The Origin of River Meanders

Abstract:

Various propositions for the origin of meanders have been suggested in the past, involving local disturbances such as variable bank material, obstructions to flow, and sediment transport. Each of these approaches has required a very special and complex set of circumstances for the onset of meandering. However, meanders have also been observed in other systems such as the gulf stream , window glass , glacial meltwater, channels in submarine fans, the jet stream, water faucets, and many others. What has not been satisfactorily demonstrated is why some rivers (or parts of rivers) should tend to meander in the first place rather than ply a straight course to base level. We suggest that the fundamental cause of the river meander instability is simply a minimization of power (rate of work done), with an onset that occurs when inertial terms exceed body forces (e.g. gravity) acting on the flow, and thus create an adverse pressure gradient directed in the opposite direction of the flow. A simple way to visualize the cause of the instability is that the water “backs up” upon itself, running into a parcel of water downstream that is flowing more slowly than the water upstream. This causes the direction of maximum local water surface slope to be diverted to one side or the other of the regional slope. This can occur when a river encounters the ocean (or a lake, or a break in slope), and can occur in many other situations as well.

We analyzed various meandering systems globally, and conducted laboratory experiments under controlled conditions to determine the conditions necessary for the onset of the meander instability. The results indicate that the meander instability does not depend on sediment or erodible banks. The critical threshold for the onset of the meander instability occurs when inertial forces exceed body forces acting on the fluid such that an adverse pressure gradient arises. Better understanding of the meander instability should thus elucidate some of the processes and behavior of a range of fluid systems in the atmosphere, oceans, rivers, and at smaller scale in fluid jets and micro-scale water flows.