Background

Relocations and restorations do not only change the ecological passability and sediment continuity of a river but also its flow behavior and fluvial morphodynamics. Sediment transport processes and morphological development can be assessed with field measurements, also taking the transport of sediment-bounded contaminants as a tracer material for fluvial morphodynamics into account. The objective of this study was to determine the morphological development of the Inde River (a tributary of the Rur River in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany) towards its pre-defined guiding principle after a relocation and restoration in 2005 AD.

Methods

The fluvial morphodynamics of the Inde River were analyzed over a period of almost 15 years taking sediment samples, analyzing echo soundings of the river’s bathymetry and determining the heavy metal content of the sediment as a tracer material for the morphological development.

Results

The results show that the relocation and restoration of the Inde River initiates new hydrodynamic processes, which cause morphological changes of the river widths, meander belts and channel patterns. The riverbed of the new Inde River has incised into the ground due to massive erosion, which has led to increased fine sediment transport in the downstream direction. The reasons for and consequences of this fine sediment transport are discussed and correlated to the sediment continuity of a river.

Conclusions

Overall, the new Inde River has reached its goal of being a natural river as a consequence of the relocation and restoration and has adapted its new conditions towards a dynamic morphological equilibrium.

中文翻译：

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十年的河流形态动力学：印德河的迁移和恢复（德国北莱茵威斯特法伦州）。

背景

搬迁和恢复不仅会改变河流的生态通行性和泥沙连续性，还会改变河流的流动行为和河流形态动力学。可以通过现场测量评估沉积物迁移过程和形态发展，同时将沉积物边界污染物的迁移作为河流形态动力学的示踪材料考虑在内。本研究的目的是确定印度河（德国北莱茵威斯特法伦州鲁尔河的支流）在公元 2005 年搬迁和恢复后朝着其预定指导原则的形态发展。

方法

在近 15 年的时间里，对印地河的河流形态动力学进行了分析，采集了沉积物样本，分析了河流测深的回声探测，并确定了沉积物中的重金属含量，作为形态发展的示踪材料。

结果

结果表明，印德河的迁移和恢复启动了新的水动力过程，导致河流宽度、曲流带和河道格局的形态变化。由于大面积侵蚀，新印第河的河床已经切入地下，导致下游细沙运输增加。讨论了这种细泥沙输送的原因和后果，并将其与河流的泥沙连续性相关联。

结论

总体而言，由于搬迁和修复，新印度河已实现成为天然河流的目标，并使其新条件适应动态形态平衡。