Stream Restoration Projects
Streambank Retreat
Streambank Retreat
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Monitoring by the USDA-ARS along Goodwin Creek, Mississippi, USA.
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- subaerial processess and erosion;
- fluvial erosion; and
- bank failure.
Subaerial processes are climate-related phenomena that reduce soil strength, inducing direct erosion and making the bank more susceptible to fluvial erosion (e.g. frost heave, desiccation cracking). Fluvial erosion is the direct removal of soil particles or aggregates from the stream bed or bank toe by stream flow (hereafter called streambank erosion), while the collapse of streambanks due to slope instability is referred to as bank failure or mass wasting.
Streambank retreat is a cyclic process where subaerial processes weaken the soil surface, causing subaerial erosion. During storm events, soil is eroded from the bank toe, leaving an unstable bank. Following a drop in water level, the streambank collapses, depositing additional material at the bank toe.
© VT-BSE-TMDL Center 2006 | Updated 28 August 2006
Funded by US EPA Grant AW-83238501 Top
