Morphodynamic of the Kosa River Channel as a Reflection of the Direction of the Channel Processes in the Development Valleys of Glaciolacustrine Terraces (Upper Kama Basin)

Abstract

—The article is devoted to identification of peculiarities of development of channel processes in river valleys with distribution of glaciolacustrine terraces. Kosa river was chosen as the largest right tributary of the upper Kama. The resources of GoogleEarthPro and Yandex Maps were used in the process of interpretation of space images and obtaining quantitative information. The morphodynamic types of a river channel was made on the basis of the analysis of elements of floodplain-channel landscape complexes. The indicator of the ratio of the width of the floodplain to the width of the valley was considered as a feature of the development of channel processes in the areas of the distribution of the glaciolacustrine terrace. This ratio is 1 : 1 at the upper Kosa river outside the Kosinskaya Lowland. It is 1 : 9 at the middle Kosa river, and 1 : 3 at the Kosa downstream. The location of the meander belt in the left of the valley side is a feature of the development of channel processes. This indicates the presence of a stable and long-term planform channel changes from the east to the west in the past. The leading morphodynamic channel types are free meanders and confined straight channel for the Kosa upper stream. In the Kosa middle stream, in which most of the valley is represented by a glaciolacustrine terrace, confined bends already play a significant role in the structure of morphodynamic types of a river channel, while maintaining the leading role of free meanders. At the same time, a high proportion of the distribution of the straight confined channel is observed.