Channel fills are common elements of Holocene river systems and older fluvial sequences, but surprisingly little is known about formation and their sedimentary build‐up. Abandoned channels result from channel shifting processes at various scales, including meander cutoff and channel‐belt avulsion. Channel‐fill sequences are of importance as containers of palaeoenvironmental proxy‐records, can be used to reconstruct palaeochannel dynamics and derive palaeoflood records, and contain materials that allow dating the abandonment. Integrated knowledge on the dynamic nature (geometrical and physical insights) of channel abandonment and resultant sedimentary recording is a necessity for comparing and collating records from a series of abandoned channel fills. This paper intends to make channel‐fill sedimentological sequences more useful recorders of channel abandonment processes and palaeofloods, for which improved understanding is needed of the internal build‐up of channel fills. We review oxbow lake infilling along meandering rivers, and supplement this with highly detailed descriptions of two selected field examples of channel fills from the apex‐region of the Netherlands' Rhine delta. From these examples it becomes clear that regional setting and type of abandonment result in different channel‐fill end‐members; oxbow cutoffs generally produce thick laminated clayey fills as the channel entrance is plugged rapidly, avulsion‐abandoned channels are filled with coarse (proximal) deposits as a result of a maintained open river connection. Field examples of channel fills are integrated with knowledge on channel abandonment dynamics in meander cutoff and bifurcating river situations, including insights from recent numerical modelling. We propose a sedimentary‐architecture descriptive scheme that distinguishes elements from two stages of channel‐fill development; (i) the abandonment stage with initial proximal fill, and (ii) the subsequent fully abandoned palaeochannel that collects distal fill. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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There are concerns that recent climate change is altering the frequency and magnitudes of river floods in an unprecedented way 1 . Historical studies have identified flood-rich periods in the past half millennium in various regions of Europe 2 . However, because of the low temporal resolution of existing data sets and the relatively low number of series across Europe, it has remained unclear whether Europe is currently in a flood-rich period from a long term perspective. We analyze how recent decades compare with the flood history of Europe, using a new database composed of more than 100 high-resolution (sub-annual) historical flood series based on documentary evidence covering all major regions of Europe. Here we show that the past three decades were among the most flood-rich periods in Europe in the last 500 years, and that this period differs from other floodrich periods in terms of its extent, air temperatures and flood seasonality. We identified nine floodrich periods and associated regions. Among the periods richest in floods are 1560-1580 (Western and Central Europe), 1760-1800 (most of Europe), 1840-1870 (Western and Southern Europe), and 1990. In most parts of Europe previous flood-rich periods occurred during cooler than usual phases, however the current flood-rich period has been much warmer. In the past, the dominant flood seasons in flood-rich periods were similar to those during the intervening (interflood) periods, but flood seasonality is more pronounced in the recent period. For example, during previous flood and interflood periods, 41% and 42% of Central European floods occurred in summer respectively, compared to 55% of floods in the recent period. The uniqueness of the present-day flood-rich period calls for process-based flood risk assessment tools and flood risk management strategies that can incorporate these changes.

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River flooding is among the most destructive of natural hazards globally, causing widespread loss of life, damage to infrastructure and economic deprivation. Societies are currently under increasing threat from such floods, predominantly from increasing exposure of people and assets in flood‐prone areas, but also as a result of changes in flood magnitude, frequency, and timing. Accurate flood hazard and risk assessment are therefore crucial for the sustainable development of societies worldwide. With a paucity of hydrological measurements, evidence from the field offers the only insight into truly extreme events and their variability in space and time. Historical, botanical, and geological archives have increasingly been recognized as valuable sources of extreme flood event information. These different archives are here reviewed with a particular focus on the recording mechanisms of flood information, the historical development of the methodological approaches and the type of information that those archives can provide. These studies provide a wealthy dataset of hundreds of historical and palaeoflood series, whose analysis reveals a noticeable dominance of records in Europe. After describing the diversity of flood information provided by this dataset, we identify how these records have improved and could further improve flood hazard assessments and, thereby, flood management and mitigation plans. This article is categorized under: Science of Water > Water Extremes Engineering Water > Planning Water Science of Water > Methods

[1] It is an open question to what extent wetlands contributed to the interglacial-glacial decrease in atmospheric methane concentration. Here we estimate methane emissions from glacial wetlands, using newly available PMIP2 simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate from coupled atmosphere-ocean and atmosphere-oceanvegetation models. These simulations apply improved boundary conditions resulting in better agreement with paleoclimatic data than earlier PMIP1 simulations. Emissions are computed from the dominant controls of water table depth, soil temperature, and plant productivity, and we analyze the relative role of each factor in the glacial decline. It is found that latitudinal changes in soil moisture, in combination with ice sheet expansion, cause boreal wetlands to shift southward in all simulations. This southward migration is instrumental in maintaining the boreal wetland source at a significant level. The mean emission temperature over boreal wetlands drops by only a few degrees, despite the strong overall cooling. The temperature effect on the glacial decline in the methane flux is therefore moderate, while reduced plant productivity contributes equally to the total reduction. Model results indicate a relatively small boreal and large tropical source during the LGM, with wetlands on the exposed continental shelves mainly contributing to the tropical source. This distribution in emissions is consistent with the low interpolar difference in glacial methane concentrations derived from ice core data.

In the Nile catchment, a growing number of site-and reach-based studies employ radiocarbon and, more recently, OSL dating to reconstruct Holocene river histories, but there has been no attempt to critically evaluate and synthesise these data at the catchment scale. We present the first meta-analysis of published and publically available radiocarbon and OSL dated Holocene fluvial units in the Nile catchment, including the delta region, and relate this to changing climate and river dynamics. Dated fluvial units are separated both geographically (into the Nile Delta and White, Blue, and Desert Nile sub-regions) and into depositional environment (floodplain and palaeochannel fills). Cumulative probability density frequency 3 (CPDF) plots of floodplain and palaeochannel units show a striking inverse relationship during the Holocene, reflecting abrupt (< 100 years) climate-related changes in flooding regime. The CPDF plot of dated floodplain units is interpreted as a record of over-bank river flows, whilst the CPDF plot of palaeochannel units reflect periods of major flooding associated with channel abandonment and contraction, as well as transitions to multicentennial length episodes of greater aridity and low river flow. This analysis has identified major changes in river flow and dynamics in the Nile catchment with phases of channel and floodplain contraction at c.6150-5750, 4400-4150, 3700-3450, 2700-2250, 1350-900, 800-550 cal. BC and cal. AD 1600,timeframes that mark shifts to new hydrological and geomorphological regimes. We discuss the impacts of these changing hydromorphological regimes upon riverine civilizations in the Nile Valley.

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