Geomorphology 33 Ž2000.

225–236

Simulating internal and external controls on fluvial terrace

stratigraphy: a qualitative comparison with the Maas record
A. Veldkamp a,) , J.J. van Dijke b
a
Department of Soil Science and Geology, Wageningen Agricultural UniÕersity, P.O. Box 37, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
b
Department of Applied Earth Sciences, Delft Technical UniÕersity, Mijnbouwstraat 120, 2628 RX, Delft, The Netherlands
Accepted 18 July 1999

Abstract

Palaeohydrological studies indicate that the use of sedimentary palaeoclimatic indicators in fluvial sediments still requires
rigorous calibration of the climatic controls on the formation of those indicators. An explorative attempt is made using a
simulation experiment with the FLUVER2 model. The simulation illustrates that climate control on the erosionrsedimenta-
tion behaviour of a large fluvial system differs along the fluvial system. While in the uplifting hinterland only glacial
extremes are recorded as sediments with a relatively limited preservation chance as terraces due to the uplift. The more
downstream reach towards the hinge zone displays a sensitive fluvial record registering even stadialrinterstadial dynamics
well preserved in an extensive glacialrinterglacial terrace staircase. Downstream in a subsiding basin the most complete
sedimentary record is preserved, which still contains temporal gaps of approximately 20%, related to the spatial delay effects
of the external control of climate and related base-level change. A systematic comparison of simulated climate changes and
resulting fluvial dynamics illustrates that due to the internal control of fluvial systems a one to one correlation between
recorded fluvial dynamics and climate change becomes less the further one moves downstream along the longitudinal
profile. A qualitative comparison of the simulation results with the Maas record reveals an interesting match, suggesting that
the simulated system dynamics may well apply the Maas system. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: modelling; palaeohydrology; longitudinal profile

1. Introduction of rivers, but the use of palaeoclimatic indicators in

Palaeohydrological studies indicate that fluvial
systems react strongly to climate change due to
associated complex response dynamics in their
drainage basins ŽStarkel et al., 1991; Kasse et al.,
1995; Vandenberghe, 1995.. These studies have
mostly concentrated on the morphological behaviour
)
Corresponding author. Fax: q31-7-482419.
E-mail addresses: tom.veldkamp@geomin.beng.wau.nl
ŽA. Veldkamp., j.j.vandijke@mp.tudelft.nl ŽJ.J. van Dijke..
fluvial sediments still requires rigorous calibration of
the climatic controls on the formation of those indi-
cators ŽParrish et al., 1993.. Fluvial system research
has demonstrated that complex responses due to
nonlinear processes are common features within these
systems ŽSchumm, 1977; Bull, 1991.. As in other
non-linear complex systems, an apparent gradual
change of an external variable may trigger a series of
responses in fluvial systems due to the systems
self-organisation Žinternal controls. into a new stabil-
ity domain. On the other hand, a major change in an

0169-555Xr00r$ - see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 5 5 5 X Ž 9 9 . 0 0 1 2 5 - 7
226 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236

external variable will not always directly trigger the
expected response within the fluvial system ŽClark,
1987; Anderson, 1988.. Such discrepancies between
external environmental variables and internal re-
sponses are expected to have both temporal and
spatial aspects. A way to gain some insight into this
complex relationship is by means of quantitative
modelling. In this paper a numerical modelling ex-
periment is carried out with the FLUVER2 model
ŽVeldkamp and van Dijke, 1998.. The experiments
focus on the spatial and temporal aspects of climate
change in Quaternary fluvial dynamics. In order to
facilitate comparison between internal and external
controls we will use a simplified system model with
strongly simplified climatic, tectonic and base level
inputs. We will then systematically compare model
inputs with simulated system outputs. In order to
gain some qualitative insight in the validity of the
simulated system dynamics as a whole we have
calibrated the model for generalised Maas settings, a
relatively well investigated Quaternary fluvial sys-
tem.
1.1. The Maas basin
The Maas Žs Meuse. is a rain-fed river with
a drainage basin of approximately 33,000 km2

Fig. 1. Simplified geological map of the Maas basin.

 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236
ŽFig. 1.. Its headwaters consist of an area with
Jurassic limestone Ž7007 km2 . in the north-eastern
Paris Basin. Subsequently, the Maas traverses
Palaeozoic low grade meta-pelites and quartzites of
the Ardennes Ž13,672 km2 . and Upper Cretaceous
limestone to enter a cover sand and loess-covered
Quaternary fluvial terrace and delta landscape
Ž11,691 km2 . in the Netherlands. The tectonic con-
text is an uplifting Paris Basin and an uplift dome at
the Ardennes with maximum heights of around 600
m. The tectonic uplift rates gradually decrease to-
wards the hinge zone at the Feldbiss fault near
Sittard in southern Limburg. Further downstream the
current Rhine–Maas delta is found in the subsiding
North Sea basin Žvan den Berg, 1994..The glacial
climates were cold and dry with permafrost condi-
tions prevailing in north-western Europe ŽVanden-
berghe and Pissart, 1993., favouring erosion and
solifluction processes during summer periods. Dur-
ing interglacials the higher temperatures and precipi-
tation stimulated a continuous vegetation cover Žcf.
Van Geel et al., 1989; Bohncke, 1993. effectively
stabilising slopes and immobilising sediment supply
by slope processes. The Maas valley in the south of
the Netherlands ŽLimburg. contains a sequence of
approximately 30 Plio-Pleistocene alluvial terraces
ŽVan den Berg, 1996., although earlier investigations
ŽZonneveld, 1949; Felder and Bosch, 1989; Juvigné
and Renard, 1992. reported only 20 or less terraces
levels. Correlation of these terraces with cold-stage
marine isotope chronology in the eccentricity fre-
quency Ž100 ka. band is based on limited but consis-
tent data from sedimentology, palaeomagnetism,
pollen, palaeosols and TL-dating ŽVeldkamp and
Van den Berg, 1993; Van den Berg, 1996.. Maas
terraces can therefore be interpreted as a climate
controlled system. Most Maas terrace sediments gen-
erally consist of stacked truncated sediment bodies
with poor time control. Detailed reconstruction of the
Weichselian fluvial dynamics in Limburg showed
that a stadialrinterstadial match seems appropriate in
this area ŽVan den Berg and Veldkamp, 1996..
1.2. Model description
FLUVER2 first describes the fluvial system dy-
namics in two dimensions for the whole basin, the
longitudinal profile dynamics, followed by a simula-
tion of the local valley development with special
227
emphasis on alternating vertical and lateral erosion
processes setting the conditions for terrace forma-
tion. FLUVER2 allows for feedbacks and inputs
related to climate Žprecipitation and temperature.,
and changes in relative altitude and relief Žtectonics
and sea level position.. As this paper is focused on
demonstrating possible spatial and temporal effects
of climate change within a fluvial system we will
give only a short description of the model assump-
tions and main numerical relationships in Appendix
A. Ideally FLUVER2 can be calibrated for both net
relief changes and total mass balance. Since the delta
of the Maas and Rhine are strongly intermixed, it is
currently impossible to discern the total volume of
Maas sediments in the North Sea basin. We choose
Maas-like conditions for the simulation by assuming
an uplifting hinterland ŽArdennes and Paris Basin. a
hinge zone ŽLimburg. and a subsiding basin ŽNorth
Sea Basin.. Furthermore, the size of the drainage
basin and climate conditions are similar as for the
Maas catchment. The simulated system, thus, only
qualitatively matches the properties of the Quater-
nary Maas system.
2. Modelling Quaternary longitudinal profile dy-
namics
2.1. Climate
The Quaternary has many known astronomically
controlled global changes in climate, which can be
satisfactory modelled by Milankovics curve ŽBerger,
1978.. Although the relationship between fluvial dy-
namics and climate behaviour depends on the nature
of climatic change and the effects of such changes
on discharge and sediment load, a simple linear
relation was assumed between caloric insolation,
mean discharge and sediment supply. Discharge was
calculated from effective precipitation and catchment
size. Fig. 2 illustrates these simplified inputs for a
period of 400 ka simulated time. As the climate
record is artificially generated a direct match with
isotope stages or known interglacialrglacial is not
possible. The non-fluvial sediment supply derived
from slope processes was simulated as a function of
slope and altitude. During glacials much water is
stored in continental ice caps which generate a con-
stant high pressure regime pushing the depression
228 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236

Fig. 2. Simulated simplified model inputs for randomly chosen 400 ka, sea level Žm., effective precipitation Žm. and sediment fluxes of
slope processes Žmrm..

tracks further to the south causing generally drier
continental climates in NW Europe and causing lower
mean discharges in rivers. Due to the drier and
colder glacial environment the vegetation cover de-
creases causing an increase in sediment supply to the
fluvial systems. The combined lower mean discharge
and increased bedload caused glacial rivers to have
braided properties. Interglacials yield the opposite
picture: an increase in the mean discharge and a
complementary decrease in the sediment supply Žsee
Fig. 2.. Within the Maas system the effects of slope
processes on sediment supply and composition can
lag some centuries behind the climate changes trig-
gering them ŽTebbens et al., 1996, 1999..

Fig. 3. Initial simulation conditions, total uplift and the resulting simulated longitudinal profile Ž1 Ma..
 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236 229

2.2. Sea leÕel
Sea level is also a function of the climate-governed
water balance and is simulated by the same set of
periodicities as used for precipitation simulations
ŽFig. 2.. Due to differences in response time the sea
level changes are assumed to lag 1 ka behind the
precipitation changes ŽSchumm, 1993..
2.3. Tectonism
Various components of tectonism are incorporated
in FLUVER2. A component of gradual uplift for the
Paris Basin, a large flexure Ždoming. for the Ar-
dennes and basin subsidence in the Netherlands fur-
ther downstream. Although tectonic uplift and subsi-
dence in the southern part of the Netherlands and
uplift of the northern part of the Ardennes acceler-
ated during the last 10 ka ŽJuvigne´ and Renard,
1992; Zijerveld et al., 1992; Van den Berg, 1996.,
we assumed site specific constant uplift rates during
the simulation. The simulated net tectonic move-
ments along the longitudinal profile for 1 Ma are
visible in Fig. 3. Note the uplift dome of the hinter-
land and the subsidence of the downstream basin.
3. Simulation results
Simulation started with an initial profile which
was simulated for 300,000 years to get rid of system
dynamics, which are solely effects of an unrealistic
initial profile. The model was calibrated only on the
shape and change rates of the longitudinal profile
ŽFig. 3.. The profile was simulated for 1 Ma to
mimic 10 glacialrinterglacial cycles. The longitudi-
nal vertical dynamics expressed as d hrdt, can be
used to derive the erosionrsedimentation conditions
along a fluvial system in time. Positive d hrdt val-
ues indicate net deposition during the time step and
negative values erosion. These d hrdt profiles are
plotted with time in a Profile Evolution Map ŽPEM..
Fig. 4 is a PEM of the simulated system which gives
an overview where and when conditions in the flu-

Fig. 4. The Profile Evolution Map ŽPEM. of the Maas longitudinal profile during 200 ka. The longitudinal profile in km from source. The
erosionrsedimentation dynamics in mr100 years. Negative values indicate erosion and positive values deposition. A, B and C give the
positions of the representative reaches used in Fig. 5.
230 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236

vial system change during the displayed 200 ka.
Although the simulated system has known net ero-
sion in its head waters due to the continuing uplift,
and net accumulation in the downstream reach in
basin Žat 650 km and further downstream., phases of
deposition alternate with erosion phases throughout
the whole profile. For the upstream part, the erosion
phases coincide with the interglacials while the
glacials are characterised by net deposition. The
more downstream reaches have more complex char-
acteristics demonstrating alternating sedimentation
and erosion under various climatic conditions. Al-

Fig. 5. The erosionrdeposition dynamics Žd hrdt in mr100 a. at the reaches 550 ŽA., 640 ŽB. and 720 km ŽC. downstream the water divide
and their match with simulated climate inputs. The dotted lines I and III represent interglacial conditions and II and IV glacial conditions.
The time is in simulated time as is now comparable with conventional B.P. records.
 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236
though the simulated longitudinal profile shows no
obvious change in its shape and characteristics, the
different tectonic units clearly show up on the PEM.
To illustrate the fluvial dynamics in more detail
the d hrdt, changes are plotted for three different
reaches ŽFig. 5. indicated by vertical dotted lines in
Fig. 4. Section A at 550-km downstream of the
source represents the uplifting setting. The 640-km
downstream, section B, represents the hinge zone.
The 720-km section, section C, represents the subsid-
ing basin zone.
At the 550-km section A, we have only during
each 100-ka cycle one or two depositional events
Žduring extreme glacials., which cover a maximum
of 30% of the elapsed time. At the 640-km section
B, we observe depositional events during glacials
and most stadials, which last approximately up to
40% of total simulated time. The most downstream
section Žat 720 km, C. has a more continuous deposi-
tion with only 20% of the total time period lacking
as intervals of non-deposition or erosion. These gaps
are related to both glacials and interglacials. This
observation indicates that the most complete
chrono-sedimentary record is made in the down-
stream subsiding basin, and the least complete one is
found in the uplifting hinterland. However, if we
look systematically at the timing of the various
events we can observe that the interglacials are
characterised by high precipitation and no additional
sediment fluxes by slope processes Žvertical dashed
lines I and III in Fig. 5.. At reach A and B we can
observe erosion while the lowest reach C has alter-
nating erosion or sedimentation. This difference be-
tween I and III for reach C is related to the lag
effects of previous climate conditions. If we observe
the glacials with low effective precipitation and large
additional sediment fluxes Ždashed lines II and IV.
we observe sedimentation in reach A and C while
now reach B has alternating erosion or sedimentation
illustrating the non-linearity of the simulated system.
In general, we can observe that events of no-sedi-
mentation or erosion in the basin Žat 720 km, C.
frequently match with depositional events further
upstream Žat 640 km. B. ŽFig. 5.. The combined
record of the 640 and 720 km reaches covers up to
95% of the simulated time span. This observation
indicates that due to the internal controls of the
fluvial system it is very unlikely to find one com-
231
plete sedimentary record at one place within a fluvial
system that is able to serve as ideal fluvial archive of
climate change. Furthermore, whether the simulation
results indicate that a one to one correlation between
external climate change and internal system dynam-
ics is very unlikely. It is thus necessary to investigate
various records along the river and combine them to
one record of climate-related dynamics. It is impor-
tant at this stage of the discussion to emphasise that
we are discussing whether erosion or deposition took
place and do not concern ourselves with the question
of whether these sediments can still be found in the
basin.
A remaining question is whether every simulated
climate change caused a change in fluvial dynamics.
The simulated fluvial dynamics were presented for a
randomly chosen 400 ka ŽFig. 5.. Again, a direct
correlation with known isotope stages is not possible.
The number of discharge and sediment flux changes
and the erosionrsedimentation events at the three
investigated reaches are listed in Table 1. During this
period the precipitation had 46 trend changes Žin-
creaserdecrease switches. and 16 glacial periods
during which the slope processes supplied 16 times a
peri-glacial driven sediment flux. At the 550-km
reach, 16 deposition event occurred and 46 changes
in erosionrsedimentation rates occurred demonstrat-
ing a perfect match with the simulated inputs. At the
640-km reach, nine deposition episodes happened
while the erosionrsedimentation rate changed 54
times. Further downstream in the basin we observe
10 deposition events while the erosionrsedimenta-
tion rate changed 48 times. From these frequencies
we can conclude that in the 550-km reach the sedi-
mentation dynamics is linearly related with the sedi-
ment fluxes derived from peri-glacial slope pro-
cesses. Further downstream at the hinge and basin
reaches this simple relation is not visible any more.
Table 1
Match of erosionrsedimentation events and changes in discharge
and sediment fluxes
Reach Žkm.
550 640 720
Rate changes in d h rd t and 46 46 54 48
effective precipitation
Fluvial deposition and slope 16 16 9 10
process fluxes
232 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236
The registered fluvial dynamics seem to become
more complicated due to the interacting effects of
sediment supply, tectonics and base level illustrating
the non-linear interaction of internal controls in space
and time. For instance sea-level changes are also
climate-related but have a different response time in
comparison with slope processes and precipitation.
This delay can cause a lack of synchronicity and
sometimes multiple responses of different fluvial
system segments to one climate change. First the
direct impact causes changes in discharge and sedi-
ment load, later followed by base-level related ef-
fects.
4. Fluvial terrace formation in the simulated flu-
vial system
To simulate the vertical erosionrdeposition dy-
namics in more detail, local valley development for a
stretch of 10 km was simulated during 1 Ma for the
three selected reaches ŽFig. 6.. Apart from the differ-
ent basin-wide fluvial dynamics, as discussed above,
the three selected reaches have known different tec-
tonic histories. We simulated the local valley devel-
opment in the uplifting reach ŽA. using an uplift rate
of 0.18 mrka , the 640-km reach near the hinge zone
with an uplift rate of 0.11 mrka and the 720-km
reach in the basin with a subsidence rate of 0.02
mrka. The uplifting hinterland reach illustrates
clearly a strongly incising fluvial system with a steep
valley with only three preserved terraces after 1 Ma
ŽFig. 6A.. The hinge reach has a much more open
valley with numerous Ž10. different terrace levels
each glacialrinterglacial cycle preserved as individ-
ual terrace level ŽFig. 6B.. The most downstream
reach Žat 720 km. has only temporary terrace forma-
tion when incision takes place, but no permanent
valley developed, only a flat sedimentary plain is
constructed ŽFig. 6C..
These valley morphology simulations clearly il-
lustrate that apart from the changing erosionrsedi-
mentation dynamics along the longitudinal profile of
a fluvial system the preservation is strongly related
to the local tectonic conditions. Terrace preservation
is limited in areas with relative low or rapid uplift. In
the strongly uplifting areas, incision dominates al-
lowing only narrow terraces to develop with a low
preservation chance. In those reaches with a slow
uplift or subsidence, terraces are removed by the
frequent wide lateral shifts of the fluvial system or
are simply buried. The process of lateral erosion may
have removed considerable amounts of sediment even
within a subsiding basin.
5. A qualitative comparison with Quaternary
Maas dynamics
The simulation experiment demonstrated for the
uplifting hinterland a linear match with climate re-
lated slope processes combined with a limited
preservation chance due to the rapid uplift rates. This
matches well for the record as observed in the
northern most part of the Ardennes ŽJuvigne´ and
Renard, 1992.. Whether there is a linear match with
climate conditions is not known as no detailed dat-
ings are known to make a reliable correlation.
We saw in the simulated system that near the
hinge reach, as a result of the internal controls of the
fluvial system, glacialrinterglacial and stadialrinter-
stadial dynamics can be reflected in the erosion–
sedimentation dynamics. We also saw that the pre-
vailing uplift rates in this reach allow for maximum
terrace preservation with each terrace representing a
glacialrinterglacial cycle. Within these terrace bod-
ies we can therefore expect a stacking of stadial
sediments representing stadialrinterstadial cycles.
This result matches well with the reconstruction of
the Maas dynamics near the hinge zone ŽVan den
Berg, 1996.. Although we did not calibrate the model
with the staircase of Maas terraces found in South
Limburg, we seem to confirm their uniqueness as
fluvial archives of climate change. It is important to
remark that this match is only valid at the applied
temporal resolution of 1 ka, implying that a more
detailed match might be lacking.
For the basin reach we found a thick accumula-
tion of fluvial sediments, which has no simple rela-
tionship to the simulated climate change record. This
is indirectly confirmed by the difficulties met in
correlating and interpreting the fluvial records in the
subsiding parts of the Netherlands ŽZagwijn, 1989..
The observations: Ži. that fluvial dynamics and
climate changes relate non-linearly along the longitu-
dinal profile within a basin and; Žii. that the preser-
 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236 233

Fig. 6. Local valley terrace morphology development after 1 Ma at hinterland reach ŽA in Fig. 4., hinge zone reach ŽB in Fig. 4. and
subsiding basin reach ŽC in Fig. 4..

vation chance of such a record depends strongly on
the local tectonic conditions, raises the question of
how to match and relate to other fluvial basins.
Fortunately, a lot of Quaternary fluvial systems have
been investigated in Western Europe Že.g. Boenigk,
1982; Brunnacker et al., 1982; Gibbard, 1988; Starkel
et al., 1991; Antoine 1994.. A major disadvantage of
these studies for our purpose is their general qualita-
tive approach and match with climate dynamics, and
the fact that they are usually valid for a limited reach
234 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236
of the studied system. The neighbouring Rhine sys-
tem is one of the better-studied systems. A first
qualitative match of our generalised simulation re-
sults with the number of Quaternary sedimentary
units along the Rhine system Žsee Hoselmann, 1996;
Fig. 7. reveals comparable trends along the Rhine
system to those observed in the Maas system. The
upper Rhine reach contains remnants of only seven
Quaternary terrace levels, the middle reach has eight
terrace bodies which increase to 11 further down-
stream. Near the hinge zone Žthe Lower Rhenisch
Embayment. we find 12 terraces with a comparable
stratigraphy ŽBrunnacker et al., 1982. as found in the
Maas terraces and along the lower Rhine reach in the
subsiding North Sea basin we find at least seven
thick sedimentary bodies Žformations..
All NW European systems have been directly and
indirectly influenced by the positions of depression
tracks over the Atlantic Ocean as recorded in GRIP
and ODP cores. Furthermore, all basins are situated
within one main tectonic plate unit which has known
various differential but strongly related crustal move-
ments due to changing plate stresses during the
Quaternary ŽZijerveld et al., 1992; Van den Berg,
1994.. We therefore propose to study those fluvial
systems which have all been susceptible to the same
general climate circulation pattern and which drain
into the same tectonic basin Žthe North Sea basin.. It
would therefore be logical to study the Rhine, Maas,
Thames, Weser and Elbe systems in one integrated
effort using similar techniques and assumptions.
Hereby, modelling exercises can be applied to bridge
the gaps between the various systems and to test
hypotheses about climate–fluvial dynamics relation-
ships.
6. Conclusions
The climate control on the erosion–sedimentation
behaviour in large fluvial systems on Quaternary
time scales is non-linear. While in the uplifting
hinterland only glacial extremes are recorded as sedi-
ment bodies with a relatively limited preservation
chance due to the high uplift rates, the more down-
stream reach towards the hinge zone displays a more
sensitive fluvial record registering even stadialrin-
terstadial dynamics. This record can be well pre-
served in an extensive glacialrinterglacial terrace
staircase. Downstream in the subsiding basin the
most complete sedimentary record is preserved but
this record is more indirectly related to climate
change. A comparison of simulated climate changes
and fluvial dynamics illustrates that due to the self-
organisation properties of the fluvial system, recorded
fluvial dynamics and climate change becomes more
indirectly related the further one moves downstream.
It appears that the reach near the hinge zone contains
a sensitive climate-change record as a series of glacial
terraces containing stadial sediment bodies due to the
interplay of climate and tectonic effects. A complete
fluvial archive of climate change can only be ob-
tained by combining fluvial records of the different
reaches within one basin. When such basin-wide
correlations are established, links with other neigh-
bouring basins should be established.
Acknowledgements
The critical comments of L.A. Tebbens and an
anonymous reviewer are gratefully acknowledged.
Appendix A
Modelling longitudinal sediment transport in the flu-
Õial system
The dynamics of a longitudinal river profile are
modelled by considering one-dimensional sediment
transport along the main flow direction of the fluvial
system. The following set of equations are applied:
d Hrd t s yd Fd x q T q B Ž 1.
For mass conservation.
d Frd x s D y S Ž 2.
Transfer of sediment between the flow and substrate.
m
D s k det G Ž d Hrd x . Ž 3.
Rate of sediment transfer from the river bed to the
flow.
S s Frh Ž 4.
Rate of sediment transfer from the flow to the river
bed.
 A. Veldkamp, J.J. Õan Dijke r Geomorphology 33 (2000) 225–236 235

Symbol Units Description

H Žm.
t Žs.
F Žm2rs.
x Žm.
T Žmrs.
B Žmrs.
D Žmrs.
S Žmrs.
G Žn.r..
Elevation above a reference level
Time
The longitudinal sediment flux along the profile
Longitudinal distance
Rate of the vertical component of tectonics
Lateral influx rate of sediment
Transfer rate from the substrate to the sediment flow
Transfer rate from the sediment flow to the substrate
Force function Žacting as a proxy variable for discharge., tuning variable,
used value s 1.

Changes in sediment porosity and associated volume increase are considered as unimportant because it is assumed that most
bedrock underwent isovolumetric weathering before entrainment.

Modelling fluÕial terrace formation
Considered is a small stretch along the simulated
longitudinal profile. For this stretch a semi-3D simu-
lation of the valley morphology is made using a
finite state model. It simulates the impact of erosion
and sedimentation processes at valley level for a
stretch of 10 km. The valley is described by 100 =
100 = 1 m grid cells and it uses time steps of 1000
aŽ1 ka.. Crucial is the spatial distribution of the
erosion and sedimentation processes. This depends
solely on decision rules extracted from literature and
expert knowledge. The important system states on
which these rules are based are: Dominant fluvial
process Žerosion or sedimentation., Channel form
Žmeandering or braided. and Tectonism Župlift, neu-
tral, subsidence.. These system states determine
whether predominantly vertical andror lateral ero-
sion will take place. The calculations about the
channel form and width are derived from empirical
relationships. The total net erosionrsedimentation
and valley slope were already calculated in the longi-
tudinal profile model. Model construction, organisa-
tion, operation and testing of this finite state model
are extensively described in previous papers ŽVeld-
kamp and Vermeulen, 1989; Veldkamp, 1992..
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