The sedimentary dynamics of a lowland river system can be defined as the whole of
processes that involve erosion, transport or deposition of sediment in the system –
including the floodplains – on every possible spatial and temporal scale. The
sedimentary dynamics of the river Rhine in the Netherlands have been influenced by
many human activities in the past. A major human intervention has been the
embankment around 1300 AD, by which the so far free meandering river was
confined between dikes. Previous studies analyzed the impact of human interventions
in the period after the embankment. The present study focuses on the sedimentary
dynamics of the natural river Rhine. We reconstructed the amount of sedimentation
and erosion that is involved with lateral migration of the river, and estimated the
residence time of the sediment on the floodplain. Lateral migration was reconstructed
with a one-dimensional bank erosion model. Lateral migration rates of meander bends
were modeled based on channel parameters (e.g. bend radius, discharge) and bank
material, all derived from detailed borehole reconstructions of sub-recent channel
belts from previous studies. Model results will be used to compare the sedimentary
dynamics of the natural river Rhine, with dynamics in human-influenced periods, and
hence to predict present and future sedimentation and erosion processes. Moreover,
results of reworked sediment volumes can be included in existing large-scale
sediment budgets of the river Rhine to evaluate the dynamics within these slice
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