load is confined to the immediate vicinity of the channel floor, the
suspended load is distributed throughout the entire stream cross-section. The suspended
load is deposited once the settling velocities for the particles exceed the vertical
turbulence velocity components.
In the absence of satisfactory methods of measuring bed load, many analytical
and empirical bed load formulae have been developed, and are reviewed by SCHEI-
DEGGER (1961). Formulae developed from drag theory seem to oversimplify the pro-
blem. H. A. Einstein produced a bed load function based on statistical considerations
involving turbulence (EINSTEIN and BARBAROSSA, 1952). The popular Peter-Meyer
formula is empiricial. No bed Ioad equation has yet proved entirely satisfactory
under natural conditions. The analytical and experimental study of bed load transport
is complicated by the fact that the bed is deformable and therefore able to present a
variable form resistance which can alter the properties of the flow.
The nature of turbulent flow is critical to sediment transport in suspension.
Because vortices develop, die out, and reform, and since individual parcels of fluid
have a random secondary motion superimposed on the primary translation, a turbu-
lent flow can be visualised as one in which a single liquid particle can vary its position
freely over the entire stream cross-section. Sediment particles present in the flow can
also be diffused through the flow, to an extent depending on their size in relation
to the intensity of turbulence and speed of the flow, and this is the basic principle of
modern theories of suspension transport (e.g., RICHARDSON, 1937; ROUSE, 1937;
SUNDBORG, 1956). Rouse gives the following equation to express the relative concen-
tration of suspended sediment in a vertical section:
where C, is the concentration in parts per million of a sediment of a particular grain

size at a distance y from the bed, C, equals the concentration in parts per million of
the grain size at a reference level a above the bed, d is the depth and z an exponent.
From this equation it follows that the relative concentration of a given grain size
decreases upward from the bed, and that the rate of change of concentration varies
directly with grain size. As illustrated in Fig.9, many empirical studies have confirmed
this as a general finding (CHRISTIANSEN, 1935; ANDERSON, 1942; VANONI,1946:
HOWARD,1947; SHAMOV, 1959; NORDIN,1963; NORDIN and DEMPSTER, 1963).
Departures from the analytical model seem to result mainly from the effect of sediment
concentration on fall velocity.
HJULSTROM (1935) was the first to combine the critical erosion velocity and the
settling velocity of sediment particles into a single diagram showing fields where
erosion, transport, and deposition occurred. SUNDBORG (1956), following his own and
INMAN’S(1949) analytical work, modified this diagram to include the concentration
108 J. R. L. ALLEN
VELOCiTY (FT/SEC)
I 2 3 4 5
10
#I
. .
0.1 t # # *
10 100 poo 10,000

SEDIMENT CONCENTRATION (RPM.)
Fig.9.Vertical change in stream flow velocity and concentrationof suspended sediment, Rio Grande,
near Bernalillo, New Mexico. (After NORDIN and DEMPSTER, 1963, table 11, Section A2sampled
June 6,1953.)
of suspended sediment, and a slightly amplified form of Sundborg’s curve is shown in

Fig.10. For quartz particles, a diameter of approximately 0.2 mm divides sediment
that is carried and laid down mainly as bed load from sediment transported and
deposited chiefly from suspension. The curve is not valid for high sediment concen-
trations.
MORPHOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF STREAMS
Bed forms
A stream bed offers resistance to flow which is a function partly of the bed material
and partly of the nature of the flow. EINSTEIN and BARBAROSSA (1952) divided the
total resistance to flow between two components. One is the form resistance of indivi-
dual particles on the bed, and the other a shape resistance due to bed forms into which
the particles become moulded by the flow. Bed roughness forms, arising by interaction
between the bed material and flow, reflect the deformable nature of a stream bed
formed of non-cohesive debris. These forms participate in the transport and deposition
of the stream bed load and evidence of them can be preserved in the stream deposits.
In careful experiments expanding GILBERT’S (1914) early work, SIMONS and
RICHARDSON (1961) and SIMONS et al. (1961) demonstrated that the sequence of bed
forms with increasing intensity of flow was (Fig1 IA): ( I ) plane bed with no sediment
movement; (2) small scale ripples; (3) large scale ripples (“sand waves” or “dunes”)
with superimposed small ripples, ( 4 ) large scale ripples; ( 5 ) forms transitional between
large ripples and plane beds; (6) plane beds with sediment movement; (7) stationary
antidunes, and (8) moving antidunes. The sequence plane bed without movement
to transitional forms occurred in the tranquil flow regime, whilst the sequence plane
bed with movement to moving antidunes was confined t o the rapid flow regime
(see Fig.5).
Small scale ripples with a height of a few centimetres and a length of several
centimetres to one or two decimetres are widely known from sandy stream beds and
shallows (KINDLE,1917; BUCHER,1919; MCKEE,1939; SUNDBORG, 1956; HAMBLIN,
1961a; HARMSet al., 1963). Most reported examples are of ALLEN’S (1963a) linguoid
type in which crest lines close in the direction of flow. For a fluvial regime in which
the concentration of sediment is not too high, it is well understood that these forms
migrate with the flow by erosion on the stoss or upstream side and deposition on
the lee or downstream face. The height of the ripples is independent of depth of flow.
400
200
100
-8 80
60
\
v)
5 40
u
t
k
8 20
-I
w
>
10
8
6
4
3
I
0.01 0.I I 10
GRAIN DIAMETER (MM)
Fig.10. Relation between flow velocity, grain size, and state of sediment in uniform mate1-ial of 2.65
g/cms, for flow velocity 1 m above bottom. (Modified after SUNDBORG, 1956, fig.23.)
110 J. R. L. ALLEN
A
7
2. S m a l l ripples
I I 4.Lorge ripples
I. Plane bed with no 3. Large ripples
FROUDE NUMBER !
Fig.11. A. Forms of bed roughness in alluvial channels. (Modified after SIMONS and RICHARDSON,
1962, fig.1). B. Forms of bed roughness in relation to roughness measured by Manning n. (Modified
after SIMONS and RICHARDSON, 1962,fig.2.) The roughness fields are for flume experiments using sands
with median diameters between 0.28 and 0.45 mm. Note that, whereas the tranquil and rapid flow
regimes are defined by the critical Froude number ( F = I), the lower and upper flow fields are defined
by the value of roughness measured by n.
The first serious study of large scale ripples in a river was made in the 1870's
by engineers examining the Mississippi (BUCHER,1919; JORDAN, 1962), and since
then many more examples of this bed form have been reported from streams with
sandy beds (Table I). ALLEN(1963a) summarised some of the important properties
of large scale ripples in streams. Large ripples are similar in profile to small ones but
are rather flatter, the flatness increasing with ripple size. Under steady flow conditions
the height of large scale ripples is directly proportional to water depth, the height
ranging from approximately 10 to 20 % of the depth. In plan large scale ripples vary
from linguoid through straight to lunate, and each of these forms has been recorded
from streams. SHANTZER (1951) and SHAMOV (1959) give useful air photographs, and
TABLE I
CHARACTERISTICS OF LARGE SCALE RIPPLES I N MODERN STREAMS
Stream Water depth Bed material Ripple height Ripple length Ripple form Reference
Im) (m) Im) in plan
Lek, The Netherlands 6.75 medium sand 1-2 20-30 - VANVEEN,1935

Merwede, The Netherlands 6 sand 0.3-1 12-35 - VANVEEN,1935
Columbia, U.S.A. 9-12 sand 2.11 92l mostly straight JORDAN, 1962
Hii, Japan 0.43-1.03 sand 0.05-0.25 1.38-2.87 - SHINOHARA 1959
and TSUBAKI,
Klaralven, Sweden 2 medium to coarse 0.2-0.8 8-20 straight SUNDBORG, 1956
sand
Mississippi, U.S.A.,
various reaches 3-9 1.3l 911
13.7-18.3 1.4l 158l
4.0-24.4 1.S 91'
27.5 5.51 228l LANEand EDEN,1940
24.4 3.71 1221 straight see also:
17.6 fine to very coarse 2.4l 76' with some CAREY and KELLER,1957
18.2 sand 2.4l 731 (?) lunate FRAZIER and OSANIK,1961
15.2 2.01 811
8.5 1 3 76l
24.4-29.0 1.5l 941
3 25.9-30.5 2.0' 871
a 24.4-25.9 2.7l 1221
1 Loire, France 4-5 coarse to very 2.7l 72l straight 1953
BALLADE,
F coarse sand
9 Niger, Nigeria 6.7 fine to very coarse 0.3S NEDECO,
1959
9.7 sand 1.34l
h
e
W
m
2! Denotes average value
112 J. R. L. ALLEN
LOPATIN(1952) gives a number of plans. The movement of large ripples, during

which foreset beds are formed by avalanching, resembles that of small ripples and
was described by SIMONS et al. (1961) and ALLEN(1965a).
The transitional forms of bed roughness observed by SIMONSet al. (1961)
include washed-out large ripples, flat sand bars, and plane beds.
Little is known of the stationary and moving antidunes developed on stream
beds during rapid flow. The stationary sand waves formed in a water depth of about
7 inches by SIMONS et al. (1961) had a height of about 1 inch and a length of about
4 ft. Regressive sand waves produced in the same series of experiments migrated
upstream in train with a complimentary series of water waves, until the waves broke
and the sand waves “exploded”, the combination of wave trains in phase forming
an antidune. During the formation of the regressive sand waves, deposition occurred
on the upstream sides of the waves and erosion took place on the downstream sides.
There was considerable storage of water and sediment in the flume when regressive
antidunes formed. Experimental studies of antidunes were also made by ANDERSON
(1953) and KENNEDY (1961). BUCHER(1919) reviewed early descriptions of antidunes
from natural streams, citing waves observed on the San Juan River, Colorado, which
were 14-18 ft. long and 3 ft. high. SYKES (1937) described examples from the Colorado
River, and SCHUMM (1961) reported antidunes from the shallow Medano Creek,
Colorado. NORDIN(1963) figured others from the Rio Puerco, New Mexico. Antidunes
seem particularly common in shallow sandy or braided streams. As yet very little
is known of their internal structure.
SIMONSand RICHARDSON (1961), SIMONSet al., (1961), and ALLEN(1964b)
observed plane beds with sediment movement in the rapid flow regime. ALLEN
(1964b) produced an aggrading series of plane beds and noted that the surfaces of
the beds were marked by primary current or parting lineation, a system of longitu-
dinal “windrows” formed of grains oriented parallel to the flow. Natural flows in
the rapid flow regime which gave plane, lineated beds were also described.
Fig.11B shows that resistance to flow varies with the configuration of the bed
as controlled by grain size and flow characteristics (SIMONS and RICHARDSON, 1961,
1962; SIMONSet al., 1961). Roughness was measured using Manning n and was
greatest for bed forms of the tranquil flow regime. In tranquil flow small ripples
proved rougher in 0.28 mm sand than in sand of 0.45 mm diameter. Large ripples were
roughest when moulded in the coarser sand. The rapid flow forms proved about as
rough as the plane beds with no movement in the tranquil flow regime. Change in
roughness at the transition from tranquil to rapid flow largely explains the breaks
observed in the rating curves for streams (DAWDY,1961, and see Fig.8).
Recognising the importance of the role played by the laminar sublayer, SIMONS
et al. (1961) developed a criterion involving particle dimensions and flow character
to describe the occurrence of different roughness forms (Fig. 12). As the ratio between
median fall diameter (diameter of sphere with same settling velocity as particle) and
thickness of the sublayer increases, that is as the flow becomes increasingly rough,
the range of bed forms that can occur is progressively narrowed toward the rapid
Sedimentology, 5 (€965) 89-191
ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVlAL SEDIMENTS 113
100
10
I .o
0 .I
0.I I.o 10 100 Kd poo 10,000 100,000

-
pk
10-2 10-1 I00 101 d

- 102. lo3
6'
Fig.12. Criteria for bed roughness in alluvial channels based mainly on experimental data. (After
SIMONS et al., 1961, fig.28.) V , = shear velocity; w = fallvelocity of sediment particles; d = median
fall diameter of sediment particles; 6' = theoretical thickness of laminar sublayer.
flow forms. The upper sediment size for the occurrence of small ripples is stated
to be about 2.5 mm and for large ripples about 8 mm. Debris coarser than 8 mm is
moved only in rapid flow bed forms.
The roughness forms discussed above are important because there is reason to
believe they imprint characteristic internal structures on stream deposits, so allowing
flow regime to be estimated after the disappearence of the bed forms themselves. ALLEN
(1963a, b) showed that the migration of ripples could lead to several distinct types
of cross-stratification, depending on sediment supply and ripple size and geometry
(Fig. 13.) Also he connected flat-bedding and primary current lineation with the plane
beds formed in the rapid flow regime and to a lesser extent in the upper levels of the
tranquil flow regime (ALLEN, 1963c, 1964b). Since small and large ripples represent
different intensity levels in the tranquil flow regime, ALLEN(19634 related internal
structures to regime as in Table 11. According to Fig.12, cross-stratification in gravels
should not be caused by migrating ripples.
The relationships shown in Table I1 are based on experiments under equilibrium
conditions, with roughness form fully adjusted to flow. Under natural conditions
114 J. R. L. ALLEN
TABLE I1
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES OF ALLUVIAL SANDS IN RELATION TO BED FORM AND FLOW CONDITION
(MODIFIED FROM ALLEN, 1963~,FIG.3)
Internal sedimentary Bed form Flow condition

structure
based on Froude based on roughness
number
Small scale cross- Small scale ripples Lower part of Lower part of lower
stratification. Sets measure tranquil flow regime flow regime
mm or cm in thickness and
form a coset
Large scale cross- Large scale ripples Middle part of Upper part of lower
stratification. Sets measure tranquil flow regime. flow regime
dm or m in thickness and Froude number less
form a coset. than about 0.8
Flat-bedding with primary Plane bed or Upper part of Upper flow regime
current lineation. Sand stationary, low- tranquil flow regime
marked by essentially amplitude antidunes and rapid flow
horizontal, plane or gently regime. Froude
undulating laminae, a mm or number greater than
so thick. Surfaces of laminae about 0.8
show lineation parallel to
flow.
equilibrium is probably seldom attained, particularly during rapidly rising and falling
floods, so that a change in bed roughness almost always lags behind the change in
flow (e.g., NEDECO, 1959). The alteration of large ripples to a plane bed, for example,
demands a massive redistribution of sediment. PRETIOUS and BLENCH(1951) docu-
mented such an hysteresis effect during a flood in a reach of the Fraser River, Canada.
Over the observation period (21 days) the flood discharge increased from 230,000
cusecs to a peak of 435,000 cusecs (day 10) and then gradually declined to 305,000
cusecs. The initial bed form comprised large scale ripples of a small but uniform size.
By day 6 (discharge 370,000 cusecs) these had doubled in size. Peak discharge was
attained on day 10 but the ripples continued to grow in size until about day 18,
when they were 10-15 times their initial size. By day 21 smaller ripples (still large
scale ones) had become established on the backs of the larger ones, the bed thereafter
gradually returning to its original character. SIMONS and RICHARDSON (1962) experi-
mented with roughness forms under variable discharge conditions and found a similar
hysteresis. In general, roughness forms occurred in the equilibrium sequence (2
through 8 or 8 through 2, see above), whether on the falling or the rising stage.
However, a particular roughness form seldom occurred at precisely the same flow
intensity on a falling as on a rising stage. Table I1 is therefore only a qualitative
expression of the internal structure-bed form-flow intensity relation.

ORIGIN A N D CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVlAL SEDIMENTS 115
I v
Fig.13. Common types of cross-stratification considered to be generated by migration of asymmetrical

ripple marks. (Based on ALLEN,1963a. b.) A. Small scale cross-stratified sets showing “pinch and
swell” structure and gradational contacts resulting from small scale linguoid ripples. B. Cross-strata
in small scale “planar” sets with gradational contacts resulting from small scale straight ripples.
C . Small scale “trough” cross-stratified sets resulting from small scale linguoid ripples. D. Small scale
“planar” cross-stratified sets resulting from migration of small scale straight ripples. E. Large scale
“trough” cross-stratified sets resulting from large scale lunate and possibly linguoid ripples. F. Large
scale “planar” cross-stratified sets resulting from straight large scale ripples.
Meanders and point bars
Whereas bed roughness forms largely remain concealed by stream flows, meanders
and point bars are perhaps the most arresting features of the alluvial landscape.
The accretion topography resulting from meandering and point bar building has been
repeatedly described (Fig.141, notably by MELTON(1936), SYKES(1937), EARDLEY
(1938), FISK (1944, 1947), SHANTZER (1951), RUSSELL(1954), KRUIT(1955) and
SUNDBORG (1956). Each meander loop, active or cut-off, encloses a point bar formed
of scroll-shaped ridges and swales roughly conformable with the curve of the channel.
A ridge represents an aggradation of bed load material against the convex channel
bank during a flood, or series of floods, when the concave bank was eroded back a like
amount. Crests of ridges may stand higher than the natural levees on the concave bank
(FIX, 1947). Between the ridges are low-lying hollows or swales often holding
marshes, ponds, or shallow arms of the stream. From the River Klaralven, Sweden,
SUNDBORG (1956) records bar ridges 30-90 ft. apart and up to 3 ft. in height above the
adjacent swales. F ~ S(1947)
K quotes differences in relief up to 15 ft. between ridges and
swales of Mississippi point bars.
The pattern of water flow in a curved channel is closely connected with the con-
Sedimentology,5 (I 965) 89-191
116 J . R. L. ALLEN
Fig. 14. Accretion topography on point bar bordering Klaralven, Sweden. (From map in SUNDBORG,
1956.)
struction of point bars. LEOPOLD and WOLMAN (1960) reviewed this question, adding
new data and summarising earlier work in flumes and natural channels. The flow
pattern in a curved channel is helicoidal with an accompanying superelevation of the
water surface against the outer, concave bank (Fig.15). Thus in the curve there is
both a downstream velocity component and a weaker sideways component, toward
the outer bank at the water surface, and at the stream bed toward the convex bank
over the gently shoaling point bar. From Baldwin Creek, Wyoming, LEOPOLD and
WOLMAN (1960) recorded downstream components up to 3.5 ft./sec and lateral com-
ponents as high as 1.5 ft./sec. In general lateral velocity components reached 10-20%
of the downstream components. Maximum flow intensity was found near the steep
concave bank, the speed of flow falling as the point bar was ascended. Surface stream-
lines shifted from the convex bank of one meander curve to the concave bank of the
meander next downstream, thus defining a single circulation cell in the cross-section.
Several cells may be found in the cross-section of a wide, shallow stream (SHAMOV,
1959).
Thus material eroded from the steep bank will tend to be deposited on the point
bar of the meander next downstream, and not on the bar opposite. The cross-channel
bed flow and decline in flow intensity toward the convex bank are the most important
mechanisms responsible for the accumulation of the point bar. Because of the lateral
bottom flow, coarse sediment is carried from the channel deeps to a relatively high
position on the point bar (FISK,1947; LEOPOLDand WOLMAN, 1960). On account of
the same inward change, fine sediment is carried higher up on the bar than is coarse
debris. Variations in discharge lead to interlayering of coarse with fine sediment, but
Sedimentofogy, 5 (1965)89-191
ORIGIN AND CHARACTERlSTICS OF RECENT ALLUVJAL SEDIMENTS 117
this is seldom conspicuous as bar deposition is greatest when stage is high. LEOPOLD
and WOLMAN (1960) conclude that bar deposits should on average fine upward from
the level of the channel deeps.
Downstream migration of meanders leading to the reworking of point bar
deposits is explained by the impingement of high velocity stream lines against the
concave bank of the meander some distance downstream of the point of channel
inflection (Fig.15). Hence erosion is concentrated on surfaces that are more or less
perpendicular to the meander belt.
Manner and rate of bank erosion are partly determined by the nature of the
bank material. FIX (1947) distinguished two processes of bank erosion, sloughing
and slumping. Sloughing occurs where banks consist of non-cohesive sediment and
is “a continual and general movement of particles. . . associated with rapidly and
regularly retreating banks with smooth shorelines”. Slumping predominates where
the bank deposits are cohesive, and FISK(1947) describes this process as resulting
along the Mississippi River in “irregularly scalloped shorelines, characterised by
shoreward tilted earthblocks”. Slumping along this stream has involved bank seg-
ments 1,000 ft. long and 100 ft. across. Slumping is facilitated by the occurrence of
easily erodible non-cohesive sediments deep on the eroded bank. As LUGN(1927)
showed, slumped blocks are broken up by river flow into gravels of fine sediment
which may subsequently become incorporated into the channel deposits. FISK(1947)
thought scouring the major cause of bank caving. WOLMAN (1959) showed that wetting
Fig.15. Pattern of flow in a meandering channel. (After LEOPOLD 1960, fig.5.)

and WOLMAN,
118 J. R. L. ALLEN
and frost-action facilitated erosion of cohesive bank materials. Bank erosion rates
up to 2,460 ft./year have been recorded (WOLMAN and LEOPOLD, 1957).
As yet no theory of meandering has proved satisfactory. They have involved
the importance of helicoidal flow in determining bar building and local erosion, the role
played by bed forms, the creation of transverse oscillations by local channel obstruc-
tions, and the role of seiches (LEOPOLD and WOLMAN, 1960). However, an investigation
of energy expenditure in open channels may lead to a better understanding of the
causes of meandering (LEOPOLD et al., 1960; BAGNOLD, 1960).
Braids and channel bars
Braids defined by alluvial islands and channel bars occur in many rivers having steep
slopes and relatively coarse bed materials (MELTON,1936; BLISSENBACH, 1954;
KRIGSTROM, 1962). The mechanism of braiding has been studied in the field by
SHANTZER (1951), LEOPOLD and WOLMAN (1957), KRIGSTROM (1962), and FAHNESTOCK
(1963) and in the laboratory by LEOPOLDand WOLMAN (1957). Braiding begins
with the deposition in an originally unbraided reach of a short, central submerged
bar of coarse material at a time of high flow. Once initiated the bar grows upward
approximately to the local floodplain level and, to a greater extent, downstream
through the deposition of further bed load material. Sideways and downstream bar
growth reduces the widths of the flanking channels, making them unstable and late-
rally erosive. The lateral channels concurrently become deepened, allowing the bar
to emerge as an alluvial island which may become stabilised by vegetation. Repetition
of this process in the divided reach can lead to a braided channel marked by several
islands in a cross-section. Braiding may also occur through the construction of bars
a t the junctions and bends of streams ( KRIGSTROM, 1962).
Judging from air photographs showing water surface configurations, rapid
flow conditions are dominant in very many braided streams even at moderate and
low discharges. Deposits accumulated within the braids may prove to have structures
characteristic of this regime. The shallow bars and islands constructed at high dischar-
ges appear to have internal cross-stratification. LEOPOLDand WOLMAN(1957),
reporting the construction of a gravel bar in Horse Creek, Wyoming, state that “par-
ticles moving along the b a r . . .are deposited beyond the lower end where a marked
increase in depth is associated with a decrease in velocity”, and that the bar “grows
by successive addition at its downstream end”. Of experimental sand bars they write
that “progressive bar development consisted of foreset beds as in a delta”. Slip-off
faces at the downstream ends of bars are suggested by KRIGSTROM’S (1962) figures.
Cut-of, cut-offjlling and avulsion
Meander growth and braid development lead to relatively gradual changes in the
courses of streams. Sudden and more drastic changes come about by cut-off and
avulsion.
Cut-off is associated with meandering streams and occurs whenever the stream
can shorten its course and thus locally increase its slope, the frequency of cut-off
increasing with channel sinuosity. Two kinds of cut-off are recognised by FISK(1944,
1947) from studies on the Mississippi. Chute cut-off occurs where a stream in a
meander loop shortens its course by cutting a new channel along some swale on the
bar enclosed by the loop (Fig.16A). Enlargement of the new channel and plugging
of the old proceed gradually. Chute cut-offs are plugged mainly by bed load sediments,
the active channel gradually becoming shallower and narrower. Filling is completed by
suspended sediment brought in by overbank floods. Neck cut-off is primarily responsi-
ble for the abandonment of meander loops. Such cut-off occurs late in the development
of the loops, either by the gouging of a new channel across the narrow neck of land
between two loops, or through the “capture” of one loop by the next upstream (Fig.
16B). Bed load sediment rapidly plugs the ends of the abandoned channel to give
the familiar “ox-bow” lake. Filling is completed by sediment brought in with over-
bank flows. Channeling and swirl pit erosion of the kind that precede cut-off are
described from the Connecticut valley by COLLINSand SCHALK( 1937) and JAHNS
( 1947).
Avulsion is the sudden abandonment of a part or the whole of a meander belt
by a stream for some new course at a lower level on the floodplain (Fig.16C). This
has occurred several times in the recent history of such streams as the Mississippi
(FISK,1947), the Meander, Anatolia (RUSSELL,1954), and the Rufiji, Tanganyika
(B. ANDERSON, 1961). It is also reported from Texas streams (LEBLANC and HODGSON,
1959; BERNARD et al., 1962) and the Rio Grande. The restriction of a stream to a
meander belt, combined with the complicated upward deposition therein, leads to
substantial local elevation of the floodplain surface, giving what FISK(1947) calls
an alluvial ridge. The greater the height of the ridge above the general floodplain,
the more likely it is that local crevassing within the active meander belt will result in
some permanent change of stream course, away from the alluvial ridge and into
a flanking basin where a new meander belt can be constructed. The Mississippi, for
\ I
Fig.16. Modes of channel shifting. A. Chute cut-off. B. Neck cut-off. C . Development of new meander
belt following avulsion. Abandoned channels shown by dotted lines.
Sedinientology,5 (1965) 89-191
120 J. R. L. ALLEN
example, has recently built in its floodplain at least five alluvial ridges along meander
belts up to 50 miles apart (FISK,1944.)
Channel erosion andfilling
Sediment erosion in established channels extends over a wide range of scale, from the
deepening of an entire cross-section to the local development of small scour structures.
SYKES(1937) was amongst the first to relate channel deepening with high
discharge in streams with readily moveable beds, noting that the Colorado at Yuma,
Arizona, deepened its bed nearly 25 ft. during a flood and stating that the excavation
extended for many miles in the stream. LEOPOLD and MADDOCK (1953), LANEand
BORLAND (1954), and LEOPOLD (1962) later gave accurately measured cross-sections
showing the development of scours in North American and Chinese streams. As
illustrated in Fig.17A representing the Colorado River at Lees Ferry, Arizona, May-
June scouring after February shoaling was followed by further shoaling the next
August. Many of the scours took the form of “channels within the channel”. With
particular reference to the Rio Grande, LANEand BORLAND (1954) emphasised that
scour during the flood did not extend the length of the stream, but was confined to the
narrower reaches. Their general conclusion, supported by NEDECO (1959) and LEOPOLD
and WOLMAN (1960), was that at high stage pools usually scoured whereas riffles
shoaled, whilst at low stage riffles generally scoured and pools filled. In such streams
as the Colorado and Rio Grande, the short summer floods tended to aggrade the
bed lowered by scour during the long spring floods (LEOPOLD and MADDOCK, 1953).
Submerged erosion features of stream channels incised into fine-grained
cohesive sediments are discussed by ARNBORG(1957, 1958) and SUNDBORG and
NORRMAN (1963) from Swedish rivers. The sediments in question are laminated fjord
silts and clays. Prominent on the bed of the River Gota are corrasion furrows up to
60 ft. across and 9 ft. deep elongated with the flow (Fig.l7B), the river showing
‘d/
June 3 June 3
15 15
10 10 7
LL
v
c
5 5 $ 3
w
f
4
A
”,
0 0 ,
W
*,
a
-5 -5
J
(3
, ,
-10 -10
0 100 200 300 400 0 100 200 300 400 150 too 50 0
DISTANCE (FT.) DISTANCEtM)
Fig. 17. Channel erosion. A. Transverse stream profiles illustrating seasonal scour-and-fill in channel
of Colorado River, Lees Ferry, Arizona, for water year 1956. (After LEOPOLD, 1962, fig.4.) B. Trans-
verse stream profile showing corrasion furrows in fine grained fjord sediment forming bed of River
Gota, Sweden. Vertical scale in depth-metres. (After SUNDBORG and NORRMAN, 1963, fig.38.)
Sedirnentology,5 (1955) 89-191
"channels within the channel" (SUNDBORG and NORRMAN, 1963). ARNBORC (1957,
1958) photographed erosively terraced and pot-holed scarps of fjord sediment which
formed the sides of the channel of the hgermanalven, and recorded fallen blocks of
fjord sediment at the feet of these scarps. Current crescents, first reported from stream
muds by PEABODY (1947), were also seen by ARNBORG (19581, most having formed
round a pebble resting on a sand bed. Arnborg photographed narrow but long
grooves and ridges eroded into fjord sediment in the path of large scale ripples.
Whereas the front of a ripple lay perpendicular to the flow, the trend of the grooves
and ridges was parallel to the current. DOEGLAS (1962) has described flutes cut in silts
of the braided channels of the River Durance, France. All of these structures, large
and small, can be attributed to the corrasive action of the stream load.
Bed rock exposed in stream channels is often erosively fluted. ARNBORG (1958)
describes long grooves and ridges with cuspate profiles formed in bed rock exposed
along the Angermanalven. The flutes discussed by MAXSONand CAMPBELL (1935)
from limestone boulders in the Colorado were small, scale-like and closely spaced.
Their trailing edges were commonly overhanging.
Natural levees
Natural levees are wedge-shaped ridges of sediment bordering stream channels. Their
elevation is greatest at or close to the edge of the channel, where they commonly
form steep high banks, and from there gently slope away into floodbasins at a distance
from the channel (Fig. 18). Levees are best developed on the concave banks of streams.
On the point bars of the convex banks they are rarely so well developed as to mantle
the accretion topography completely. The construction of levees is largely responsible
for the superelevation of alluvial ridges above the general floodplain.
Deposition on levees occurs when a stream overtops its banks. The velocity
is checked, so that not all of the previous load can be transported, and sediment is
deposited adjacent to the banks. The coarsest debris is laid down close to the channel
and the finer material further down the levee at a greater distance from the stream.
Deposition rate is at a maximum close to the channel and declines down the levee,
giving the slope into the floodbasin. When a stream is not in flood, its levees are
attacked by atmospheric agencies and in particular are eroded by rainfall (KOLB,1962).
Many but by no means all streams possesss conspicuous levees. Those of the
Mississippi (FISK,1944, 1947) are commonly more than a mile wide and in maximum
elevation above the floodbasins vary from 15 ft. in the northern part of the floodplain
to 25 ft. near Baton Rouge. From Donaldsonville to the delta the levees decrease in
width from about 4 miles to 1/4 mile and in height above the adjacent lowlands from
about 4 ft. io less than 1 ft. (KOLB,1962, 1963). The Atchafalaya, which is a distribu-
tary of the Mississippi, is a relatively stable though sinuous stream, and has broad
levees on each bank (U.S. WATERWAYS EXPERIMENT STATION, 1952). The much smaller
Sacramento River, California, has natural levees up to 1.5 miles wide and 10-15 ft.
high above the adjacent floodbasins (LOREXSand THRONSON, 1955). In the Gulf of
122 J. R. L. ALLEN
Fig.18. Levee and crevasse topography, False River cut-off channel, Mississippi River. (After FISK,
1947, fig.1.)
Mexico coastal plain, streams such as the Brazos River and the Colorado are bordered
by levees 1-5 ft. high and 500-1,000 ft. across (BERNARD et al., 1962). Natural levees
are also described by B. ANDERSON (1961) from the Rufiji River, Tanganyika, by
HAPPet al. (1940), by RUSSELL (1942) and KRUIT(1955) from the distributaries of the
RhBne delta, by SAHNS(1947) from limited reaches of the Connecticut River, and by
RUSSELL (1954) from Anatolia. WOLMAN and LEOPOLD (1957) discuss small streams
having levees.
Other meandering streams have no or only poorly developed levees. FENNEMAN
(1906) described from Wisconsin a floodplain composed solely of point bar deposits.
WOLMAN and LEOPOLD (1957) noted that certain small to moderate sized streams
lacked levees. The Yukon, Alaska, over the reach examined by EARDLEY (1938),
appears devoid of levees of any size, for over wide areas the point bar accretion
topography is clearly visible. Deposition beyond the channel is local and, when it
occurs, mainly due to ice-jams behind which the river is ponded into lakes rising as
much as 40 ft. above normal river level. The floodplains of the Connecticut River,
Massachusetts, and the Pembina River, Manitoba, also in many places show accretion
topography unma: ked by significant levee deposits (MELTON,1936; JAHNS,1947).
The Missouri River generally lacks levees (GLENNand DAHL,1959).
Crevassing and crevasse-splays
Deposition beyond the main stream channel can also take place because of crevassing
at high stage when “excess water leaves the channel through isolated low sections or
breaks in the natural levees” (HAPPet al., 1940). Once a crevasse is initiated, the flood
waters deepen the new course and develop a system of distributive channels on the
upper slopes of the levee. Deposition takes over from erosion on the lower slopes,
on which and beyond in the floodbasin a tongue-shaped mass of sediment, or crevasse-
splay, is deposited from repeatedly dividing and often braided streams. This distinc-
tive topographic form is recorded from the Mississippi (Fig.18) by FISK(1947), from
the Seyhan River, Anatolia (RUSSELL,1954), and from the Rh6ne delta (KRUIT,
1955). Some of Kruit’s crevasse-splays were narrow, sinuous tongues of sediment
1-2 ft. high laid down from meandering streamlets. B. ANDERSON (1961) refers to
crevassing along the Rufiji River and SYKES(1937) documents in detail the man-made
crevasse topography of the Colorado delta floodplain (Fig. 19). Crevasse-splays
generally extend into floodbasins well beyond adjacent levee toes, and when formed
adjacent to a large stream may reach 3 miles in length and several feet in elevation
above the floodbasin. HAPP(1940) refers to splays more than a mile in length which
border the Rio Grande. Since the master channels of the crevasse systems often tap
sediment carried at relatively low levels in the parent streams, the splay deposits
commonly prove coarser than the associated levee sediments.
Floodbasins
Floodbasins, also known as backswamps, are described by RUSSELL (1942, 1954), FISK
(1944, 1947), KRUIT(1955), LORENSand THRONSON (1955), M. J. ANDERSON (1961),
Fig.19. Crevasse topography illustrated by branching channels at termination of Vacanora Canal,

Colorado delta floodplain. (After SYKES,1937, fig.68, 69.)
124 J. R. L. ALLEN
and BERNARDet al. (1962). Floodbasins are the lowest lying parts of stream flood-
plains. They are poorly drained, flat, relatively featureless areas of little or no relief
located adjacent to or between abandoned or active, but slightly higher, meander belt
alluvial ridges. Floodbasins act as stilling basins in which suspended fines can settle
from overbank flows after the coarser suspended debris has been deposited on levees
and crevasse-splays.
FISK(1947) noted that floodbasins often showed a network of small channels
partly inherited from older and more important drainage systems. These channels
have a dual role, conducting water from an active meander belt into the floodbasin
during the growth of a flood, and on the falling stage draining back into the active
channel the flow ponded in the basins.
The size, shape and position of floodbasins depend on the history of the
floodplain. Because defined by valley walls and existing alluvial ridges, floodbasins
are generally much longer than wide and elongated parallel to active streams (Fig.20).
Where avulsion has not occurred, as in the floodplain of the Sacramento River,
California, the larger floodbasins take up a lateral position between a median alluvial
ridge and the bluffs bounding the plain (LORENSand THRONSON, 1955). The delta-
flank floodbasins of the RhBne delta are similarly bounded (KRUIT,1955). In broad
floodplains with a complex history of channel shifting, for example, that of the Mis-
sissippi (FISK,1947) and those of Texas streams (BERNARDet al., 1962), floodbasins
isolated from each other by alluvial ridges occupy all positions from the centres to
the edges of the plains The same is true of distributive systems like the RhBne delta
(KRUIT,1955).
The downstream tendency for floodbasins to increase in area relative to levees
and channels was noted by FISK(1947) and is shown on M. J. ANDERSON’S (1961) maps
0 miles 10 n
Levee and crevasse-splay I . . I
Fine grained channel-fill
. ...
(Fig.20). This probably reflects the change downstream in the coarseness of the stream
sediments.
Construction ofjoodpluim
Summarising the above, the chief morphological elements that can make up a flood-
plain are: point bars, channel bars and alluvial islands, cut-off channels and channel
fills, levees, crevasse-splays, and floodbasins.
In their manner of construction and in the nature of the deposits which make
them up, these elements form two fundamentally distinct groups, as recognised by
FENNEMAN (1960) and many later workers (see WOLMAN and LEOPOLD, 1957). Point
bars, channel bars, and alluvial islands result from the “lateral” accretion of stream
bed load on the sideways migration of channels. The “vertical” accretion of suspended
load after overbank flow leads to the construction of levees, crevasse-splays, and
floodbasins on top of lateral accretion deposits. Channel-fills do not fall easily into
either category, for they consist partly, and sometimes wholly, of bed load material.
It was emphasised that some floodplains lack vertical accretion features, others
show them in a limited degree, whilst still others have well developed levee, crevasse-
splay and floodbasin systems. Lateral accretion deposits, however, are common to
all floodplains. Whether significant vertical accretion occurs or not, probably depends
on internal factors, inherent in the stream regime, and on others external to the
stream. The significant internal factors appear to be the size of the suspended sediment
load, the general calibre of the total stream load, the rate of channel migration, and
the speed of overbank flows. The external factors are changes in stream base level
and changes of land level due to subsidence (tectonic, compactional) or uplift (tecto-
nic, isostatic).
Concerning the frequency of overbank flows, WOLMAN and LEOPOLD (1957)
concluded that this was not a significant factor in determining floodplain structure.
They found that streams in a wide variety of situations overflowed their banks on
average once every 1-2 years, and write “if overbank deposition were a significant
feature of floodplain formation, because of the frequent intervals at which flooding
takes place one would logically expect that present floodplain surfaces would be
flooded much less than they are now”. Over any long period a stream bed and the
local floodplain appear to have kept a constant relative elevation.
Vertical accretion deposits cannot be formed without there being suspended
material in the overbank flows. FJSK(1947) refers the poor development of levees
along certain Mississippi tributaries to the small suspended loads carried. Of related
interest is the observation by WOLMAN and LEOPOLD (1957) that many streams show a
maximum concentration of suspended load at stages well below the bankfull and
not, as might be expected, at the flood stage.
Channel form in plan and calibre of stream load may be important in control-
ling floodplain structure through their effect on floodplain relief. Relatively steep
braided streams with coarse loads are notorious for the rapidity with which their
Sedimentology, 5 ( 1 965) 89-191
126 J. R . L. ALLEN
interlaced channels alter position and comb across a floodplain, so keeping floodplain
relief low and minimising the extent of overbank deposition. Many such streams are
aggrading rapidly, although solely by net deposition following lateral accretion.
Meandering streams are also free to range and level their floodplains provided channel
sinuosity is sufficiently low that cut-off, and the consequent development of channel-
fills of fine sediment that lead to meander belt fixation, is a relatively rare event.
Because floodplain relief is kept low in both cases by the “ploughing” action of
shifting channels, overbank flows are able to move freely down the plains when
floods occur. WOLMAN and LEOPOLD (1957) report mean velocities of overbank flows
in such situations to range between 0.15 and 2.7 ft./sec and to average 1.6 ft./sec.
Flows as swift as these would deposit little fine material on floodplains. SCHUMM
(1960a, 1961, 1963a, b) demonstrated that decrease in the calibre of stream load is
correlated with an increase in channel sinuosity. With increase in channel sinuosity
there is more frequent cut-off and an increasing stabilisation of meander belts through
the formation of deep clay plugs. Around a stabilised meander belt an alluvial ridge is
constructed, avulsion occurs, and soon the floodplain becomes a surface of complex
and appreciable relief. Overbank flows are then hampered in their movement down-
valley, and due to stilling and ponding on the irregular surface must deposit an
appreciable part of theii load. Thus, as illustrated in Fig.21, the development of
vertical accretion deposits may be a function of channel shape, in turn dependent on
the calibre of the stream load.
External factors play a contributory role. In the recent past the combination
of subsidence and rising base level has led to deep alluviation in the lower valley of
the Mississippi and in streams flowing into the Gulf of Mexico (FISK, 1944, 1947;
BERNARD et al., 1962). Stream gradients were lowered, the calibre of the loads decrea-
n
0
0
a
0
0
a
Fig.21. Diagram illustratinghypothetical relation of stream channel stability to channel sinuosity and
character of stream load.
sed, and the trend toward the creation of floodplain relief was pursued. Uplift in
moderate to high northern lattitudes resulting from isostatic readjustment to ice-
loading has created terraced floodplains in general characterised by little or no over-
bank deposition. Streams which appear to exemplify this are the Yukon (EARDLEY,
1938) and the Klaralven (SUNDBORG, 1956).
CLASSJFICATION OF ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS
Types of deposits
A fundamental division of alluvial sediments between the deposits of lateral and

vertical accretion has been accepted by many geologists (FENNEMAN, 1906; MELTON,
1936; MACKIN1937; HAPPet a]., 1940; CHALLINOR, 1946; FISK, 1947; JAHNS,1947;
WOLMAN and LEOPOLD, 1957). As conceived by the majority of these workers, lateral
accretion deposits are those formed of stream bed load materials in the active channel
and as the result of the lateral migration of the channel. These deposits record no
upbuilding of the floodplain but merely the iedistribution of its constituents. Simi-
larly, vertical accretion deposits are all those formed on the floodplain beyond the
active channel, largely through settlement from overbank floods.
HAPPet al. (1940) gave a detaiIed genetic classification of alluvial sediments
embodying a somewhat narrower conception of vertical and lateral accretion. The
types of deposits recognised are: ( I ) channel-fill, (2) vertical accretion, (3) Aoodplain
splays, ( 4 ) colluvial, (5)lateral accretion, and (6)channel lag. Channel-fill deposits are
aggradations in abandoned or decaying channels. The sediments of levees and flood-
basins comprise vertical accretion deposits. Floodplain splays, or crevasse-splays,
are laid down from crevasse channels incised through levees. Colluvial deposits,
independent of the active stream, accumulate against bordering bluffs by downslope
movement and deposition from unconcentrated runoff. Point bar migration gives
rise to lateral accretion deposits. Channel lag deposits comprise coarse debris on
stream floors winnowed free of fines.
Because undue difficulties arise from this narrower conception 3f lateral and
vertical accretion, it is accordingly propoeed t o classify alluvial sediments into three
major and eight subordinate categories as in Table 111. These groupings distinguish
alluvial sediments according to environment of origin and stratigraphical relationship
as observed in typical modern floodplains.
Channel or substratum deposits form the lower part of the typical floodplain
sequence. Included are point and channel bar deposits and channel lag deposits left
after stream bed winnowing. Bed load materials dominate substratum sediments.
In overbank or topstratum deposits suspended load materials are dominant. Included
are bar swale-fill, levee, crevasse-splay, and floodbasin deposits. Deposits of these
environments form the upper part of the typical floodplain sequence, overlying chan-
nel deposits. Transitional deposits, with channel-fill deposits as the only category,
128 J. R. L. ALLEN
TABLE 111
CLASSIFICATION OF ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS (ALLUVIAL FAN DEPOSITS NOT INCLUDED)
Environment of deposition Deposit Origin rejected in typical

stratigraphical position
Channel floor Channel-lag deposit Channel or substratum deposits

Point bar Point bar deposit
Channel bar Channel bar deposit
Point bar swale or in Swale-fill deposit
abandoned braided stream
channel
Levee Levee deposit Overbank or topstratum deposits
Crevasse-splay Crevasse-splay deposit
Floodbasin Floodbasin deposit
Within abandoned or Channel-fill deposit Transitional deposit
decaying channel
generally include bed and suspended load sediments. Stratigraphically they occupy
positions through the substratum and topstratum.
Associations of deposits
HAPPet al. (1940) grouped the alluvial deposits of their classification into four charac-
teristic associations: ( I ) normal floodplain or valley flat; (2) alluvial fan or cone;
(3) valley-plug, and ( 4 ) delta. In the normal floodplain association, for example the
alluvial valley of the Mississippi (FISK, 1944, 1947), a substratum of point bar and
channel lag deposits is followed by a topstratum of levee, crevasse-splay and flood-
basin deposits. Channel-fill deposits are well represented.
The alluvial fan association, giving a characteristic topographic form best
developed in arid and semi-arid regions (BLISSENBACH, 1954), occurs along mountain
or hill fronts where stream slopes are abruptly lessened. Channel deposits, chiefly of
channel bar type, are often well represented but typical overbank sediments are gene-
rally absent. Streamfloods and sheetfloods are important in the construction of alluvial
fans, giving deposits of a type not encountered in the normal floodplain association
and not included in Table IIJ.
The valley-plug association is relatively specialised. According to HAPPet al.
(1940), it is always associated with filling of active stream channels because of loss of
transporting capacity. Channel-fill, levee and particularly crevasse-splay deposits are
better developed than in the normal floodplain association. Examples are the Toby-
tubby and Hurricane Creeks, described by Happ et al.
The delta association of fluviatile sediments, exemplified by the Rh6ne and Niger
Sedimentology, 5 (1965) 89-1 91
ORlGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS 129
deltas (KRUIT,1955; ALLEN, 1964c, 1965d), occurs in the distributive portions of stream
nets. Substratum and particularly topstratum deposits are well represented, merging
seaward with deposits of bays, lagoons, marshes, and beaches lying inshore of delta
“foreset” environments.
CHANNEL OR SUBSTRATUM DEPOSITS
Channel lag deposits (Table I V )
Stream loads normally cover a wide range of particle sizes. Except when stored, tem-
porarily or permanently as the case may be, in topstratum deposits, the silt and clay
grade debris carried in suspension passes rapidly through the floodplain, at essentially
the velocity of the stream. Sand is moved over a wide range in stage, but less rapidly
than the suspended load, and is subject to temporary storage chiefly in bars. Gravel-
size debris is transported slowIy and infrequently and for only short distances during
the highest stream discharges. The coarsest debris of all, cobbles and boulders, may
be moved only during exceptional floods with recurrence intervals of many years
(WOLMAN and EILER,1958).
HAPPet al. (1940) point out that the relatively coarse materials that have been
sorted out and left as a residual accumulation in the normal processes of stream
action become concentrated to form channel lag deposits. Typically lag deposits are
found on the deeper parts of stream beds, where they accumulate in a lenticular
fashion and in the course of time become buried by finer grained bar deposits (HAPP
et al., 1940; LATTMAN, 1960). Lag deposits are found less often within bar sediments.
They then occur principally as thin sheets of pebbles concentrated by the winnowing
of sand from an initial deposit of sand with scattered pebbles. FISK(1944) describes
this mode of occurrence from the upstream ends of channel bars of the Mississippi.
ARNBORG (1958) recorded features of lag deposits in the River hgermanalven,
Sweden. At many places in this stream lag deposits form flat “erosion pavements”
consisting of well rounded cobbles and boulders over which sand and fine gravel are
transported as thin, ribbon-like sheets (cf. STRIDE, 1963) or as large scale ripples.
That the debris forming the erosion pavements is seldom moved is shown by the local
growths of water weeds on the cobbles and boulders and by the occurrence on the
gravel of films of organic matter and “iron oxides”. Cobbles and boulders of fjord
sediment, eroded from scarps bordering the stream, and also driftwood form a minor
part of the lag materials. Presumably these masses of soft sediment are then subject
to further erosion re.g., fluting, pot-holing) as sand is drifted over the erosion pave-
ment. LATTMAN (1960) described lag deposits of Beaverdam Run, Pennsylvania, as
varying from coarse sand to well rounded boulders 1 ft. in diameter.
Sedimentolog.y, 5 (1965) 89-191

.l
.R. L. ALLEN
TABLE IV
CHARACTERISTICS OF ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS (ALLUVIAL
FAN DEPOSITS NOT INCLUDED)
Character Deposit
channel lag point bar channel bar bar swale-fill
Organisms
Fresh water
invertebrates
Growing plants, FISK,1944

roots. rootlets
Drifted twigs LATTMAN, 1960 FISK,1944

and leaves FRAZIERand OSANIK,
1961
ALLEN,1964c
Drifted branches FISK,1944 FISK,1944

and trunks MCDOWELL, 1960
Grain size1
Clay
Silty clay and B., 1961

ANDERSON, FISK,1944,1947
clayey silt GLENNand DAHL, 1959
Sedimenrology, 5 (1965) 89-191

ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVIAL SEDlMENTS 131
levee crevasse-splay joodbasin channel-jll undivided topstratum

~ __
FISK,1947 FISK,1947 FISK,1947

FRAZIER and OSANIK,
1961
FISK,1944,1961 HAPPet al., 1940 FISK,1944 FISK,1947 SYKES,

1937
FISKet al., 1954 LATTMAN, 1960 MANSFIELD,1938
ANDERSON. B., 1961 ANDERSON, B., 1961 JAHNS,
1947
ALLEN,1964c BERNARD et al., 1962
FISK,1944 1937
SYKES,
LATTMAN. 1960 MANSFIELD, 1938
JAHNS,1947
JAHNS,1947
FISK,1944, 1947 FISK,1947

GLENN and DAHL, GLENN and DAHL,
1959 1959
BERNARD et al., 1962 SCHUMM, 1960b
FRAZIER and OSANIK,
1961
BERNARD and MAJOR,
1963
BERNARD et al., 1962
FISK,1944, 1947 HAPPet al., 1940 FISK,1944, 1947 MANSFIELD, 1938

FISK
et al., 1954 FISK,1944,1947 LORENS and HAPP,1940
LORENS
and GLENN and DaHL, THRONSON, 1955 HAPPet a]., 1940
THRONSON, 1955 1959 GLENN and DAHL, CARLSON and RUNNELLS,
SHEPARD,1956 BERNARDand 1959 1952
ANDERSON,B., 1961 MAJOR,1963 ADLERand LAITMAN,
ALLEN,1964c ALLEN,1964c 1961

132 J. R. L. ALLEN
TABLE IV (continued)
Character Deposit
Silt WOLMAN and LEOPOLD, FISK,1944, 1947

1957 GLENNand DAHL,1959
GLENN and DAHL,1959 DOEGLAS, 1962
Sand KRUIT,1955 DOEGLAS,

1962 DOEGLAS,
1962
LORENS and THRONSON,
1955
WOLMAN and LEOPOLD,
1957
GLENN and DAHL, 1959
LATTMAN, 1960
MCDOWELL, 1960
ANDERSON, B., 1961
FRAZIER and OSANIK,1961
HARMS et aI., 1963
LANE,D. W., 1963a
BERNARD and MAJOR,1963
Very fine sand U.S. WATERWAYSEXPERI- FISK,1944,1947

MENT STATION,
1935
FISK,1944
ADLERand LATTMAN,1961
ALLEN.1964c
Fine sand U.S. WATERWAYS EXPERI- WHIPPLE,1942

MENT STATION, 1935
SYKES,1937
HAPP,1940
FISK,1944
SUNDBORG, 1956
NEDECO, 1959
ADLERand LATTMAN, 1961
FRAZIER and OSANIK,1961
ALLEN,1964c
Sedimentofogy, 5 (1965) 89-191

ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVIAL SEDlMENTS 133
levee crevasse-splay joodbasin channel-fill undivided topstraturn
FISK,1944, 1947 HAPPet a]., 1940 GLENN and DAHL, FISK,1944, 1947 MANSFIELD, 1938
LORENS and 1959 GLENNand DAHL, HAPP,1940
THRONSON, 1955 LATTMAN, 1960 195s HAPPet al., 1940
LAWMAN, 1960 BERNARD et al., 1962 LATTMAN,1960 JAHNS,I947
ANDERSON, B., 1961 BERNARD and BERNARDet al., 1962 CARLSON and RUNNELLS,
BERNARD et al., 1962 MAJOR,1963 BERNARDand MAJOR, 1952
ALLEN.1964c ALLEN,1964c 1963 WOLMAN, 1955
SUNDBORG, 1956
WOLMAN and EILER,1958
DOEGLAS, 1962
LATTMAN,
1960 HAPPet al., 1940 FISK,1944,1947 MANSFIELD, 1938
BERNARD
et al.. 1962 LATTMAN, 1960 HAPPet al., 1940
SCHUMM, 1960b, 1961 1947
JAHNS,
BERNARD et al., 1962 PEABODY, 1947
SUNDBORG, 1956
WOLMAN and EILER.1958
FISK,1944, 1947 HAPPet al., 1940

ANDERSON, B., 1961 JAHNS,1947
ALLEN.1964c
ALLEN,1964c JAHNS,1947
Sedimentolopy, 5 (1965) 89-191

134 J. R. L. ALLEN
Character Deposit
Medium sand FISK,1944 HAPP,1940

JAHNS,1947 WHIPPLE,1942
SUNDBORG, 1956 PEMBERTON,1964
NEDECO, 1959
ANDERSON, B., 1961
FRAZIERand OSANIK,1961
ALLEN,1964c
Coarse to very FISK,1944

coarse sand JAHNS,1947
SUNDBORG, 1956
NEDECO, 1959
ANDERSON, B., 1961
FRAZIERand OSANIK, 1961
Gravel and FISK,1944 FISK,1944 LEOPOLDand WOLMAN,

1957
gravelly sand ARNBORG,
1958 JAHNS,1947 WOLMAN and LEOPOLD,
LATTMAN,
1960 WOLMAN, 1955 1957
SUNDBORG, 1956 DOEGLAS,1962
FOLKand WARD,1957 FAHNESTOCK,1963
WOLMAN and LEOPOLD,
1957
ANDERSON, B., 1961
QURESHY, 1962
Sedimentary structures
Suncracks SYKES,1937 DOEGLAS,

1962
Lamination2 FISK,1944
Small scale SUNDBORG, 1956 DOEGLAS,

1962 DOEGLAS,
1962
ripples MCDOWELL, 1960
HARMSet al., 1963
ALLEN,1964c
Small scale JAHNS,

1947 DOEGLAS,
1962 DOEGLAS,
1962
cross-stratification BOTVINKINA et al., 1954
SUNDBORG, 1956
HARMSet al., 1963

ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVlAL SEDIMENTS 135
levee crevasse-splay Jloodbasin channel-@ undivided topstratum
LATTMAN,
1960 JAHNS, 1947
RSKet al., 1954 ANDERSON, 1960b, 1961 MANSFIELD,

B., 1961 SCHUMM, 1938
HAPP,1940
JAHNS, 1947
KELLER and FOLEY,1949
FISK,1944 HAPPet al., 1940 FISK,1944 FRAZIERand OSANIK,MANSFIELD,

1938
1961
HAPPet al., 1940 SYKES,1937

MCKEE,1939
JAHNS,1947
HAMBLIN, 1961a
FRAZIERand OSANIK,MCKEE,1939
1961 JAHNS,1947
DOEGLAS, 1962
Sedimentofogy, 5 (1965) 89-191

136 J. R. L. ALLEN
Character Deposit
channel lag point bar channel bar bar wale-fill
Large scale VANVEEN,1935

ripples LANE and EDEN,1940
BALLADE, 1953
SUNDBORG, 1956
CAREY and KELLER, 1957
NEDECO, 1959
SHINOHARA and TSUBAKI,
1959
MCDOWELL, 1960
FRAZIERand OSANIK, 1961
JORDAN, 1962
HARMS et al., 1963
Large scale FISK,1944 DOEGLAS,

1962
cross-stratification JAHNS,1947
BOTVINKINA et al., 1954
SUNDBORG, 1956
NEDECO, 1959
MCDOWELL, 1960
ANDERSON, B., 1961
FRAZIER and OSANIK, 1961
HARMS et al., 1963
LANE,D. W., 1963a
POTTER and PETTIJOHN, 1963
Plane beds HARMSet al., 1963

ALLEN,1964c
Flat-bedding SHANTZER, 1951

BOTVINKINA et al., 1954
HARMSet al., 1963
Irregular layers LEOPOLD

and WOLMAN,
1957
Erosional surfaces BOTVINKINA et al., 1954 DOEGLAS,

1962 DOEGLAS,
1962
SUNDBORG, 1956
HARMS
et al., 1963
Channel-forms DOEGLAS,
1962
Soil pans GLENN

and DAHL,1959

levee crevasse-splay floodbasin channel-fill undivided topstratuni
JAHNS, 1947
COLLINS and SCHALK,

1937
JAHNS, 1947
et a]., 1962
BERNARD HAPPet al., 1940
BERNARD
and
MAJOR,1963
SedimPntolq,qv, 5 (1965) 89-191

138 J. R. L. ALLEN
TABLE IV (continued I
Character Deposit
channel la$ point bar chanizrl bar bar swale-fill
Cross- bedding3
Uniform fine
Layered fine FISK,1944 FISK,1944, 1947

and coarse WOLMAN and LEOPOLD, SHANTZER, 1951
1957
Uniform coarse Fisri, 1944 1962

DOEGLAS,
JAHNS,1947
SUNDBORG, 1956
ANDERSON, B., 1957
BERNARD and MAJOR, 1963
HARMS et al., 1963
ALLEN,1964c
Wentworth's grade scale has been adhered to as far as possible.

The term lamination is used here for a rapid alternation of layers of sediment of contrasted grade generally on a
scale of millimetres.
Cross-bedding refers to whether the deposit as a whole is a uniform coarse one (particles mostly > 0.2 mm), a
un$ormfine one (particles mostly < 0.2 mm), or a layeredfine and cutzrse deposit.
Point bar deposits (Tab12 IF')
Point bar deposits result from the lateral accretion of sediment on the inner banks of
stream meanders. Extending up from lag deposits formed in the scour pools and deeps
of the stream bed. bar sediments are as thick as the channels in which they occur are
deep. Bar deposits of the Mississippi are iypically 40-60 ft. thick and in places reach
over 80 ft. (FIX, 1944, 1947). Channels generally 30-40 ft. deep are the sites of point
bar deposition in the floodplain of the Niger delta (ALLEN,1964c, 1965d). Point bar
deposits up to 55 ft. thick are recorded from the Brazos River, Texas (BERNARD and
MAJOR,1963). Smaller streams have point bar deposits of commensurately smaller
thickness. Those of Halfmoon Creek, Pennsylvania, (ADLERand LATTMAN, 1961) and
of Watts Branch, Maryland, (WOLMAN and LEOPOLD,1957) are 1-2 and 3-4 ft. thick
respectively.
The shape of a point bar deposit complex depends on the extent of channel
Sedinientology, 5 (1965) 89-191
ORIGlN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS 139
levee cre vasse-spla-v floodbasin channel-fill undivided iopstvaium
FISK,1947 FISK,1947 JAHNS,1947

LORENS and BERNARD and MAJOR,
THRONSON, 1955 1963
ANDERSON, 1961
BERNARD et al.. 1962
FISK,1944, 1947 B., 1961 SCHUMM,

ANDERSON, 1960b, 1961 MANSFIELD, 1938
SHANTZER, 1951 HAPPet al., 1940
LORENS and JAHNS,1947
THRONSON, 1955 SCHUMM and LICHTY,
SHEPARD, 1956 1963
LATTMAN, 1960
ANDERSON, B., 1961
ALLEN,1964c
HAPPet al., 1940 1947

FISK,
SCHUMM,1960b, 1961
wandering as controlled by channel sinuosity. Although floodplain width is more

than 30 times channel width, Nalfmoon Creek is a stream of low sinuosity and its bar
deposits extend the full width of the floodplain (ADLER and LATTMAN, 1961). Stieams
of higher sinuosity such as the Missisippi and Brazos Rivers flow within well defined
alluvial ridges (FIX, 1944, 1947; BERNARD and MAJOR,1963). Consequently their
bar depotits are localised in long, narrow, beaded belts that are narrow compared
t o floodplain width. Whereas the alluvial valley of the Mississippi between Baton
Rouge and Cairo is 60-1 10 miles wide, the meander belt of the modern stream is only
10-15 miles across.
Point bar deposits range widely in lithology whilst representing the coarser
debris transported by streams. ADLERand LATTMAN (1961) described the bar deposits
of Halfnioon Creek as poorly sorted mixtures of gravel, sand, and silt-clay, the pro-
portion of gravel increasing downward in the bars. Samples from Watts Branch bars
gave modes in the gravel, sand, and silt grades (WOLMAN and LEOPOLD, 1957). The
dominantly sandy bar deposits included layers of purer gravel and also of fine or
very fine sand grading to silt (LEOPOLD and WOLMAN,1960). Sandy pebble gravels
with modes in the pebble and sand grades contribute to point bars on the Brazos River
(FOLKand WARD,1957). The Red Deer River, Alberta, has formed its bed and point
140 J. R. L. ALLEN
bars of rounded pebble to cobble grade gravel, many of the deposits being free ofisand
admixtures ( QURESHY, 1962).
Most large meandering rivers have constructed point bars of sand with minor
admixtures of’ gravel and silt. U.S. WATERWAYS EXPERIMENT STATION (1935) FISK
(1944, 1947), and FRAZIER and OSANIK (1961) describe the bar sands of the Mississsippi
as well sorted and coarse to fine grained with scattered gravel (Fig.22A, 23B). Pure
gravels present in the bar sands usually are lag concentrates representing sand winno.
wing (FISK,1944). Also present are thin lenses of silt. As shown in Fig.22B, good
sorting and a similar size range characterise bar sands in the lower floodplain and delta
floodplain of the Niger (NEDECO,1959; ALLEN,1964c, 1965d). The sands of the delta
floodplain show clearly the inverse relation between size and sorting predicted by
INMAN (1949) for stream channel sands. Gravel-size fragments of vein-quartz, ironpan,
and cohesive silt-grade sediment are present to minor amounts in bar sands of the
Niger delta floodplain. Rather poorly sorted fine to very fine sands are recorded (Fig.
22C) from the Colorado River in the Yuma area, Arizona (SYKES,1937). Point bar
sands of the River Klaralven, Sweden (Fig.22D), are well sorted and fine to coarse
grained, gravels appearing locally (SUNDBORG, 1956). Coarse gravelly sands also
form point bars in the floodplain of the Rufiji River, Tanganyika (B. ANDERSOIU, 1961).
LORENSand THRONSON (1955) classed the point bar deposits of the Sacramenlo River,
California, as “sandy loams”, minor silt lenses and admixtures of gravel originating in
mine waste being present (Fig.23A) Sands up to fine and medium grade with minor
silt lenses occur in point bars of the Missouri River (GLENN and DAHL,1959).
Downward coarsening of texture is found in many point bar complexes. The
finest bar deposits are those which form the ridges of the accretion topography of the
visible bar surface. These ridges form during high river stages and become exposed
when stage falls, receiving the finest bed load and coarsest suspended load materials.
Thus as shown in Fig.26A, bar ridges of the Mississippi consist of well sorted very
fine sands interbedded with silts and clayey silts (FJSK,1944, 1947). Below the ridges,
in those portions of the Mississippi bars that were seldom or never exposed aboke river
level, are the coarse to fine gravelly sands described above. Bar deposits of the Con-
necticut River grade down from sands to gravelly sands and sandy gravels (JAHNS,
1947). SHANTZER (1951) illustrates the same downward increase in texture in point
bars of Russian streams. Bar sediments of the Missouri River also increase in
coarseness downward, the deposits ranging from silts to fine and medium sands
(GLENNand DAHL,1959). The Brazos River, Texas, reveals a bar sequence of silt
and fine sand grading down into coarse sand and gravel (BERNARD and MAJOR,1963).
KOLB(1962) describes the point of the lower Mississippi as increasing in coarseness
downward toward the level of the river bed.
Forms of large scale cross-stratification are dominant amongst sedimentary
structures of point bar sands. FISK(1944) early figured this structure from the Mis-
sissippi River and described cross-stratification as present through most of the mass
of the bar sands. Cross-stratified units exposed in bar sands of the river at Old River,
Louisiana, are stated by MCDOWELL (1960) to become on average thinner upward
1 I
0 I 0
I
I 2 3 4 I 2 3 4
p MEDIAN 'p MEDIAN
2 2
W
W
n
In
3
IL
3
v)
W
a
W
I I
51 z
-
01
k
-
>
W
z>
w
n n
9- 9
0 0
0 I 2 3 0 I . 2 3 4
u)
I
MEDIAN 'p MEDIAN
Fig.22. Textural characteristics of stream channel and point bar sands. A. Mississippi River between
Cairo and New Orleans. (After U.S. WATERWAYS EXPERIMENT STATION, 1935, table 39.) B. Distribu-
taries of Niger delta, Nigeria, C. Colorado River between Laguna Dam and Mexican border (After
SYKES, 1937, table 111.) D. Klaralven, Sweden. (After SUNDBORC, 1956, fig.50, 51.)
0.001 0.01 0.1 I 0.001 0.01 0.1 I

GRAIN SIZE (MM) GRAIN SIZE (MM)
Fig.23. Cumulative size frequency curves of representative deposits from alluvial environments. A.
Sacramento River, California. (After LORENS and THRONSON, 1955, p1.7.) B. Mississippi River.
(After FISK,1947, p1.68,69; FRAZIER and OSANIK, 1961, fig.3.)
142 I. R . L. ALLEN
in the bar. From the same excavation, FRAZIER and QSANIK(1961) described a form
of large scale cross-stratification agreeing with ALLEN’S (1963b) 7c-cross-stratification
(Fig.24A). Cross-stratified units ranged from less than 1 ft. to more than 4 ft. in
greatest thickness and from less than 3 to more than 50 ft. in width. Some units were
more than 90 ft. in length. Units similar in size and three-dimensional geometry were
later described from bar sands of the Red River, Louisiana (Fig.24B), and the San
Bernard River, Texas (HARMS et aI., 1963; LANE, 1963a). A planar type of cross-
stratification is also present in the San Bernard River sands and is figured by POTTER
and PETTIJOHN (1963) from the Vermilion River, Indiana (Fig.24.C). JAHNS (1947),
SUNDBORC (1956), NEDECO (1959), M. J. ANDERSON (1961), BERNARD and MAJOR
(1963), and ALLEN(1964c, 1965d) reported large scale cross-stratification from bar
sands of other streams. SHANTZER (1951) and BOTVINKINA et al. (1954) have figured
the structure in some detail from the bars of Russian rivers.
SHANTZER (1951), LOPATIN { 1952), MCDOWELL (1960), FRAZIER and QSANIK
(1961), BERNARD and MAJOR (1963), LANEj1963), and POTTER and PETTIJOHN (1963)
connected the large scale cross-stratification they described with the downstream
migration of large scale ripples (see also ALLEN,1963a; Table I, Fig.13). ALLEN
(1963~)showed that the structure probably recorded a stream flow of high intensity
in the lower flow regime {Table 11). HARMSet al (1963) also associated the cross-
stratification of Red River sands with lower flow but proposed that the troughs
containing thc cross-strata were not simultaneously cut and filled.
Small scale cross-stratification genetically related to small asymmetrical ripples
(ALLEN,1963a) is common in point bar sands, appearing through thick beds mainly
in the higher parts of the bar sequence (JAHNS,1947; SUNDBORG, 1956; BERNARD
and MAJOR,1963). The ripples generally are the linguoid kind (e.g., HARME et a].,
1963), and the internal structure described by SHANTZER (1951) and HARMSet al.
(1963) proves referable t o ALLEN’S (1963b) v-cross-stratification (Fig.24D, E). Stream
currents of low intensity in the lower flow regime are indicated (ALLEN,1 9 6 3 ~Table ;
II), the stratigraphical occurrence of the structures being consietent with the gentler
currents of the upper bar.
Also present in point bar sequences are flat-bedded sands formed of thin,
horizontal to gently inclined laminae representing aggradations on smooth sediment
surfaces. Tn the Red River (HARMS et a]., 1963), flat-bedded sand units were 1-4 ft.
thick and up to 50 ft. long (Fig.24.F). SHANTZER (1951) and BOTVINKINA et al. (1954)
observed the structure in Russian streams and BERNARD and MAJOR(1963) noted
its occurrence in point bars of the Brazos River. ALLEN(1964~)reported flat-bedded
sands and smooth surfaces of deposition in the zone of wave action from point bars
of the Niger delta. In sandstones flat-bedding is generally associated with parting
lineation, and STOKES (1947) observed the latter structure on the beds of ephemeral
streams. HARMSet al. (1963) referred flat-bedded sands of the Red River to upper
regime flows, as did ALLEN(1963~)the combination of flat-bedding and parting
lineation (Table TI). Parting lineation and flat-bedding are known to be formed on
beaches in the zone of swash and backwash currents reaching the upper flow regime,
Seditnentology, 5 (1965) 89-191
0 ft. 3
=+,
s/+
\* --
---A
1--
L
-
3.
”..-
.
Z
-.
.
-...
;: ’
,
:-.
.:.”
,.
C’
E---.-.-/ z-
..
1:.
F
0 1 2
0 6
w 6-0 ft.
inches inches
Fig.24. Sedimentary structures found in point bar sands. A. Large scale “trough” cross-stratification
in vertical sections perpendicular (upper diagram) and parallel (lower diagram) to flow, Old River
Locksite, Mississippi River. (After FRAZIER and OSANIK, 1961, fig.5, 6.) B. Large scale “trough”
cross-stratification in horizontal and vertical section looking down current, Beene point bar, Red
River, Louisiana. (After HARMS et al., 1963, p1.2A.) C. Large scale “planar” cross-stratification in
large scale ripple exposed on point bar of Verniillion River, Indiana. (After POTTER and PFTTIJOHN,
1963, p1.8B.) D. Small scale “trough” cross-stratification in horizontal section, Beene point bar, Red
River, Louisiana. (After HARMS et al., 1963, p1.4B.) E. Small scale “trough” cross-stratification in
section psrpendicular to flow, Beene point bar, Red River, Louisiana. (After Harms et al., 1963, pl.
4A.) F. Flat-bedded sand in vertical section, Beene point bar, Red River, Louisiana. (After HARMS
et al., 1963, p1.4C.j With reference to types of cross-stratification, see also Fig.13.
but there is reason t o believe the combination may also arise in channel deeps in
which upper Row occurs (ALLEN,1964b). Whereas flat-bedded sands in the higher
parts of bars could have had a beach origin, units at lower levels may have accumula-
ted on deeply submerged channel floors (cf. Fig.8). As was noted, the upper flow
regime is common in many rivers.
Drifted plant remains varying from logs to twigs and leaves are the dominant
organic components of point bar sands ( F i x , 1944; M C D O W E L L , 1960; LATTMAN,
1960; FRAZIER and OSANIK, 1961; ALLEN, 1964~).Less often present are vertebrate
bones and the broken shells of fresh water invertebrates (FRAzrER and OSANIK, 1961).
Srdimmtolo~y,5 (1965) 89-191
144 J. R. L. ALLEN
Channel bar deposits (Table IF')
Whereas point bar deposits are now known in fair detail, there is little data on channel
bar sediments of braided streams. Channel bar deposits range from gravel to sand.
A large and high bar in the Missouri River, South Dakota, consisted of well sorted
fine sand grading down into medium sand (WHIPPLE,1942), the vertical change in
texture comparing with that found in point bars. Gravel makes up the channel bars
of Horse Creek (LEOPOLD and WOLMAN, 1957) and New Fork River (WOLMAN and
LEOPOLD, 19571, both in Wyoming. Bar sediments of the bIaided Durance and Ardkche
Rivers, southern France, range from poorly sorted pebble or cobble gravels through
sandy gravels and gravelly sands to well sorted sands (DOEGLAS, 1962). The deposits
of the braided White River, Washington, are poorly sorted, rounded and stratified
pebble and cobble gravels with much interstitial sand and silt (FAHNESTOCK, 1964).
Deposition of bars in braided streams was seen to be effected by processes of
lateral and vertical accretion coupled with channel cutting and abandonment. Lateral
accretion builds bars downstream and in directions steeply inclined to general river
flow, with the result that channels shift laterally as bars migrate into them. Vertical
accretion, resulting in even bedding, builds bars up from the surface of the lateral
accretion deposits. In the Durance and Ard6che Rivers this distinctive combination
of processes has given large, gentle-sided channel-forms containing bed load sediments
(DOEGLAS, 1962). According to Doeglas, the fills of Durance channel-forms begin
with sands and fine gravels which grade upward and laterally into coarse gravels.
Oblique lamination present in the fills probably represents the sideways and down-
stream advance of bars into adjacent anabranch channels. The Ardkche River,
distinguished from the Durance by its load of gravelly sand, fills channel-forms diffe-
rently. DOEGLAS (1962) reports one channel-form 9 ft. deep and many tens of feet
wide (Fig.25). The fill begins with sandy cobble and pebble gravel and is completed
by pebbly sands showing oblique bedding concordant with the exposed channel sides.
Fig.25. Braided bar gravels and sands filling channel-forms, Ardeche River, betNeen St. Just and Pont
St. Esprit, southern France. (After DOEGLAS, 1962, fig.29,34.) Exposed deposit is about 3 ni thick.
Other bar sediments from the Ardeche floodplain show “cut-and-fill” structures and
cross-stratification on large and small scales.
OVERBANK OR TOPSTRATUM DEPOSITS
Swale-fill deposits (Table I V )
Swale-fill deposits of meander belts represent aggradation within the arcuate hollows
that form a part of the accretion topography visible on the surface of point bars.
Filling occurs at high stream stages when floodwaters submerge the bars and at inter-
mediate stages where the deeper swales open downstream into the main channels to
form local backwaters. Swale-fill deposits are narrow, arcuate bodies of prismatic
cross-section, thickening downstream and with bottom surfaces that are convex-
downward. Even in the case of a large stream such as the Mississippi River (FJSK,
1944, 1947), swale-fill deposits are rarely more than a few miles in length, 1,000 ft.
in width, and 10-15 ft. in maximum thickness. Swale-fill deposits of the much smaller
Sura River in the U.S.S.R. have a maximum thickness of only 6 ft. (SHANTZER, 1951).
Sediments deposited mainly from suspension contribute to point bar swale-fill
deposits. In the Mississippi valley the fills comprise well stratified sandy silts, clayey
silts and silty clays comparable in grading and perfection of bedding with the levee
deposits that eventually come to overlie the smoothed out accretion topography
(FIX, 1944, 1947). Well bedded silty sands ranging to silty clays occur in the bar swale-
fills of the Sura River (SHANTZER, 1951), the layers of the fills draping against the sides
of the bar ridges. Dense stands of trees clothe swale-fills in the Mississippi valley,
although whilst only partly filled the swales usually hold chains of ponds or small
arcuate lakes.
During intermediate water stages in braided streams, channels between alluvial
bars become wholly or partly closed off at their upstream ends so that the downstream
portions form backwaters which receive the suspended and finer bed loads of the
streams. Swale-fill deposits of this origin were described by DOEGLAS (1962) from the
Durance River. They included fine grained sands, silts and clays, and the sedimentary
structures preserved were small scale linguoid ripples, erosional fluting?, and sun-
cracks. Other fine grained swale fill deposits revealed alternations of silt with thin
beds and rippled lenticles of sand. Load casts were figured from one horizon. On
the stream returning to high stage, many of these deposits become covered over
with sandy gravels of migrating channel bars.
Levee deposits (Table I V )
In three-dimensional geometry levees can be likened to a sinuous, ribbon-like, pris-

matic body of triangular cross-section, the base of the triangle being horizontal and
the hypotenuse having a gentle slope away from the channel. Levees assume simple
Seditnentology, 5 (1965) 89-191
146 J. R. L. ALLEN
patterns when bordering streams of low sinuosity (e.g., Fig.20). Patterns are complex,
resembling an open mesh, in the meander belts of high sinuosity streams such as the
Mississippi (FISK, 1947) along which cut-off has been frequent. Dimensions of levees
have been discussed above.
Levee deposits are amongst the coarser deposits of the topstratum, a reflection
of the proximity of the environment to active streams. Two texturally distinct groups
of sediment, sandy silts and silty clays (Fig.26B), contribute to Mississippi levees
(Frsrc, 1944, 1947). Levee sediments of this stream fine away from the channel locally
(Fig.27) and also fine regionally from north to south down the floodplain ( FISK,1947;
KOLB,1962). Similar local and regional changes in levees were noted by B. ANDERSON
(1961) from the Rufiji River, the deposits ranging from almost pure sands through
silty sands to silty clays, with the coarser sediments predominant (Fig.26E). In contrast
to the Mississippi the sediments form a single but highly variable textural group.
LORENSand THRONSON (1955) found levee deposits of the Sacramento River to
decrease in coarseness down the floodplain and also away from the active channel.
Median grain sizes fall in the silt class, clay and sand also occurring (Fig.23A, 28A).
Levees of the Niger delta floodplain consist of very fine sands, clayey silts and silty
clays (ALLEN,1964c, 1965d).
Rapid vertical interbedding of coarse with fine sediments has been widely
recorded from levee deposits and is one of their most characteristic features (FIX,
1944, 1947, 1961; SHANTZER, 1951; LORENSand THRONSON, 1955; SHEPARD, 1956;
LATTMAN, 1960; B. ANDERSON, 1961; ALLEN,1964c, 1965d). The interbedding varies
in scale, probably depending on the sizes of the levees and the grades of sediment made
available by the stream, and is expressive of the repeated submergence and intermittent
construction of levees during floods. Interbedding in levees of the Niger and Missis-
sippi deltas is on a scale from less than an inch to a few inches (SHEPARD, 1956; ALLEN,
1964~).Fine and coarse units from a few inches to afoot or so in thickness are interbed-
ded in the levees of the Mississippi alluvial valley (FISK,1944,1947). Levees ofthe Rufiji
River (B. ANDERSON, 1961) reveal a similar scale of interstratification (Fig.29A, B).
The sedimentary structures of levee deposits are poorly known. Small scale
cross-stratification and even lamination are recorded by ALLEN(1964c, 1965d)
from Niger delta levees. B. ANDERSON(1961) reported “cross-bedding’’ from the
levees of the Rufiji River, but whether the structure occurred on the large or small
scale is not known.
Being inundated for only a few days or weeks in an average year, most levees
support vegetation and preserve soil beds in the form of mottled and homogenised
deposits abounding in roots, rootlets, and plant litter (FISK,1944, 1961; B. ANDERSON,
1961). As the porosity and permeability of the deposits is moderate to good, there
is local oxidation and the development of brown colours (Fisk, 1944, 1961; B.
ANDERSON,1961; KOLB, 1962). Rims of red or brown oxidised sediment border
decayed rootlets and (?) worm burrows in levee deposits of the Niger delta. In drier
regions the finer and more clayey levee sediments become suncracked ( FISKet al.,
1954; B. ANDERSON, 1961). Invertebrate remains are generally absent.
ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS
a
n
v
a
0
P
Sedimentology,5 (1965)89-191
148 J. R. L. ALLEN
100 0
-
-
a
20-
-
<
2 t
- 5 f t depth a
* I f t depth
- 40d
40 - - 60
20 - 80
- 5 f t depth
* I f t depth
0 100
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
Fig.27. Textural changes in natural levee deposits, Lake Providence Levee, Mississippi River. (Data
of FISK,1947, ~1.56.)
Crevasse-splay deposits (Table IV)
Crevasse-splay deposits are narrow to broad, localised tongues of sediment, sinuous

to lobate in plan, deposited over the lower slopes of levees and the outer margins
of floodbasins from crevasse channels that tapped active streams in flood. Splay
thicknesses range from a few inches to several feet. Splay deposits are poorly known
as a group.
For reasons discussed above, crevasse-splay deposits prove to be as coarse
and often coarser than the levee deposits with which they are associated, as shown
by Anatolian streams (RUSSELL,1954) and the RhBne in its delta {RUSSELL,1942;
KRUIT, 1955.) The textural disparity between crevasse-splay and other overbank
sediments is strikingly shown in the topstratum of Tobitubby and Hurricane Creeks,
Missisippi, affected by culturally accelerated sedimentation (HAPPet al. 1940). The
coarsest topstratum sediments are moderately well sorted, very fine to medium grained
sands deposited as crevasse-splays which intertongue with finer grained and in general
better sorted sandy silts and clayey silts of levee and floodbasin origins (Fig.30).
The splay deposits are similar in grade to the bed loads and channel deposits of these
streams. As shown by mechanical analyses through many vertical floodplain sequences
(HAPPet a]., 1940), coarse crevasse-splay deposits account for beds between 4 inches
and 4 ft. in thickness, although most splays are less than 1 ft. in thickness. Splays of
these creeks have tops marked by small scale ripples and small, braided channels.
The splays partly cover standing vegetation and include drifted plant remains (see
also SIGAFOOS, 1964.)
Sedimenrology, 5 (1965) 89-191

50-loop
9
B
2z
8L
VI
=
W
449p <50p 7lOOp '50~1 7100~1 4 50p
v
QJ
'p Fig.28. Textural characteristics of alluvial deposits. A. Representative samples from alluvial environments' of Sacramento River, California. (After LORENS
+. and THRONSON, 1955, p1.7.) B. Topstratum deposits, Rio Grande, New Mexico. (After HAPP,1944, table I.) C . Topstratum deposits, Ohio River, Kentucky.
' (After MANSFIELD, 1938, Appendix.) D. Topstratum deposits, Connecticut River, Massachusetts. (After JAHNS,1947,pp.138-142.) E. Topstratum deposits,
Kansas River, Kansas. (After CARLSON and RUNNELLS, 1952, table 4.) F. Topstratum deposits, Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania. (After WOLMAN, 1955
fig.19.)
150 1. R. L. ALLEN
Loam
Fine sandy
clay
Fine sandy
clay
2 --:
Stratified and Fine sand
cross-stratified
fine to coarse
--- _
_
-- Cloy
3 ----
..
Clay 4
.... .
-_ _
Clay
Fine sand
Fig.29. Vertical sections in topstratum deposits of Rufiji River, Tanganyika. (After ANDERSON, B.,
1961.) A. Natural levee, station R7. B. Natural levee, station R15. C . Floodbasin, station R5. D.
Floodbasin, station R17. Scale in ft.
Floodbasin deposits (Table I V )
Floodbasin deposits represent the long-continued accumulation of fines suspended in

floodwaters that became stilled after reaching low-lying basins flanking alluvial
ridges. In geometry floodbasin masses may be compared to elongated, tabular, pris-
matic bodies of rectangular cross-section. Where alluvial ridges define both of the
long sides of a floodbasin mass, the lateral contacts of the mass prove to be abrupt,
erosional and steeply inclined against the point bar and channel-fill deposits of the
meander belt (e.g , FISK,1947). The re-entrants seen o n the long edges of such flood-
basin masses are the counterparts of the “beads” (cut-oE point bars) found on the
flanks of the meander belt ridges.
Floodbasin masses are elongated parallel to stream channels and alluvial ridges,
their length generally being 2-8 times their width (e.g., Mississippi, FISK,1944, 1947).
Exceptionally, floodbasin masses are more than 20 times longer than broad, as in the
upper floodplain of the Rufiji River (B. ANDERSON, 1961). Floodbasin deposits of the
Mississippi River range in length from 5 to 50 miles, in width from 2 t o 15 miles, and
in maximum thickness from 25 t o 140 ft. (FIX, 1944, 1947). Greatest thicknesses are
recorded from the southern part of the alluvial valley. Floodbasin masses of the
Rufiji River exceed 6 ft. in maximum thickness, varying in length from 1 to 12 miles
and in width from one quarter of a mile to 9 miles (B. ANDERSON, 1961). Basin deposits
become less elongated and also larger in individual area and thickness in proceeding
down the Rufiji floodplain. BERNARD et al. (1962) record floodbasin deposits up to
22 ft. thick from the Brazos River floodplain.
The finest topstratum deposits are generally found amongst floodbasin sedi-
ments. Those of the Mississippi (FISK, 1944, 1947) are reddish brown to gray clayey
silts and silty clays with median sizes of 15 p and less (Fig.26C). Unlike the well
stratified and texturally differentiated sediments of levees of that stream (Fig.26B),
Crevasse-splay
...
\./
L
/:... .:..
-
Mainly floodbasin
0.001 -
t
0.001 0 01
MEDIAN [ M M )
L
0
Fig.30. Textural charateristics of topstratum deposits, Tobitubby and Hurricane Creeks, Missis-
sippi. (After HAPPet al., 1940, table 10.)
Sedimenfology,5 (1965) 89--191
152 J. R. L. ALLEN
the floodbasin deposits form a single though variable textural group. There is upward
fining through floodbasin masses of the alluvial valley. Floodbasin sedimegts of the
Missouri, tributary to the Mississippi, range from yellowish brown sandy silts to
silty clays, with the latter grade predominant (GLENN and DAHL,1959). A proportion
of these topstratum deposits are true clays. HAPPet al. (1940) report clayey silts and
silty clays from the floodbasins of Tobitubby and Hurricane Creeks (Fig.30). Flood-
basin sediments of the Rufiji River (B. ANDERSON, 1961) fall within two texturally
distinct groups (Fig.26F), in contrast to deposits from this environment in the Mis-
sissippi valley. The coarser group, representing one third of the samples analysed,
comprises sandy silts and clayey sands and the finer group silty clays. The grain-size
range is not significantly different from that found in the associated levees (Fig.26E),
but the proportion of finer sediments is higher in the floodbasins than the levees.
Floodbasin deposits of the Sacramento River (LORENS and THRONSON, 1955) are silty
clays appreciably finer than the deposits of the associated levees (Fig.23A, 28A).
Bedding defined by strong lithological contrasts is seldom well developed in
floodbasin deposits, most of which are relatively uniform through considerable
vertical thicknesses. FISK(1947) records interbedding of clays with silty clays and also
thin laminations. Stratification in floodbasin sediments of Tobitubby and Hurricane
Creeks is mainly due to the presence of crevasse-splay sands (HAPP et al., 1940).
B. ANDERSON (1961) found thin sandy layers in certain of the Rufiji floodbasins but in
others recorded no pronounced lithological contrasts through vertical sequences of
up to 6 ft. (Fig.29C, D). Little variation in detrital lithology was detected through a
22 ft. vertical section of a Brazos River floodbasin mass (BERNARD et al., 1962)
Because of repeated exposure, floodbasin deposits are subject to dessication
and local oxidation as water tables shift. Suncracks and general shrinkage cracks are
widely recorded (e.g., M. J. ANDERSON, 1961) and characterise the well-known “buck-
shot” clays of Mississippi floodbasins (FJSK,1944, 1947). In drier regions downward
movement of the water table coupled with high evaporation rates at the surface has
led to the formation of calcretes and ferrocretes, and in places to excessive concentra-
tion of alkalis (LORENSand THRONSON, 1955; BERNARDet al., 1962; BERNARDand
MAJOR,1963).
In floodbasin deposits organic debris abounds in the form of mottled and homo-
genised soil zones with rootlets (B. ANDERSON, 1961; BERNARD et al., 1962), tree roots
and stumps (FISK,1947), and drifted leaves and other vegetable matter (Fise, 1944).
Sediments of ponds and marshes developed in floodbasins locally yield fresh water
shells (e.g., Unio, Vivipara) in great quantities (FISK, 1947). LATTMAN (1960) found
peats interbedded with clay and silt in the floodbasin deposits of Beaverdam Run,
Pennsylvania.
Undivided topstratum deposits (Table I V )
The above descriptions apply to overbank deposits formed on floodplains clearly

divisible on morphological grounds into several topstratuni environments. It was seen
Sedimenrology, 5 j1965) 89-191
that other streams have developed floodplains which lack distinct morphological
units, so that their overbank deposits cannot be subdivided environmentally.
Like topstratum deposits generally, fineness of grain is a characteristic though
not universal feature of such indivisible overbank sediments HAPP(1940) recorded
from the Rio Grande floodplain, New Mexico, deposits ranging from silty and clayey
sands to clayey silts and silty clays (Fig.28B), the channel sands of the stream being
fine to medium grained (PEMBERTON, 1964). Suprisingly, topstratum fines deposited
by the 1937 flood on the Ohio River floodplain were coarsest in grain in general
farthest from the river (MANSFIELD, 1938). Clayey to sandy silts dominated the
deposit, with silty sands making a relatively small contribution (Fig.28C). In contrast,
overbank sediments resulting from the exceptional floods of 1936 and 1938 in the
valley of the Connecticut River, Massachusetts, became finer away from the river
and were relatively coarse (JAHNS, 1947). Very fine sands and coarse silts were predo-
minant, but there were also significant amounts of clean, fine to medium sand and,
at points near the river, occasional thin beds of fine gravel (Fig.28D). Channel sedi-
ments of the river range from coarse gravel to sands of moderate coarseness, and the
flood conditions were extreme enough to have raised the coarser bed materials onto
the topstratum. CARLSON and RUNNELS (1952) found sandy silts, silts and silty clays
as overbank deposits on the Kansas River floodplain (Fig.28E). Vertical accretion
deposits of Brandywine Creek, Pennsylvania (WOLMAN, 1955), a stream with a gravel
bed, comprise silty sands and sandy silts (Fig.28F). ADLERand LATTMAN (1961) found
sandy silts and clays in the topstratum of Halfmoon Creek in the same state. Sands,
silts, and clays combine in the topstratum deposits of the Klaralven floodplain
(SUNDBORG, 1956).
Interstratification of coarse with fine overbank sediment is found throughout
the topstratum of floodplains lacking clear environmental subdivisions. Flood waters
are not obstructed in their passage down these plains devoid of significant relief, in
contrast to the situation in floodplains marked by alluvial ridge-floodbasin complexes
that impede and pond flows. In the latter floodplains interstratification of coarse
with fine layers is generally limited to levees.
Interstratification in overbank sediments of streams having unimpeded flood-
plains has been widely observed (MANSFIELD, 1938; MCKEE, 1939; JAHNS,1947;
SCHUMM and LICHTY,1963). As shown in Fig.31, units varying in thickness from a
fraction of an inch to a foot or so are involved. In certain cases it is the coarser units
that are dominant, in others it is the finer grained layers. The scale of interbedding
and the proportion of fine to coarse deposit are very variable, even in a single flood-
plain section, and probably depend on many factors, particularly the distance from
the main channel, the duration and magnitude of the floods, and the calibre of the
general stream load. The deposit of each flood usually comprises a coarse layer below
representing the rise to maximum stage, followed gradationally by a fine unit record-
ing recession (MANSFIELD, 1938; JAHNS,1947; SCHUMM and L~CHTY, 1963). In
Connecticut River topstratum deposits this couple thinned away from the river,
in a typical traverse from 15 inches near the river bank to 3 inches at the toe of the
Sedimentology,5 (1 965) 89-1 91
154 J. R. L. ALLEN
0 0 0
A D E
I I
2 2 FT.
FT.
3 3 2
FT.
4 4
5 5
:.:,::;:.;:
SAND
6 ........
.__..
7
El SILT
CLAY
Fig.31. Vertical sequences in topstratum deposits of unimpeded floodplains. A. Connecticut River,

1 mile north of Hatfield, Massachusetts. (After JAHNS, 1947, table 5.) B. Connecticut River, 1.1 miles
south of Hadley, Massachusetts. (After JAHNS, 1947, table 21.) C. Connecticut River, Old Stacys
Ferry Road, Massachusetts. (After JAHNS, 1947, table 14.) D. Cimarron River, north of Moscow,
Kansas. (After SCHUMM and LICHTY,1963, fig.51.) E. Ohio River, 10 miles south of Louisville,
Kentucky. (After MANSFIELD, 1938, p.723.)
floodplain bluffs (JAHNS,1947). There was a concomittant fining in both coarse and
fine units. In addition to these couples, MANSFIELD (1938) found both fine-coarse-fine
and coaIse-fine-coarse triplets in Ohio flood deposits, explaining them by stage
oscillations over the period of the flood maximum.
The coarse overbank sediments give evidence of a degree of bed movement in
moderately strong currents. Erosional bases to coarse units are common and one
instance of groove filling is known (JANNS, 1947). Internal small scale cross-stratifi-
cation is frequent (McKEE, 1939; JAHNS, 1947; SCHUMM and LICHTY,1963) but even
lamination uncommon (JAHNS,1947). The tops of coarse beds often showed small
asymmetrical ripples, sometimes with plant debris concentrated in the troughs (SYKES,
1937; MCKEE, 1939; JAHNS, 1947). Drifted plant rubbish occurred within many
coarse beds, often forming a thick layer at the base. Coarse beds overlying suncracked
silts sometimes included sharpstone conglomerates and mud balls armoured with
bits of sticks and pebbles (MANSFIELD, 1938; JAHNS, 1947). The finer overbank sedi-
ments frequently dried out and became suncracked after flood recession, the cracked
Sedimentoiogy, 5 (!965) 89-191
polygons often being remarkably large in area (MANSFIELD, 1938; HAPP,1940; JAHNS,
1947; KELLERand FOLEY,1949). Local oxidation followed, with plant roots and
burrowing invertebrates assisting in the aeration of the soil.
TRANSITIONAL DEPOSITS
Channel-fill deposits form the only category recognised in this class, and their major
characteristics are summarised in Table IV. Channel-fills represent aggradations in
channels that either have been abandoned by a stream, or while still carrying the stream
have been reduced in slope and depth due to some extreme sediment supply condition.
Although the deposits are most familiar from the floodplains of meandering streams,
where channel cut-off is commonplace, their formation under the second set of con-
ditions should not be underestimated in importance.
It was seen above that chute and neck cut-off are the two main processes of
channel abandonment in a meander belt. Channel-fills resulting from the two types
of cut-off differ in lithological composition and geometry. In the present paper channel-
fill deposits are considered to include all the sediments laid down in an abandoned
channel after the new channel became a through waterway.
Channel-fill deposits resulting from chute cut-off are shorter and in plan less
strongly curved than those following after neck cut-off on the same stream fcf. Fig.16).
Their three-dimensional shape is that of the existing channel at the time of the
development of the new channel. In cross-section the fill deposits are prismatic and
U-shaped to triangular, the steeper side of the fill being the concave bank of the for-
merly active channel. Whereas the concave side of the channel-fill mass displays an
erosional and discordant relationship with older alluvium, the inner or convex margin
of the fill is gradational with and concordant upon point bar sediments formed in
the channel up to the time of abandonment. Such a channel-fill is therefore bounded
by a surface only in part erosional.
Bed load sediments make important contributions to channel-fills following
from chute cut-off (Fig.32A). Because of the small angular difference between old
and new channels, the stream continues for a long time to flow through the old
channel, depositing bed load sediment at the upstream and downstream ends and on
the floor and sides until terminal closure is completed (FISK,1947). The bed load plug
at the downstream end of the channel is usually much the smaller. After closure
further filling is limited to deposition of fines introduced by overbank flows. The
resulting “clay plugs”, intertonguing with the later of the bed load accretions, are much
shorter in horizontal and vertical dimensions than was the original channel.
Channel-fill deposits after chute cut-off are best known from the Mississippi
River (FISK,1944, 1947). Here the masses attain 3-6 miles in length and from l/.,-I mile
in width. Jncluding the bed load plugs, thicknesses reach several to many tens of
feet. Lithologies present range from sands through silty sands and sandy silts to
dark-coloured silty clays, the so-called “blue muds”. Major coarse and fine units
156 J. R. L. ALLEN
-l
F r
Fig.32. Channel-filldeposits. A. Fill of chute cut-off. B. Fill of neckcut-off. C-F. Fills of ephemeral
stream channels illustrating dependence on channel width-depth ratio and calibre of stream load.
(After SCHUMM, 1960b, fig.2.)
are interstratified on a scale of feet, particularly in the lower parts and at the ends
of the channel-fill masses, where the bed and suspended load contributions to the
plugs are in transition.
Neck cut-off yields channel-fills that are much longer and more strongly curved
than those following chute development (cf. Fig. 16). As shown by FISK’S(1947) data,
lateral contacts between fill masses and existing alluvium are erosive on the concave
sides of the channel-fills. the masses transgressing on steep, curved surfaces, earlier
channel-fill, levee, floodbasin and point bar deposits. On the inner or convex margin
of the fill masses the contact with older alluvium, generally of point bar origin, is
transitional and less sharp, the new deposits being concordant upon the old. This con-
tact as seen at Old River, Louisiana (MCDOWELL, 1960; FRAZIER and OSANTK, 1961),
preserved large scale ripples which probably represented the final movement of bed
load over the abandoned point bar.
Following from the large angular difference between the old and new channels
after neck cut-off, bed load sediments form plugs only at the immediate ends of the
abandoned channel and contribute little to the total volume of the complete fill (Fig.
32B). Once the ends are sealed the remaining fill enters in overbank flows. The result-
ing plugs assume the form of the channel at the time of abandonment, the “clays”
reaching up from floor t o rim and spanning the width from bank to bank, except
at the ends of the channel where the bed load plugs limit the thickness of clay.
Features of channel-fills after neck cut-off‘ are well-known from investigations
along the Mississippi River (FISK,1944, 1947). The fill masses are 10-25 miles long,
some forming almost closed loops, with thicknesses avexaging 60-90 ft. but in places
reaching 140 ft. As shown by numerous mechanical analyses, silty sands, sandy silts,
and silty clays form the major part of the fillings (Fig.26D), organic-rich “blue
muds” being important. Interstratification of major fine and coarse grade units is
usually restricted to the upstream ends of the channel-fills where most of the bed load
material is to be found. Minor structures observed in fills include lamination and
cross-lamination (FRAZJER and OSANIK,1961), and, in the zone of water table fluc-
tuation, shrinkage cracks. Fresh water shells occur in channel-fills when these repre-
sented lakes and the higher levels may yield tree roots and stumps (FISK,1947).
Channel-fill deposits of the above kinds have been described from a few other
floodplains. Ox-bow fills bordering the Missouri River have maximum thicknesses
in excess of 28 ft. and consist of dark-coloured clayey silts, silty clays and clays com-
parable in degree of fineness to the associated floodbasin deposits (GLENNand DAHL,
1959). LORENSand THRONSON (1955) report from the Sacramento River channel-
fills of silty clays appreciably finer grained than the levee and floodbasin deposits.
Channel-fills of the Brazos River comprise laminated and bedded clays and silts
up t o 40 ft. thick (BERNARD et al., 1962; BERNARD and MAJOR,1963).
Channel-fills produced other than under the meandering stream regime are
not so well-known but are important in drier climates where ephemeral streams
are the rule. SCHUMM (1960b, 1961) has discussed channel aggradation in ephemeral
streams subject to high sediment production, low water discharge, and high rate of
water loss through insoaking into alluvium. He showed that the manner of channel-
filling and the nature of the channel-fill depended on the calibre of the stream load as
influencing the content of silt-clay in the channel bed and banks. As was discussed,
Schumm demonstrated that channel width-depth ratio was inversely proportional to
the mean percent of silt-clay in the bed and banks.
The channel shown in Fig.32C, based on studies of Sage Creek, South Dakota,
has a small width-depth ratio (average 4.8) and high mean percent of silt-clay (average
71). The channel-fill, built over successive periods of flow, is of fine grained and often
suncracked sediment in beds at first discordant and then concordant upon the channel
sides. Beds of the youngest fill drape over the edges of the initial channel onto the
floodplain topstratum Studies of Sand Creek, Nebraska, provided the basis for the
channel shown in Fig.32D, which has a moderately small width-depth ratio (average
7.8) and a moderate mean percent of silt-clay in the bed and banks (average 44).
The fill now comprises discordant wedges of fine grained sediment against the channel
banks and concordant sheets of sand on the floor in the central channel. Large sun-
cracks were recorded from veneers of silt covering the sands of the channel floor.
The Arroyo Calabasa, New Mexico, represented in Fig.32E, has a high width-
Sedirnentology, 5 (1965) 89-191
158 J. R. L. ALLEN
depth ratio (average 44) and a small mean percent of silt-clay in the bed and banks
(average 5.5). Successive concordant sheets of sand fill the channel from bottom to
top. Fig.32F represents the situation in Medano Creek, Colorado, which has a high
width-depth ratio (average 256) and a negligible content of silt-clay in the perimeter
(average < 1 %). The stream has wandered from one side to the other of this broad
channel, giving a fill which Schumm suggests comprises convex-upward sand lenses.
ALLUVJAL FAN DEPOSITS
Occurrence and morphology of alluvial fans
An alluvial fan is a body of coarse detrital built up by a mountain stream, generally

of an intermittent character, at the base of a mountain front (BLISSENBACH, 1954).
Although widely distributed, alluvial fans are best developed in sparsely vegetated
areas of low and intermittent rainfall, such as the Near and Middle East (DREW,
1873; RUSSELL, 1954), the Australian interior (GRABAU, 1960), the North American
southwest (TROWBRIDGE, 191 1 ; ECKIS,1928; LONGWELL, 1930; BLACKWELDER, 193 1 ;
CHAWNER, 1935; BLISSENBACH,1952, 1954; DREWES, 1963), and the subarctic regions
of North America. In Europe alluvial fans occur abundantly in the Alps where
steep mountain torrents join larger streams flowing in broad, gentler valleys (e.g.,
DERRUAU, 1958) Alluvial fans commonly form detrital aprons to mountain masses
bounded by faults or sharp flexures, but are by no means restricted to this geological
situation.
The idealised alluvial fan resembles geometrically the segment of a cone with
apex where the parent stream issues from the mountain front through a canyon or
ravine. From the apex, or fanhead area, the fan dips radially away toward the toe, the
fan slope gradually declining. The radial profile of an alluvial fan is therefore concave
to the sky (BLJSSENBACH, 1954), and the cross-profile convex (DREW, 1873). BLISSEN-
BACH (1954) designated as the midfan the area of moderate slope on the middle portion
of the sediment cone. The term base he applied to the outer or lowest zone of the
fan. DAVIS (1938) proposed the term fan-bay for the fanhead area where it reached
back into the mountain mass up the canyon of the parent stream.
An alluvial fan isolated on a mountain front shows a well developed semicircu-
lar plan (MILLER and MILLER, 1961; DREWES, 1963). Those formed on steep initial
slopes, or which coalesce lalerally to form a rock apron or bajada (ECKIS,1928),
are generally elongated perpendicular to the mountain front. Alluvial fans vary in
radius from 40 miles to as little as a few hundred yards, when they are sometimes
called alluvial cones. A radius between and 4 miles is typical of fans in the North
American southwest. Alluvial fans also vary widely in angular slope (Fig.33), but
few have maximum slopes in excess of 10"(BLISSENBACH, 1954). Talus cones formed by
gravitational sliding of rock debris are steeper than alluvial fans.
An alluvial fan is characterised by a radial, distributive system of wide, braided
DISTANCE FROM FAN APEX (MILES)
Fig.33. Slope and particle size variation on alluvial fans. I fan of Catalina Mountains, Arizona.
(After BLISSENBACH, 1954, fig.5.) 2-4 alluvial fans (Lyttle, Cucamonga, Deer) of Cucamonga district,
southern California. (After ECKIS,1928, table I.)
channels or washes which originate in the fanhead area or fan bay (e.g., MILLER
and MILLER, 1961). Whilst channels of the fanhead are commonly entrenched several
yards into the fan deposits (DREW,1873; ECKIS,1928; BUWALDA,1951), those of the
midfan and fanbase are less deeply if at all incised. ECKIS(1928) distinguished five
possible causes of fanhead channel entrenchment, amongst the most important being
long-term changes in precipitation, downcutting of the parent stream in the canyon
section, and diastrophic uplift of the fanhead area. Beyond the fanbase the braided
channels may die out, as in the silt and evaporite playa of Death Valley, California
(DREWES, 1963), or debouch into some perennial stream whichffows to the sea through
an otherwise normal floodplain (DREW,1873; ECKIS,1928; RUSSELL, 1954). Lateral
erosion of the fanbase by a floodplain stream is also a cause of channel entrenchment
on alluvial fans (DREW, 1873).
Processes of formation
The basic conditions for alluvial fan formation are intermittent stream action and a
more or less sudden change in the slope of the ground leading to aggradation. In
wetter areas, such as the Swiss Alps, intermittent stream action results mainly from
the melting of winter snows. Intermittent stream action in drier areas, for example
the North American southwest, is chiefly due to sudden, violent rainstorms in the
mountains which form the hinterland of a bajada. Commonly these storms are
160 f . R. L. ALLEN
seasonal, and their effect is to flush out from the canyons and ravines of the hinterland
the weathered rock debris accumulated during the drier seasons or years. This debris
is carried rapidly to one or more fanheads, depending on the size of the district affect-
ed by the storm.
BLISSENBACH (1954) pointed out that alluvial fans are constructed by three
agencies: s t r e a d o o d s , sheetfloods, and streams. Streamfloods and sheetfloods are
dominant in forming alluvial fans in dry regions where climate does not favour
permanent overland flows. Streams are dominant in wetter regions.
Streamfloods are large amounts of water and debris flowing in alluvial fan
channels. They appear suddenly and are short-lived (CHAWNER, 1935; JAHNS,1949;
LEOPOLD and MILLER,1956). Small streamfloods which resulted from summer thun-
derstorms within the drainage areas of dry arroyos are described by LEOPOLD and
MILLER(1956) as reaching peak discharges in less than 10 min after their appearance
and as headed by a series of bores up to 2 ft. in height. Cobbles and mudballs were
rolled rapidly along by these floods, even though the water was no deeper than half
the diameter of the rolling object. CHAWNER(1935) and CROFT(1962) described
large streamfloods that were even more spectacular.
Sheetfloods are formed when a streamflood overtops or is diverted from its
channel so as to cover in a sheet a substantial part of the alluvial fan surface. MCGEE
(1 897) graphically describes a small sheetflood from the United States-Mexico border
area. The flood appeared suddenly, with a roar, and “the water was thick with mud,
slimy with foam, and loaded with twigs, dead leaflets and other flotsam.. . and in
half an hour from the advent of the flood the ground was again whitening in the sun”.
The torrent was thin but advanced over a broad front, dying out in irregular lobes.
Judging from the account of “transverse waves” and “rushes” of water the rapid
flow regime may have been reached locally. The flood left a film of sand, silt and
much flotsam, and in numerous places scoured out pits and gullies up to 2 ft. deep,
each with a “delta” of pebbly sand at the downcurrent end. Thus sheetfloods are
blanket-shaped, whereas streamfloods have a linear plan. Both commonly suffer
diminution by loss of water into the underlying dry, pervious, fan deposits. The final
phase of a streamflood or sheetflood is often a slow, creeping flow of lubricated sedi-
ment resembling a true mudflow (BLACKWELDER, 1928).
Whereas the duration of streamfloods and sheetfloods is measured in minutes
or hours, that of streams is in days or weeks. Streams can exist on alluvial fans only
if there is constant recharge of water in the hinterland and provided losses by insoak-
ing into the fan are small. Generally alluvial fan streams are much less debris-laden
than streamfloods or sheetfloods.
Character of deposits
The character of alluvial fan deposits reflects the local source of the debris in an area
of high relief, the brief duration and short distance of transport of detritus, and the
agents responsible for transport and deposition. Mineral composition mirrors local
geology, the amount of undecomposed labile material generally being high (LAWSON,
1913). Alluvial fan deposits ate relatively coarse grained and typically of gravel grade.
Sand and silt grade sediments are usually subordinate. As shown in Fig.33, the
coarser debris occurs in the fanhead area, the finer near the fanbase (ECKIS,1928;
BLISSENBACH, 1952, 1954). Individual strata in alluvial fans range in thickness from
10-20 ft. to as little as a few inches. Finer grained beds increase in thickness and
frequency from fanhead to fanbase, and vertical changes in grain size can be pronoun-
ced, TROWBRTDGE (1911) recording rapid alternations of clay and gravel at one
fanbase. BL~SSENBACH (1954) records roundness values of 0.2 at the head of a fan in
the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, and values of about 0.7 at the base of the
same fan 4 miles away. The majority of fan deposits are pocrly sorted, with matrices
including much sand and silt (TROWBRIDGE, 191 1; CHAWNER, 1935; BLTSSENBACH,
1954).
Violent streamfloods and sheetfloods provide the coarsest fan deposits, giving
elongate or sheet-like deposits with erosive lateral and basal contacts. Individual
deposits range in thickness from 1 ft. on small fans to 15 or 20 ft. on large fans
(BLISSENBACH,1954). The particle size range in any one deposit is large, from silt to
boulders 3-12 ft. across (ECKIS,1928; CHAWNER, 1935; MCKEE,1957). Such deposits
range from poorly stratified to unstratified and chaotic, sorting being very poor
(BULL, 1960). Vegetable flotsam may occur in the deposit (MCGEE, 1897).
Fan deposits attributed to moderate streamfloods and t o streams are in general
thinner, finer grained, and better sorted and stratified than those of violent stream-
floods and sheetfloods (BULL, 1960). BLISSENBACH (1954) states that most stream
deposits of fans are in layers from 1 inch to 1 ft. in thickness and that such deposits
in sequence may attain a vertical extent of a few tens of feet. Lenticularity of bedding
and scoured or channelled lower contacts are typical (TROWBRIDGE, 191 1; BLISSEN-
BACH, 1954; MCKEE,1957). Scour-and-fill structures, gently inclined laminations,
large scale “festoon” cross-stratification and pebble pavements have all been recorded
from sandy stream deposits. Gravels of stream and moderate streamflood deposits
generally are well oriented and imbricated, unlike the chaotically arranged debris of
“mud-rock” floods. Alluvial fans contain no sediments comparable to the overbank
deposits of floodplains, but may include near the fanbase debris reworked from fan
surfaces by the wind (BLISSENBACH, 1954).
AEOLIAN DEPOSITS 1N ALLUVIAL SEQUENCES
Wind can redistribute sediment lying loose on the surface of a floodplain or on the
exposed sides or bed of a stream channel. The requisite conditions are that the sedi-
ment be dry or just moist and that the vegetation cover and rootlet bonds be incom-
plete. Under a wide range of climates these conditions are readily satisfied immedia-
tely following periods of overbank flow or of high stage in the channel.
After the recession of floods in the Connecticut valley, JAHNS (1947) observed
162 J. R. L. ALLEN
Fig.34. Dune sand series associated with alluvial deposits of the Red River in the Big Bend area,
Oklahoma-Texas. (After SELLARDS, 1923, pp.51-53.)
that sand deposited from overbank floods was soon drifted by the wind into the
cracks of nearby sun-dried overbank silts. In places the blown sand formed patchy
veneers a few inches thick, and certain of the buried deposits of the floodplain were
interpreted as reworked by the wind on account of their structureless character and
good sorting. Later, SCHUMM and LICHTY (1963) reported a similar drifting of sand
across silts in the high water bed of the Cimarron River, Kansas.
The most striking aeolian deposits of floodplains are migratory dunes that
border stream channels from which sand has been abundantly winnowed at times of
low water. Along the Cimarron River sand dunes 2-7 ft. high form conspicuous
"levees" bordering the alluvial islands of the braided channel (SCHUMM and LICHTY,
1963). KRUIT(1955) recorded that in the upper reaches of the Petit RhBne, RhBne
delta, there were dunes up to 45 ft. high which represented the deflation of nearby
point bar sands. Equally striking but better documented are the dunes SELLARDS (1923)
described from the Red River on the Texas-Oklahoma border (Fig.34). This shallow
but broad stream varies widely in discharge and at low water large areas of sandy bed
are exposed. In four series, dunes up to 30 ft. in height have been developed for many
miles almg the edge of the river. They form linear or curvilinear belts which followed
the channels at the time of dune formation, and this is particularly clear in the case of
the youngest dunes (Series 4). The dunes have a limited stabilisation by vegetation
and comprise well sorted, cross-stratified, fine to medium sands which rest on and
interdigitate with overbank silts and clays of various ages. Partial preservation of the
dune sands has taken place.
ALLUVIAL FACIES MODELS
Using the data presented above a number of facies models can be devised which
facilitate the interpretation of alluvial deposits of the past. These models are developed
on two levels: several basic associations of alluvial environments are recognised
(Fig.35), and these are then grouped into associations of a larger order of complexity
and size (Fig.36). The models are hypothetical and represent only the more common
existing situations in which alluvial sediments are to be found.
Fig.35A is a model of an alluvial fan association. Abutting an upland area are
successive, narrow sheets representing coalescent alluvial fans. The fans comprise
coarse, ill-sorted debris of local origin. In vertical section individual sheets are wedge-
shaped, the deposit rapidly thinning and fining away from the uplands. The feather
edge of each sheet is scalloped and intertongues with sediments that are formed at a
greater distance from the upland front. Internally each sheet consists of deposits
that are sheetlike or lenticular in form, depending on whether sheetfloods or stream-
floods were dominant in forming the fans. The variance of directional elements in
the fan deposits is moderate, and reflects the limited directions available for sediment
transport imposed by the fan geometry and the low sinuosity of the fan streams. The
directional element average vector lies perpendicular to the trend of the uplands,
pointing away from the uplands.
The model shown in Fig.35B is for a segment of the floodplain of a braided
stream. The complete deposit is elongated in the direction of flow, between the bluffs
which bound the floodplain. Coarse materials representing bed load deposition
dominate the deposit, and there is little argillaceous sediment of overbank origin
preserved because of the freedom with which the streams can comb across the flood-
plain. IndividuaI sediment units are lenticular, occupying channel-forms representing
the building of alluvial islands into anabranch channels and the moulding of fresh
anabranches. Forms of large scale cross-stratification and even bedding are likely
to be present, and some of the fine sediments preserved may represent channel filling
during low stage. Variance of directional elements is small, since the streams range
164 J. R. L. ALLEN
F{ Other facies Mainly topstratum deposits
Coarse fan, channel bar, or meander belt deposits
Fig.35. Hypothetical models illustrating textural and geometrical characteristics of common alluvial
facies. A. Piedmont formed of alluvial fans. B. Braided stream. C. Low sinuosity stream. D. Strongly
meandering stream.
through a limited angle, and the average vector is parallel to the elongation of the
sediment body.
Fig.35C is a model of the facies that can be expected in the case of a stream
of low sinuosity. Confined by the bluffs bounding the floodplain, the deposit is elon-
gated in the direction of stream flow. Because the stream has low sinuosity, it is not
confined in a meander belt by channel-fills and is therefore free t o sweep the entire
floodplain. Coarse arenaceous to rudaceous sediments representing bed load deposi-
tion in the stream channel are dominant and extend across the width of the floodplain
as tabular to wedge-shaped sheets bounded by erosion surfaces. Upward fining
occurs in each bed load deposit. Sediments representing deposition from suspension
w] Rock F] Other focies
I-[ Meander belt deposits
Fig.36. Hypothetical models illustrating textural and geometrical characteristics of common alluvial
facies associations. A. Alluvial fans and meandering stream in enclosed basin. B. Delta. C. Alluvial
portion of coastal plain.
on the topstratum are thin and laterally unextensive. They display an alternation
of coarse and fine units on a small scale, as well as features recording exposure,
whatever their relationship to the active channel. There may be occasional fine-grained
channel-fills. Directional elements show a small to moderate variance and an average
vector that is parallel to the elongation of the deposit.
The model developed in Fig.35D is for a segment of the floodplain of a stream
with conspicuous meanders and thus high sinuosity. Coarse sediments of bed load
deposition are found in narrow, linear bodies elongated in the direction of general
stream flow. Cross-stratified sand i s dominant in these bodies, each of which fines
upward from a basal erosional surface and includes, near the top, finer debris depo-
166 J. R. L. ALLEN
sited on levees and crevasse-splays. Many of these finer sediments reveal a small
scale interstratification of coarse with fine units, as well as features indicative of expo-
sure. In addition the bodies include and are bordered by deep, arcuate, fine grained
channel-fills, the bordering fill deposits being closely knit. The bed load sediments
appear in linear bodies because the channel-fills restrict the extent to which the stream
in each meander belt can wander laterally, so that avulsion is the dominant mode of
channel shifting. The lower parts of the “sand” bodies are defined laterally by erosive
contacts, although the upper parts show a large scale intertonguing relationship
with contemporaneous fine sediments. Argillaceous sediments of uniform lithology
representing suspended loads deposited in floodbasins envelop and separate the mean-
der belt sands laterally and to a lesser extent vertically. Directional features of the
bodies yield an average vector parallel to sand body trend and stream flow but
with a high variance.
Fig.36A is a facies model for an intermontane basin from which there is drainage
to the sea. The model combine? the alluvial fan and floodplain associations shown in
Fig.35A, D. Rudaceous fan deposits border the basin. By their thinning and grain
size changes the fan deposits reveal a “centripetal” flow toward a linear “focus”
which is the longitudinal axis of the basin. Evidence of flow out of the basin along
the axis is shown by the linear meander belt “sands” formed in and adjacent t o high
sinuosity streams shifting by avulsion. The stream channel deposits are finer grained
than those of the fan wedges, but may include fan sediments where a stream cut into
the bases of the fans. Stream channel and fan deposits are embedded in a mass of
argillaceous sediments largely of floodbasin origin. Some of the fine grained sediment
may represent lakes or playas. Directional elements in the deposit as a whole reveal a
bimodal or polymodal transport pattern, the mode associated with the sands being
that for flow out of the basin. Variance of directional elements is high or very high.
The model shown in Fig.36B is for the alluvial portion of a delta in which
distributary channels are highly sinuous. Several floodplain associations (Fig.35D)
are combined in this model. Linear meander belt “sands” radiate out from a point
source, the head of passes where the master stream emerges from its interior flood-
plain. The upper parts of the sand bodies are embedded in argillaceous sediments
largely of floodbasin origin. The lower parts channel down erosively into older
sediments which may be of deltaic origin and be capped by marine strata first of
transgressive and then of regressive nature. On the outer margin of the delta, not
shown in Fig.36B, the channel sands are associated laterally with sediments of coastal
and near-shore marine origin. Directional elements preserved in the alluvial sediments
yield a unimodal distribution, the variance of the average vector being high to very
high on account of the fact that variation of channel direction within the meander
belts is compounded with variation in the trends of the meander belts themselves.
Fig.36C is a facies model for the alluvial portion of a coastal plain. Jn this
model several floodplain associations of the type shown in Fig.35D are grouped. For
the sake of simplicity, the model assumes uniform subsidence, no changes of base level,
and no differential subsidence between inner and outer parts of the plain. Discharges
originate in a linear source and flow is transverse to the elongation of the source
region and the sediment body resulting from denudation of the source area. The deposit
comprises parallel complexes of meander belt “sands” embedded in argillaceous
sediments largely of floodbasin origin. Sand bodies fine upward and from the inner
to the outer margin of the floodplain. They are erosively related to floodbasin deposits
and to each other. Variance of directional elements in the meander belt sands is high,
the distribution of elements being unimodal and, when plotted on a map, expressive
of the linear nature of the source. At the seaward margin of the plain, not shown in
the model, the streams may form deltas and the alluvial deposits be associated with
sediments of coastal and near-shore marine origins.
Sediment relationships in a coastal plain become highly complex when base
level change and differential subsidence are additional factors in the construction
of a model. The geometrical characteristics of alluvial sediment bodies then reflects
the development of streams in terraced valleys, and braided as well as meandering
stream deposits are likely to be present. Jn the outer parts of the plain there is complex
intertonguing of alluvial, coastal, and near-shore marine sediments.
ANCIENT ANALOGUES
Although concerned primarily with recent alluvial deposits, this paper would be
incomplete without brief reference to ancient sediments interpreted as alluvial in
origin (Table V). The evidence leading to this conclusion with regard to rocks is of
varying quality, including such features as the absence of marine fossils, the presence
of plant remains and/or vertebrates, intertonguing with marine strata and a flanking
relationship to the presumed or inferred source area, sandstone body geometry,
the presence of sedimentary structures suggestive of strong unidirectional currents,
and the occurrence of sedimentary structures proving atmospheric exposure. Few
direct and detailed comparisons of ancient rocks with recent alluvial sediments have
yet been made, although on philosophical grounds this approach seems likely to
provide the surest answers.
In Table V the ancient sediments are grouped according to whether the evidence
favours origin on a coastal plain, an intracontinental plain, or in an intermontane
basin.
Coastal plain alluvial sediments are the most numerous. The thick Devonian
red beds of the southern British Isles and the Appalachian region of the United States
are broadly synorogenic, as are the fluviatile molasse deposits of the Alps-Pyrenees
and the Jurassic-Cretaceousrocks of the west-central United States of America. These
formations accumulated through the denudation of rising mountain chains, on
coastal plains constructed between uplands and receptive seas. In all of these strata
are formations characterised by cyclical deposition, the standard cycle agreeing with
a typical floodplain sequence (ALLEN,1965b).
Certain of the coastal plain formations are post-orogenic. The Tuscarora-
168 J. R. L. ALLEN
TABLE V
OCCURRENCE OF STRATA INTERPRETED AS PARTLY OR WHOLLY OF ALLUVIAL ORIGIN
Region Age of formation Reference
Probably of coastalplain origin

Western Canada Precambrian FAHRIG,1961
North central U S A . Cambrian HAMBLIN,1958
Eastern U.S.A. Upper Ordovician- YEAKEL,
1959
Lower Silurian
Southern British Isles Lower Devonian BALLet al., 1961
(Lower Old Red ALLEN,1962b, c, 1963a, b,
Sandstone) 1964a
ALLENand TARLO,1963
South Wales, Welsh borderland, Upper Devonian (Upper ALLEN,1965c
southeast England Old Red Sandstone)
East central U.S.A. Middle and Upper BARRELL, 1913,1914
Devonian BURTNER, 1963
LEEPER, 1963
Central and eastern U.S.A. Carboniferous - BIEBER,1953
Permian PEPPERet al., 1954
POTTER and OLSON,1954
MUDGE,1956
POTTER and SIEVER, 1956
HOPKINS,1958
PELLETIER, 1958
POTTER and GLASS,1958
POTTER et al., 1958
TOWE, 1959
WILLIAMS, 1959
FRIEDMANN, 1960
ANDERSON, M. J., 1961
BEERBOWER, 1961
POTTER and Swm, 1961
DOTYand HUBERT,1962
POTTER,1962a, b, c, 1963
POTTERand PETTIJOHN, 1963
SCHLEE, 1963
England and Wales Carboniferous WALKER, 1955
BLUCKand KELLING,1962
SHACKLETON, 1962
WRIGHT,1964
Central U.S.S.R. Carboniferous BOTVINKINA et al., 1954
JABLOKOV et al., 1961
West central U.S.A. Triassic MCKEE,1954
HARSHBARGER et al., 1957
POOLE,1961
West central U.S.A. Jurassic- STOKES,1953,1954,1961
Cretaceous CRAIGet al., 1955
YOUNG,1955,1957
HARSHBARGER et al., 1957
MOBERLY, 1960
SCHLEEand MOENCH,1961
MACKENZLE and RYAN,1962
MAPELand PILLMORE, 1962
LANE,D. W., 1963b
TABLE V (continued)
Southern Germany, Switzerland, Paleogene- LEMCKEet al., 1953

southern France Neogene CROUZEL,1957
BERSIER,
1958a, b
Southeastern Australia Quaternary HAWKINS and WALKER, 1956
BUTLER,1958
LANGFORD-SMITH, 1960
Probably of intracontinentalplain origin
Germany, England Triassic BRINKMANN, 1933

FORCHE,1935
SEIFERT,
1942
PICARD,1950
WILLS,1952
West central U.S.A. Paleogene-Neogene MOORE, 1958
Central and eastern U.S.A. Neogene PLUMLEY, 1948
POTTER,1955
SCHLEE,1957
Southern U.S.A. Neogene STRICKLIN,1961
BERNARD et al., 1962
Probably of intermontane basin origin

Spitsbergen Devonian FRIEND,1961
Eastern U.S.A. Triassic KRYNINE, 1950
REINEMUND, 1955
KLEIN,1962,1963
Southwestern U.S.A. Neogene TROWBRIDGE, 1911
DREWES, 1963
Unspecifiedorigin
South central Canada, Precambrian MCDOWELL,1957

North central U.S.A. HAMBLIN,
1961a, b
Shawangunk of the Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian group in the eastern United

States grade up into marine strata, are relatively thin, and eastwards overlap far onto
source area beds, suggesting the tectonic stability and physiographic “maturity” of
the source region. Similarly, the Upper Old Red Sandstone in the southern British
Isles lies unconformably across denuded source area beds of the Lower and Middle
Devonian alluvium of the region, and is followed by a thick Carboniferous carbonate
sequence representing wide transgression.
Alluvial formations listed under intracontinental plains accumulated under a
wide range of climatic conditions within the confines of major land areas probably
of low relief. Associated in certain instances with lake beds, but almost never with
marine strata, they are without particular diastrophic implications.
Formations classed in Table V under intermontane basins form numerically
a small group compared to the alluvial strata of coastal plain origin. The formations
accumulated in relatively small fault- or flexure-bounded basins, many of which had
no connection with the open sea. Rocks interpreted as piedmont in origin fringe
170 J. R. L. ALLEN
the edges of the basins, whilst in the more central parts occur floodplain and/or playa
and lake sediments.
CONCLUSION
Streams are the most important of the agents responsible for the removal from the
land of the products of weathering and for the construction of new bodies of sediment
within land masses or on their immediate margins.
Streams exist in a state of quasi-equilibrium with the factors of climate, geologi-
cal structure, diastrophism, and base level change that determine the geomorpholo-
gical characteristics of a land area. A high degree of order is apparent in stream
drainage nets and channels, and within major physiographic provinces marked by
essentially uniform climatic and geological conditions, stream characteristics prove
conservative. It is already clear that order and conservativeness in channel characte-
ristics carry their imprint into the geometrical and lithological attributes of stream
deposits. The search for refinement of these principles could further palaeogeogra-
phical studies considerably, for palaeogeography embraces not only the nature and
distribution of depositional environments, but also the size, geological characteristics,
and physiographic quality of the land masses that were eroded.
Gravity provides the force by which the weathered product made available
to stream channels is transported and deposited. The dynamics of water flowing
in open channels is such that the weathered product is carried along in two ways
according to particle size. Whereas the coarser materials, mainly sand and gravel,
are moved along or close to the bed as a traction load, the finest sand and silt and
clay are transported in the entire body of the stream as a suspended load. These modes
of transport are partly responsible for the geometrical, stratigraphical, textural, and
structural attributes of stream deposits.
The coarser materials transported are deposited as point bars in meandering
streams and as channel bars in braided streams, the geometry of the deposits depending
to a large extent on stream sinuosity as determined by the general calibre of stream
load. Sedimentary structures representing several different forms of bed roughness
are found in the sediments of bed load origin which form the substratum deposits
of floodplains.
The geometry and lithology of topstratum deposits are also partly dependent
on stream channel sinuosity. The topstratum deposits of floodplains represent the
accumulation of the suspended load beyond the active stream channel after overbank
flow. Various proofs of exposure are typical of topstratum sediments. Meandering
streams of high sinuosity lie in well defined meander belts because the stream channels
have become fenced in by closely knit channel-fills difficult to erode. The floodplain
topstratum is then of marked relief and differentiated into a number of distinct
environments, such as levee, crevasse-splay, floodbasin and cut-off channel, in each of
which a different kind of deposit has accumulated. In contrast, low sinuosity streams
Sedimentology, 5 (!965) 89-191
ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS 17 1
are much more free t o wander laterally, and their floodplains lack distinct environ-
mental subdivisions and the topstratum sediments prove much less diverse in character.
There is now sufficiently detailed knowledge of recent alluvial sediments to
allow ancient sediments of similar origin to be recognised when recourse is made to a
number of simple facies models. Rational studies of recent alluvial sediments are only
just beginning, and future work is likely to lead to an improved qualitative under-
standing of ancient alluvium and to the establishment of a quantitative appreciation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is a pleasure to record my indebtedness to colleagues at Reading and Brown Univer-

sities who have been helpful with criticism and discussion. To Dr. F. Donald Eckelman
(Chairman) and Dr. Alonzo W. Quinn (Acting Chairman) I express my warm
appreciation of the hospitality of their department at Brown University. I am grateful
for help afforded me by Drs. P. F. Friend, J. C. Harms, L. B. Leopold, and A.
Sundborg; and also by Messrs. M. Moody-Stewart and T. Hassan.
References, see pp.180-191.
ADDENDUM
(Received January 19, 1965)
INTRODUCTION
Since the above was written numelous studies relevant to the problems of alluvial
sediments were published or came to hand. It is the purpose of this Addendum to
relate these studies to the previous treatment in order to make the review as complete
and up-to-date as possible.
GENERAL
Undoubtedly the most important recent contribution is the book Fluvial Processes
in Geomorphologv by LEOPOLD et al. (1964). The treatment proceeds logically from
climate, denudation and weathering, through the transport and channelling of
runoff and sediment, to a consideration of the production of hillslopes and spreads
of alluvium. Intended primarily for geomorphologists, the book stresses denudational
stream and runoff processes rather than constructional ones. The sedimentologist
might have called for a more detailed treatment of the constructional roles of streams
in building interior floodplains, coastal plains and deltas, and for a closer integration
of the characters of stream deposits with the climatic and geological characteristics
172 J. R. L. ALLEN
of the parent drainage basins. Notwithstanding, the book gives essential information
for all interested in palaeogeographic reconstruction. In the U.S.S.R. LEVI(1957)
and VEL~KANOV (1 958) published important studies of the dynamics of open-channel
flow. Much data pertinent to geological problems are presented herein from a stand-
point to some extent unfamiliar in the West.
PHYSIOGRAPHIC AND DYNAMIC BACKGROUND
LANGBEIN and LEOPOLD (1964) extended their theoretical analyses of drainage basin
characteristics and stream channel hydraulic geometry. A mathematical discussion
is presented to show that observed basins and streams represent a quasi-equilibrium
state between two opposing tendencies: ( I ) toward minimum total rate of work, and
(2) toward uniform distribution of energy expenditure throughout the system. In
this connection, CARLSTON (1963) shows that drainage density is adjusted to the most
efficientremoval of flood runoff. MORISAWA (1964) studied the development of drain-
age nets on an upraised part of the floor of Lake Hebgen, Montana. Channels
developed on sandy parts of the lake floor had V-shaped transverse profiles and were
arranged in simple nets. On silty parts of the floor the channels formed intricate
nets and were broad, flat-bottomed and steep-sided. The nets developed upslope
from the edge of the lake until all available relief had been used up. Channels which
began as first-order segments of the net ultimately assumed higher orders. Thus in
this case the drainage nets developed in the opposite manner to that assumed by
LEOPOLDand LANGBEJN (1962) for their random-walk experiments. LUBOWE (1964)
found that stream junction angles were dependent on stream order and drainage
basin relief. KJLPATRICK and BARNES(1964) discuss the hydraulic geometry of streams
in the Piedmont Province of the eastern United States.
COLBY(1963, 1964) has presented general reviews of the origin, entrainment,
and gross transport of fluvial sediments, confirming the discussion above. He empha-
sises that much suspended sediment is transported by low stream flows, and that the
suspended load travels in streams at essentially the same rate as the water particles.
The bed load, on the other hand, is moved more slowly and chiefly during the periods
of high ffow which arise mainly as the result of storms (GUY, 1964). Discharge of sand
is chiefly dependent on the coarseness of the load, the stream power and mean velo-
city, the temperature of the water, and the flow depth. BRUSH(1964) noted that particle
settling rate, turbulent diffusion, gravitational sliding, and shear stress near the bed
were important factors controlling the sorting of sediment in stream channels. The
particular regime of flow is also decisive in sediment transport and sorting. FAHNE-
STOCK and HAUSHILD (1962) found in experiments with mixed sand and gravel that
the gravel was transported only when the flow was in the upper regime, thus confirm-
ing inferences drawn by SIMONSet al. (1961). These observations go far toward
explaining the pebble lag-pavements found in certain streams and stream deposits.
In the ideal curved stream channel a single helicoid due to secondary flow is found,
but EAKIN(1935), from studies in the Mississippi River, gives data showing that
as many as three helicoidal systems may exist side by side. ROUSE( 1963) has published
a brief review of turbulent flow.
MORPHOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES
Bed forms have proved the subject of much recent work. Contrasted analytical and
experimental treatments of “bed waves” were made by RAUDKIVI(1963), KENNEDY
(1963, 1964), YALIN(1964) and REYNOLDS (1965). The basis of Kennedy’s approach is
the potential flow of an ideal fluid over a bed of sinusoidal longitudinal profile, which
can represent either antidunes or ripples. Expressions were developed for the length,
height and celerity of bed waves which were found to yield numerical values in good
agreement with observations. Extending ideas developed independently by SUNDBORG
(1956), KENNEDY (1964) suggests that small-scale ripples may depend on the pertur-
bation of the transported bed and saltation loads of a flow, whereas large-scale ripples
may depend on the perturbation of the suspended load, and therefore on the geometry
and turbulence of the whole flow. YALIN’S (1964) treatment led to similar results but
took into account the nature of the bed material and the fact that the flows were
viscous. He showed that small-scale ripples are products of hydraulically smooth
flows, as also did RAUDKIVI (1964), and that the length of the ripples is a direct
linear function of the bed material grain size. Large-scale ripples, on the other hand,
are products of hydraulically rough flows, when turbulent fluctuations in the whole
thickness of the overlying flow control events at the bed. YALIN(1964) found by
analysis that the height of large-scale ripples was a function only of the flow depth,
as implied by SUNDBORG (1956) and confirmed by LEVI(1957) and ALLEN(1963a)
from field observations. It is reassuring that such diverse treatments as presented by
SUNDBORG (1956), SIMONS et al. (1961), KENNEDY (1963, 1964), RAUDKIVI (1964) and
YALIN(1964) should lead to such similar results.
ZNAMENSKAYA (1963a, b, 1964) in the U.S.S.R. has made field and laboratory
studies of ripple marks and other bed forms. She divides the bed forms referred
to above as ripples into “microforms” and “mesoforms”, and amongst the mesoforms
groups a number of bed forms which have not generally been accepted as ripple
marks. Amongst the mesoforms, which are the larger bed forms, are recognised
“ribbon ridges”, “side bars” and “midstream shoals”. The ribbon ridges are strongly
three-dimensional, nested large-scale ripples which have affinities with linguoid
forms. Her side bars are broadly analogous to the lateral bars discussed by LELIAVSKY
(1955) from the River Vistula and observed in other streams with relatively straight
channels (LEOPOLD and WOLMAN,1957). The midstream shoals are partly to fully
emergent sediment bars produced when braiding occurs. According to ZNAMENSKAYA’S
(1963a, 1964) experimental work, the steepness in longitudinal profile and geometrical
form of ripple marks depends on the Froude number, the velocity of flow, and the
grain size of the sediment in movement. As the Froude number increases, up to the
174 1. R. L. ALLEN
range for transitional bed forms (SIMONS et al., 1961) the ripples show a growth in
geometrical complexity from approximately two-dimensional forms to strongly three-
dimensional types. With the growth in geometrical complexity there is a change in
the form of the eddy or wake associated with each ripple. Transverse roller-like wakes
are generally found at low Froude numbers, when the ripples are strongly three-
dimensional, ZNAMENSKAYA (1964) reports that the wakes are more localised, with
vortices often reaching to the water surface as described by SIMONS et al. (1961).
Many other experimental studies of bed forms have been made. JOPLINC(1964)
discussed the processes of sorting and deposition associated with flew separation at
the front of delta-like sand bodies and reached conclusions that were confirmed inde-
pendently by ALLEN(1965a). The pressure distribution and current pattern which
arise by flow separation at a ripple crest have now been accurately mapped by MIKHAI-
LOVA (1952), MIKHAILOVA and NAIDENOVA (1953), and RAUUKIVI (1964). The reverse
flow in the wake engaged with every large-scale ripple or body of similar frontal
shape has been shown t o be powerful enough to fashion in the bottomset zone and
lower part of the foreset zone, small-scale ripples whose orientation opposes the
direction of flow over the crest of the larger ripples (JOPLING, 1962; JOHANSSON,1963;
ALLENand NARAYAN, 1964; ALLEN,1965a). Thus we may now conclude that under
appropriate circumstances the foreset-bottomset deposits of large-scale ripples and
delta-like bodies may consist of interdigitated layers of material deposited in two
contrasted ways. There are the even, steeply inclined layers of gravity-sheared sedi-
ment which has avalanched down from the ripple crest. Further down the foreset
slope these may pass into less steeply inclined bottomsets, often cross-stratified
internally on a small scale, formed of grains eroded from the bed downstream of
the ripple or deposited from suspension which were moved over the bed and towards
the ripple by traction in the reverse bottom flow. STEIN(1965) related the size and
geometry of ripples to the discharge of sand in a flume.
SIMONS et al. (1963) studied experimentally the effects of suspended fine sedi-
ment on bed forms. Essentially the effect is to reduce the viscosity of the flow and to
decrease the fall velocity of the bed load grains. With flow conditions held constant
it was found that the addition of bentonite or kaolinite clay caused dunes to increase
in length and then change to plane beds. The crests of small-scale ripples changed
from angular to rounded when fine material was added to the flow, and “lenses” of
clay became trapped in the bed. Antidunes remained constant in length but their
height decreased when clay was mixed in the watei. In the light of these observations
further caution would seem necessary when interpreting flow regime from bed forms
or internal sedimentary structures.
The bed forms of the Rio Grande in particular have received attention. SIMONS
et al. (1964) report small-scale ripples, large-scale ripples, and lateral bars or sand
terraces in the lower flow regime, and plane beds and antidunes in the upper flow
regime. Lateral bars, with other. roughness forms on their upstream faces, are best
developed when the width-depth ratio of the flow is high. When the flow is transitional
between the tranquil and rapid regimes, multiple forms of bed roughness are com-
Sedimentology,5 (lq65) 89-191
monly observed across a reach, with antidunes in one part of the channel, large-scale
ripples in another, and plane beds in a third (NORDIN,1964). With reference to the
Rio Grande, FAHNESTOCK and MADDOCK (1964) emphasise that water temperature
and flow width-depth ratio are more important than previously realised in determi-
ning bed roughness form. MCCULLOCH and JANDA (1964) describe lunate large-scale
ripples from the Nome River, Alaska. Like the lunate ripples of the Bahama Banks,
those in the Nome were migrating over a stationary gravel bed and represented a
restricted supply of sand. BRICE(1964) describes large-scale ripples of linguoid type
from the Loup Rivers, Nebraska.
The vexed question of stream-bed scour-and-fill, first analysed by LEOPOLD
and MADDOCK (1953), was recently reopened. LEOPOLD and WOLMAN (1956) com-
pared the effects of floods on the channels of sand-bed and gravel-bed streams. In
sand-bed streams such as the Rio Grande the effect of a flood is commonly to scour
one long reach but fill another. The channels of gravel-bed streams, for example those
of the eastern United States, are modified only during extreme floods. Both types
of stream illustrate the important concept advanced by WOLMAN and MILLER(1960)
that it is the infrequent, catastrophic event that under many circumstances performs
the morphologically and geologically significant work. CULBERTSON and DAWDY
(1964) further examined the scour-fill problem and showed that the pattern of scour-
and-fill in a stream represents an attempt by the stream to keep its energy-grade line
constant in slope by adjusting cross-section area. In narrow or contracting reaches,
scour occurs with increasing flow and fill with diminishing flow. The converse is
observed in wide or expanding reaches, Erosional surfaces found within alluvial
sediments of channel origin therefore cannot necessarily be interpreted as the products
of scour only during floods. COLBY (1964b), however, regards the extent of scour-and-
fill in many streams as having been exaggerated by the conditions of observation.
Further studies have been made of the additional factors which control the
width-depth ratio of stream channels, and in this connection it may be recalled that
SCHUMM (1960a, b, 1961) found width-depth ratio to decrease as the proportion
of silt clay increased in the channel bed and banks. From studies in experimental
channels ACKERS(1964) supports Schumm’s contention but refers the correlation
Schumm observed to a “soil mechanics” process controlled by the cohesiveness
of the bed and bank sediments. Schumm had also found that a decrease in the calibre
of the stream load, and hence of the bed and bank materials, was correlated with an
increase in channel sinuosity. BRJCE(1964) investigated this correlation for the
Calamus River, Nebraska, and established a more complex relationship between
channel sinuosity, channel width, and bank erodibility (composition). Maximum
sinuosity was found for channels of moderate width. When erodibility was high,
channel sinuosity was low and width larger than average for the Calamus. Channel
sinuosity was also low when bank erodibility was low and channel width much less
than average for the river. If this relationship should prove true more widely, the
alluvial facies models advanced above may require same modification.
In a study of stream bank erosion near Birdwood, South Australia, TWJDALE
Sedimenrology,5 (1965) 89-191
176 5. R. L. ALLEN
(1964) found that wet slumping was the dominant process causing the banks to col-
lapse. Lateral corrasion and undercutting aided slumping, which usually affected
large segments of the stream banks. CRJCKMAY (1960) described the growth of incised
meanders of the Pembina River, Canada. FISK(1952) observed that avulsion in the
Mississippi valley was often due to the intersection of some earlier drainage line by
a migrating meander loop. HAPP(1948) reviews the role of avulsion in changing the
course of the Rio Grande.
There are extensive reports on the morphology and processes of braided streams
which amplify the summary given above. HJULSTROM (1952, 1953) described the
Icelandic sundur, and gave an account of the process of braiding which confirms that
of LEOPOLD and WOLMAN (1957). In the sandur the braided streams are not uniformly
active in all parts at the same time, but affect one area more than another, with the
result that the outwash plains have an appreciable slope transversely to the direction
of stream flow. In order to maintain favourable gradients the zone of maximum stream
activity must shift gradually across the sandur. CHIEN(1961) showed that the main
talweg of the braided Yellow River shifted in two main ways: ( I ) by gradual lateral
movement, and (2) by capture of some incompletely filled earlier channel, when the
shift was sudden. The braid bars of the Yellow River consist of very fine sand and
silt, which is unusual for a braided stream.
Meandering streams have also received attention. SCHMUDDE (1963) reported
on the morphology and sediments of the floodplain of the Lower Missouri River,
in a reach where resistant bluffs limited the extent of meandering. The point bars or
“bottoms” of the river show an accretion topography, representing offlap, of straight
to gently curved ridges and swales. The bottoms are enclosed either by long or short
loops of the river. The upstream ends of the bottoms, where levee-like features occur
parallel to the channel, are higher relative t o the stream than the downstream ends.
Floods therefore spread over the bottoms initially from their downstream ends. The
delta and drainage basin of the Senegal River, described by TRJCART (1955a, b, 1956),
lie in a dry region of seasonal rainfall. The levees which border the distributaries
range in height to about 8 ft. and are broken every few miles by crevasse channels
that lead down to crevasse-splays 2-3 miles long. Of the floodbasins present between
the distributaries of the delta, some are saline (sebkhas) and all are subject to
intense seasonal drying usually followed by wind-deflation of the fine grained basin
sediments and the formation of low dunes. The floodplains of tropical streams are
very different in character and are described by SIOLI(1957) and WILHELMY (1958).
Large perennial lakes are common under many different circumstances in these
floodplains, and in addition there are dense stands of rainforest. The lakes with
bogs of stream floodplains in cold climates arise from other causes (CABOT,1947;
DRURY,1956). Water ponded in depressions on the floodplain surface is thoroughly
frozen during the winter. The ice begins to thaw in the spring and early summer, and
the rafts of incompletely melted ice are driven by the wind against the sides of the
depressions to cause rapid erosion of the ice-loosened banks and a resultant increase
in the extent of the lakes. Wind-waves are also effective in wearing back the soft
banks. DRURY (1956) points out that large areas underlain by alluvial sediment have
been destroyed in this way to depths of many feet in the low-lying regions of Alaska.
The place of these sediments is taken by lake and bog “muck”, a mixture of peat and
silt. Alluvial deposits formed in cold climates are therefore likely to differ in strati-
graphical succession from those formed under drier and hotter conditions, under
which the topstratum fines are preserved essentially as they were deposited.
ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS
Further advances have been made in knowledge of the sedimentary structures of

alluvial sediments. HARMS and FAHNESTOCK (1964) report four types of bedding from
the channel sands of the Rio Grande near El Paso, New Mexico. Bedding types were
studied at low river stage and were related to flow characters and bed forms observed
in the same reach during the previous period of high stage. Small scale “trough”
cross-stratification was assigned to small scale ripples generated in flows in the lower
part of the lower flow regime. “Dunes” produced in the upper part of the lower flow
regime have left behind large scale “trough” cross-stratification. Horizontal strati-
fication was assigned to aggradation on plane beds in the upper flow regime. The
migration of bars or terrace-like features was considered to be the cause of “tabular”
cross-stratification. These observations further strengthen interpretative proposals
made earlier by ALLEN(1963c, 1964b; see also Table 11) and subsequently by GWINN
(1964).
COLEMAN et al. (1964) studied the sedimentary structures of deposits formed by
a distributary in the Mississippi delta. Like many of the topstratum deposits reported
above, the subaerial levees of the distributary showed interbedded very fine sand, silt
and clay, with some plant debris. Parallel lamination and small scale cross-stratifi-
cation, often of the “climbing” type, were noted in the coarser layers. Plant roots had
mottled and disturbed the sediments. The levee deposits of the Senegal delta, however,
are stated by TRICART (1956) to be clayey sands devoid of bedding. The associated
floodbasin deposits are clays and silts, often suncracked and disturbed by plant
growth. Topstratum deposits are poorly developed in the floodplain of the Lower Mis-
souri River (SCHMUDDE, 1963). Silts and clays are patchily distributed and do not
exceed 5 ft. in thickness, being found mainly in the point bar swales. There is no
channel cut-off in this floodplain on account of the restrictions on meandering imposed
by the bordering bluffs. As in the floodplains of Piedmont Province streams (KILPA-
TRICK and BARNES, 1964), the dense growth of scrub and trees was found to stimulate
sediment deposition.
Data on grain-size distributions of alluvial sediments which will prove valuable
in comparitive studies are given by many authors: for the Rio Grande by CUL-
BERTSON and DAWDY (1964) and NORDIN (1964); for the Middle Loup River, Nebraska,
by HUBBELL and MATEJKA (1959); and for a small drainage basin (Kiowa Creek,
Colorado) by MUNDORF (1964). NORDINand BEVERAGE (1964) point out that large
178 J. R. L. ALLEN
quantities of fine sediment can be temporarily stored amongst channel sands at times
of low flow, thus helping to account for the thin silt layers commonly found in point
bar sands Work by LAMAKIN (1947) and KARTASHOV (1961) substantiates the upward
and downstream decrease in texture of alluvial deposits reported in studies from
Europe and North America. Kartashov’s paper includes data, based on closely spaced
borings, on the relations between different alluvial facies.
Reference to the occurrence of windblown sediment amongst alluvial deposits
is made by HAPP(1948), HJULSTROM 11952, 1953) and TRICART (1956).
ALLUVIAL FANS
New data are given by BEATY(1963) on the processes which go to form the alluvial
fans of the White Mountains, California and Nevada, in a semi-arid region. Stream-
floods or debris-flows after thunderstorms in the hinterland are the most important
of the agents which build up the fans. The debris-flows are restricted to fan channels,
last from 45 min to 1 h, and move down-fan at rates of about 6-8 ft./sec. The flows
are 1-2 ft. deep and consist of gravel mixed in a little water with silt and sand. Debris-
flow deposits are long and narrow, branching only where a flow became divided
between several distributary fan channels. After each debris-flow there occurred a
high and prolonged discharge of muddy water which dissected the debris-flow deposit
and laid down a tongue of sand and silt on the lower part of the fan and on the adja-
cent floor of the basin. From intermontane basins in New Mexico, IVES(1936) des-
cribed a similar catastrophic process which depended on an intriguing cycle of floods.
The first flood of the cycle originated in rainfall from clouds driven inland from off
the sea. The second and less intense flood arose from clouds which obtained their
moisture from the evaporation of the earlier floodwaters that were ponded in the
playa. LUSTIG(1963) investigated the competence of the flows that built fans in Deep
Springs Valley, California, and found that competence decreased down-fan.
Some of the factors which control the morphology of alluvial tans were discus-
sed by BULL(1964b), DENNY (1965) and MELTON (1965). In Fresno County, California,
fans derived from mudstone or shale source rocks are 35-75% steeper than fans of
similar area derived from sandstone-rich basins of comparable size. Most of the fans
have an area larger than the drainage basins that serve them. It was found that fan slope
decreased with increasing fan area, and that channel patterns on the fans varied from
meandering, through straight, to braided. Meandering channels, however, are restricted
to fanheads. In support of ECKIS(1928), it was discovered by BULL(1962) that
fanhead trenching had occurred mainly during periods of greater than average
rainfall. Fan dissection and some of its probable causes is discussed by HOPPEand
EKMAN(1964) in a description of alluvial fans from Swedish Lapland, and also by
SOLCH(1949) from the Swiss Alps.
RUHE(1964) gave a detailed account of the stratigraphy and geomorphology
of Quaternary alluvial fan and basin-floor deposits found adjacent to the valley of
the present Rio Grande in New Mexico. The study illustrates well the complex
stratigraphical relations that can be expected between deposits of these origins. Fan
deposits of several ages and vaiied composition which coalesce laterally into bajadas
are present in a broadly offlapping relationship. Palaeosols which here and there in-
clude thick calcretes (see GILEet al., 1965) allow the deposits of different ages to be
recognised. The fan gravels overlap basin floor sediments described as gritty clays,
clay loams, silts and silty clays. The floor of one basin contains a lake in which heavy
clays are deposited.
Studies by BEATY(1963) and BLUCK(1964) from the United States and by
KURDYUKOV (1957) from the U.S.S.R. confirm the observation made by numerous
workers that the sediments of alluvial fans decrease in grain size away from the fan-
head, RUHE (1964) gives grain-size analyses from the Las Cruces district which
illustrate the same textural pattern in fan and basin floor deposits. He also gives
compositional data which further amplify the view earlier proposed by LAWSON
(1913), that fan composition depended closely on drainage basin geology. In this
connection it may be recalled that BULL(1964b) found that fan area was generally
greater than basin area, and thus sharply contrasted palaeogeographic interpretations
can be placed on rudites of fan and floodplain origins. BULL(1962, 1964c) made a
textural comparison of stream and mudflow deposits in fans of Fresno County. The
mudflow deposits proved on average more poorly sorted than the stream deposits.
References to main paper and addendum, see pp.180-191.
180 J. R . L. ALLEN
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Sedimentology - Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands

A REVIEW OF THE ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT

Sedimentology Research Laboratory, Department of Geology, University of Reading, Reading

(Received June 30, 1964)

I Visiting: Department of Geology, Brown University, Providence, R.T. (U.S.A.)

Drainage basin and drainage net

Stream channel h-vdraulicgeometry

The geometrical characteristics of a stream channel reflect a state of quasi-equilibrium

Sediment bar Sediment bar

Fig.2. Stream channel pattern. A: braided. B: straight. C: meandering.

SCHUMM (1963a) also recognised the continuum of channel patterns, proposing a

102 lo3 lo4 lo5 I06

Fig.3. Slope-dischargecharateristics of natural straight, braided and meanderingchannels and a line

---Change at gdging station for

and MADDOCK,1953, fig.19).

SCHEIDEGGER (1961). The balance of evidence favours differential transport as the

Drainage basin and net related to hydraulic geometry

Flow of water in open channels

Sedimentology, 5 (1965) 89-191

Fig.5. Regimes of flow in a broad, open channel (after SUNDBORG,

Fig.8. Depth-discharge relations in open channels as determined by flow regime. A. Variation of

Fluid forces acting on sediment particles

A particle settling through water experiences a gravitational force proportional to

Transport and depositionrof sediment

The manner and nature of sediment transport in a stream is of extreme importance

The suspended load consists of grains in suspension because small enough

where C, is the concentration in parts per million of a sediment of a particular grain

10 100 poo 10,000

of suspended sediment, and a slightly amplified form of Sundborg’s curve is shown in

MORPHOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF STREAMS

I. Plane bed with no 3. Large ripples

Lek, The Netherlands 6.75 medium sand 1-2 20-30 - VANVEEN,1935

LOPATIN(1952) gives a number of plans. The movement of large ripples, during

0.I I.o 10 100 Kd poo 10,000 100,000

10-2 10-1 I00 101 d

Internal sedimentary Bed form Flow condition

Sedimentology, 5 (1965) 89-191

Fig.13. Common types of cross-stratification considered to be generated by migration of asymmetrical

Meanders and point bars

Fig.15. Pattern of flow in a meandering channel. (After LEOPOLD 1960, fig.5.)

Braids and channel bars

Cut-of, cut-offjlling and avulsion

Channel erosion andfilling

Crevassing and crevasse-splays

Fig.19. Crevasse topography illustrated by branching channels at termination of Vacanora Canal,

Fine grained channel-fill

CLASSJFICATION OF ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS

A fundamental division of alluvial sediments between the deposits of lateral and

Environment of deposition Deposit Origin rejected in typical

Channel floor Channel-lag deposit Channel or substratum deposits

CHANNEL OR SUBSTRATUM DEPOSITS

Channel lag deposits (Table I V )

Sedimentolog.y, 5 (1965) 89-191

Growing plants, FISK,1944

Drifted twigs LATTMAN, 1960 FISK,1944

Drifted branches FISK,1944 FISK,1944

Silty clay and B., 1961

Sedimenrology, 5 (1965) 89-191

levee crevasse-splay joodbasin channel-jll undivided topstratum

FISK,1947 FISK,1947 FISK,1947

FISK,1944,1961 HAPPet al., 1940 FISK,1944 FISK,1947 SYKES,

FISK,1944, 1947 FISK,1947