What defines a river? Modelling the interplay between physical and social driving factors in characterising the waterways in Chile

Abstract

The categorisation of natural landscape features places a socialised and ordered lens on the landscape. In the case of natural waterways, it creates a regional hydrological vocabulary, based on physical processes and cultural history. This study uses the unique combination of hydrological and cultural characteristics found in Chile to determine the degree to which local waterway classifications of waterways as rivers (río in Spanish) provide insights into the cultural role in perceiving and describing such important landscape elements. The results indicate that waterway classification is strongly influenced by different regional cultural perspectives, which are also affected by their regional climates and specific historical processes of cartographic systematisation and nation‐making. This variety of hydrological vocabularies presents distinct zones of waterway classification throughout Chile, with implications of these differences affecting territorial planning, water management and even international relations.

The geomorphological and ecological functioning of the Silala River

“…Interestingly, in the absence of spatially distributed information on hydrological regime and sediment transport dynamics, the name given to waterways can help shedding light on the processes mediated by the local cultural context. Lacy et al (2018) analyzed the way waterways are named in Chile, and found that this is due to a unique combination of hydrological characteristics and cultural perspectives, quebrada being generally used to refer to intermittent waterways, estero as a small stream or creek, and río a perennial waterway, irrespective of the size. The aim of this article is to review recent research into the fluvial geomorphological and ecological nature of the Silala River in the North of Chile, and will deal with (i) the characterization of the fluvial nature of the forms featured in the main channel; (ii) the characterization of the fluvial nature of the sediment mobility and transport processes; and (iii) the analysis of the main ecological characteristics of the river, and particularly the fish population.…”