Abstract
A fluvial island is a landform, elevated above and surrounded by stream-channel branches or waterways, that persists sufficiently long to establish permanent vegetation. Natural fluvial islands occur in any part of a drainage network but most commonly in montane, piedmont-valley, and coastal flood-plain environments. Processes, often interactive, by which islands form include avulsion (the sudden separation of land by a flood or by an abrupt change in the course of a stream), rapid and gradual channel incision, channel migration, dissection of both rapidly and slowly deposited bed sediment, and deposition of bed sediment on a vegetated surface or behind a channel obstruction. Products of high-energy conditions, fluvial islands typically lack stability over decades to millennia. Fluvial islands in Plum Creek, Colorado, USA, results of sorting processes following a recent high-magnitude flood, and in the Snake River, Idaho, USA, partly results of the Pleistocene Bonneville Flood, Illustrate how islands form, develop, and disappear. The examples consider differing conditions of island shape, size, height, sediment, and vegetation.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Beckinsale, R. P. 1971. Rivers as political boundaries, p. 96–107.In R. J. Chorley (ed.) Introduction to Geographical Hydrology. Methuen & Co., Ltd., London, England.
Boggs, S. W. 1940. International Boundaries. Columbia University Press, New York, NY, USA.
Brice, J. C. 1964. Channel patterns and terraces of the Loup Rivers in Nebraska. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 422-D.
Burkham, D. E. 1972. Channel changes of the Gila River in Safford Valley, Arizona, 1846–1970. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 655-G.
Carleton, J. H. 1845. A Dragoon campaign to the Rocky Mountains in 1845. p. 155–280.In Louis Pelzer (ed.) 1983. The Prairie Logbooks, The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA.
Chang, H. H. 1980. Stable alluvial canal design. Journal of the Hydraulics Division, American Society of Civil Engineers 106:873–891.
Eschner, T. R., R. F. Hadley, and K. D. Crowley. 1983. Hydrologic and morphologic changes in the channels of the Platte River Basin in Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska: a historical perspective, p. A1–A39.In Hydrologic and geomorphic studies of the Platte River Basin. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1277.
Fisher, D. W. 1981. Introduction. p. 1–15.In I. H. Tesmer (ed.) Colossal Cataract—the Geologic History of Niagara Falls. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, USA.
Fremont, (Captain) J. C. 1845. Report of the exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Gallels and Seaton, Washington, DC, USA.
Friedman, J. M. 1993. Vegetation establishment and channel narrowing along a Great-Plains stream following a catastrophic flood. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
Friedman, J. M., W.RR. Osterkamp, and W. M. Lewis, Jr. 1996a. Channel narrowing and vegetation development following a Great Plains flood. Ecology 77:2167–2181.
Friedman, J. M., W. R. Osterkamp, and W. M. Lewis, Jr. 1996b. The role of vegetation and bed-level fluctuations in the process of channel narrowing. Geomorphology 14:341–351.
Gilbert, G. K. 1890. Lake Bonneville, U. S. Geological Survey Monograph 1.
Gottesfeld, A. S. and L. M. J. Gottesfeld. 1990. Floodplain dynamics of a wandering river dendrochronology of the Morice River, British Columbia, Canada. Geomorphology 3:159–179.
Graf, W. L. 1978. Fluvial adjustments to the spread of tamarisk in the Colorado Plateau region. Geological Society of America Bulletin 89:1491–1501.
Graf, W. L. 1980. The effect of dam closure on downstream rapids. Water Resources Research 16:129–136.
Hilbig, W. 1995. The Vegetation of Mongolia. SPB Academic Publishing. Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Hupp, C. R., J. M. Friedman, and W. R. Osterkamp. 1992. Riparian vegetation recovery and channel-island development following a Great Plains catastrophic flood. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 73:217.
Hupp, C. R. and W. R. Osterkamp. 1985. Bottomland vegetation distribution along Passage Creek, Virginia, in relation to fluvial landforms. Ecology 66:670–681.
Hupp, C. R. and W. R. Osterkamp. 1996. Riparian vegetation and fluvial geomorphic processes. Geomorphology 14:277–295.
Johnson, W. C. 1997. Equilibrium response of riparian vegetation to flow regulation in the Plate River, Nebraska. Regulated Rivers Research and Management 13 (in press).
Johnson, W. C., M. D. Dixon, R. Simons, S. Jenson, and K. Larson. 1995. Mapping the response of riparian vegetation to possible flow reductions in the Snake River, Idaho. Geomorphology 13:159–173.
Knighton, A. D. and G. C. Nanson. 1993. Anastomosis and the continuum of channel pattern. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 18: 613–625.
Kochel, R. C., D. F. Ritter, and J. Miller. 1987. Role of tree dams in the construction of pseudo-terraces and variable geomorphic response to floods in Little River valley. Virginia. Geology 15:718–721.
Komar, P.D. 1983. The shapes of streamlined islands on earth and Mars: experiments and analyses of the minimum-drag form. Geology 11: 651–654.
Komar, P. D. 1984. The lemniscate loop—comparisons with the shapes or streamlined landforms. Journal of Geology 92:133–145.
Kondolf, G. M. and P. R. Wilcock. 1996. The flushing flow problem: Defining and evaluating objectives. Water Resources Research 32: 2589–2599.
Langbein, W. B. 1964. Geometry of river channels. Journal of the Hydraulies Division. American Society of Civil Engineers 90:301–312.
Liberty, B. A. 1981. Structural geology, p. 57–62.In I. H. Tesmer (ed.) Colossal Cataract—the Geologic History of Niagara Falls. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, USA.
Malanson, G. P. and D. R. Butler. 1990. Woody debris, sediment, and riparian vegetation of a subalpine river, Montana, U.S.A. Aretic and Alpine Research 22:183–194.
Malanson, G. P. and D. R. Butler. 1991. Floristic variation among gravel bars in a subalpine river, Montana, U.S.A. Aretic and Alpine Research 23:273–278.
Malde, H. E. 1968. The catastrophic late Pleistocene Bonneville Flood in the Snake River Plain, Idaho, U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 596.
Maser, G. and J. R. Sedell. 1994. From the forest to the sea. St. Lucie Press, Delray Beach, FL, USA.
Matthal, H. F. 1969. Floods of June 1965 in South Platte River basin, Colorado, U. S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1850-B.
Melis, T. S., R. H. Webb, P. G. Griffiths, and T. J. Wise. 1994. Magnitude and frequency data for historic debris flows in Grand Canyon National Park and vicinity, Arizona. U. S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 94-4214.
Nadler, C. T., Jr. 1978. River metamorphosis of the South Platte and Arkansas Rivers. M. S. Thesis, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
O’Connot, J. E. 1993. Hydrology, hydraulics, and geomorphology of the Bonneville Flood. Geological Society of America Special Paper 274.
Osterkamp, W. R. and J. E. Costa. 1987. Changes accompanying an extraordinary flood on a sand-bed stream. p. 201–224.In L. Mayer and D. Nash (eds.) Catastrophic Flooding. Allen and Unwin, Boston, MA, USA.
Osterkamp, W. R. and C. R. Hupp. 1984. Geomorphic and vegetative characteristics along three northern Virginia streams. Geological Society of America Bulletin 95:1093–1101.
Resh, V. H., A. V. Brown, A. P. Covich, M. E. Gurtz, H. W. Li, G. W. Minshall, S. R. Reice, A. L. Sheldon, J. B. Wallace, and R. C. Wissmar. 1988. The role of disturbance in stream ecology. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 7:433–455.
Schumm, S. A. and R. W. Lichty. 1963. Channel widening and floodplain construction along Cimarron River in southwestern Kansas. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 352-D.
Scott, K. M. 1988. Origins, behavior, and sedimentology of lahars and lahar-runout flows in the Toutle-Cowlitz River system, U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1447-A.
Shull, C. A. 1922. The formation of a new island in the Mississippi River. Ecology 3:202–206.
Shull, C. A. 1944. Observations of general vegetational changes on a river island in the Mississippi River. The American Midland Naturalist 32:771–776.
Smith, D. G. 1976. Effect of vegetation on lateral migration of anastomosed channels of a glacial meltwater river. Geological Society of America Bulletin 87:857–860.
Smith, N. D. 1971. Transverse bars and braiding in the lower Platte River, Nebraska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 82:3407–3420.
Song, C. S. and C. T. Yang. 1990. Variational method in fluvial hydraulics—a review, p. 299–304.in H. H. Chang and J. C. Hill (eds) Hydraulic Engineering, volume 1. American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, NY, USA.
Stanford, J. A., J. V. Ward, W. J. Liss, C. A. Frissell, R. N. Williams, J. A. Lichatowich, and C. C. Coutant. 1996. A general protocol for restoration of regulated rivers. Regulated Rivers Research and Management 12:391–413.
Stephens, H. C. and E. M. Shoemaker. 1987. In the Footsteps of John Wesley Powell. Johnson Books, Boulder, CO, USA.
Thorne, C. R., A. P. G. Russell, and M. K. Alam. 1993. Planform pattern and channel evolution on the Brahmaputru River, Bangladesh, p. 257–276.In J. L. Best and C. S. Bristow (eds.) Braided Rivers. Geological Society Special Publication 75, London, England.
Webb, R. H., T. S. Melis, P. G. Griffiths, and J. G. Elliott. 1997. Reworking of aggraded debris fans by the 1996 controlled flood on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. U. S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 97-16.
White, W. R., R. Bettess, and E. Puris. 1982. Analytical approach to river regime. Journal of the Hydraulics Division, American Society of Civil Engineers 108:1179–1193.
Williams, G. P. 1978. The case of the shrinking channels—the North Platte and Platte Rivers in Nebraska. U. S. Geological Survey Circular 781.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Osterkamp, W.R. Processes of fluvial island formation, with examples from Plum Creek, Colorado and Snake River, Idaho. Wetlands 18, 530–545 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161670
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03161670