ABSTRACT
Despite these advances, to date most studies have focused either on laboratory confluences or on small natural confluences. “Small” as used here implies that field measurements in the confluence can be
obtained by wading into the flow (depth < 1.0-1.5 m) or by spanning the confluence with a small bridge (width < 12-18 meters). Few, if any, process-based field investigations of the fluvial dynamics of confluences of large rivers have been conducted and data do not exist to evaluate the relevance of conclusions derived from small-scale confluence studies for understanding the dynamics of large-river confluences. The extent to which findings for small confluences provide insight into the fluvial dynamics of large-river confluences is a scaling issue. Past work on the scaling of channel form and fluvial processes suggests that scaling relations for confluences are likely to be fundamentally nonlinear and therefore complex.
