Status: this preprint was under review for the journal HESS but the revision was not accepted.
Is sinuosity a function of slope and bankfull discharge? – A case study of the meandering rivers in the Pannonian Basin
J. Petrovszki,G. Timár,and G. Molnár
Abstract. Pre-regulation channel sinuosities of the meandering rivers of the Pannonian Basin are analysed in order to define a mathematical model to estimate the influence of the bankfull discharge and the channel slope on them. As a primary database, data triplets of slope, discharge and sinuosity values were extracted from historical and modern datasets and pre-regulation historical topographic maps. Channel slope values were systematically modified to estimate figures valid before the river regulation works. The bankfull discharges were estimated from the average discharges using a robust yet complex method. The "classical" graphs of Leopold and Wolman (1957), Ackers and Charlton (1970b) and Schumm and Khan (1972) were compiled to a set up a theoretical surface, whose parameters are estimated by the real values of the above database, containing characteristics of the Pannonian Basin rivers.
As a result it occurred that there is a two-dimensional function of the bankfull discharges, which provides a good estimation of the most probable sinuosity values of the rivers with the given slope and discharge characteristics. The average RMS error of this estimation is around 15% on this dataset and believed to be the effect of the non-analysed changes in the sediment discharge and size distribution.
Received: 15 Sep 2014 – Discussion started: 04 Nov 2014
We described how the sinuosity of the meandering rivers influenced by the channel-slope and the bankfull-discharge. We defined an approximated mathematical function (least squares regression), and analysed the existence of this connection in the Pannonian Basin. The differences believed to be the effect of the non-analysed changes in the sediment discharge.
We described how the sinuosity of the meandering rivers influenced by the channel-slope and the...