RIVER REGIMES

Dr. David A Lalramchulloa.

 River engineers and geomorphologists might well
have a similar opinion especially when it is
recognized how variable a river can be through time
and from reach to reach.
 River characteristics vary sometimes little and
sometimes greatly.
 The question to be answered is.. why is one reach of
a river connected to a different type of reach? That
is, why can reaches be so different? For example,
why does a straight river become meandering and a
meandering river braid or anabranch?
 An important consideration in predicting future
river behavior and response is the sensitivity of the
channel.
What is a River Regime…
 A river regime is the annual variation in the
discharge of a river, the amount of water that
travels through a river and how this changes
throughout the year.
 According to Beckinsale, (1969) River Regime is the
variability in its discharge throughout the course of
a year in response to precipitation, temperature,
evapotranspiration and drainage basin
characteristics.
 Padre (1955) recognizes three types of river regime
1. simple regime - one maximum and one minimum
per year
2. mixed regime/double regime - two maximums and
two minimums per year
3. complex mode - several extrema
 The character of a river's regime is influenced by a
number of variable factors:
1. the size of the river and where discharge
measurements are taken along its course
2. the amount, seasonality and intensity of the
precipitation
3. the temperatures, with possible melt water and
high rates of evaporation in the summer
4. the geology and soils particularly their
permeability and porosity; groundwater percolated
in permeable rocks is gradually released into the
river as base flow
5. the type of vegetation cover: wetlands can hold
water and release it slowly into the river
6. human activities aimed at regulating a river's
discharge
 Simple regimes
 Simple regimes can be nival, pluvial or glacial,
depending on the origin of the water. Simple regime
is where all rivers have one peak discharge per year.
 Glacial regime
The glacial regime is characterised by:
 Very high discharge in summer after the ice melt
 Very low discharge from the end of autumn to early
spring
 Amplitude of monthly variation of discharge is high
 Very high daily variability in discharge during the
year
 High flow
 It is found at high altitudes, above 2,500 metres
(8,200 ft)
 Nival
 The nival regime is similar to the glacial, but
lessened and the maximum takes place earlier, in
June. It can be mountain or plain nival. The
characteristics of the plain nival are:
 Short and violent flood in April–May following
massive spring thawing of winter snows
 Great daily variability

 Very great variability over the course of the year

 Great inter-annual variability

 Significant flow
 Pluvial
 The pluvial regime is characterized by:
 high water in winter and spring
 low discharge in summer
 great inter-annual variability
 flow is generally rather weak
 It is typical of rivers at low to moderate altitude (500
to 1,000 metres or 1,600 to 3,300 feet)
 Tropical pluvial
 the tropical pluvial regime is characterized by:
 very low discharge in the cold season and abundant
rainfall in the warm season
 minimum can reach very low values
 great variability of discharge during the year
 Relatively regular from one year to another
 Mixed régimes/double regime
 Nivo-glacial
 Nivo-glacial only one true maximum, which occurs in
the late spring or the early summer (from May to July
in the case of the Northern hemisphere)
 relatively high diurnal variations during the hot
season
 significant yearly variation, but less than in the snow
regime
 significant flow
 Nivo-pluvial
 two maximums, the first occurring in the spring and
the other in autumn
 a main low-water in October and a secondary low-
water in January
 significant inter-annual variations
 Pluvio-nival
 A period of rainfall in late autumn due to abundant
rainfall, followed by a light increase due to snow
melt in early spring
 the single minimum occurs in autumn

 low amplitude

 Complex regimes

 The complex regime is characteristic of large rivers,

the flow of which is diversely influenced by
numerous tributaries from different altitudes,
climates etc.
 The influences diminish extreme discharges and
increase the regularity of the mean monthly
discharge from upstream to downstream.
 Of course, a river can have several different regimes
over its course from the high mountains to the
flatlands.
 A storm hydrograph is a way of displaying how
the discharge of a river changes over time in
response to a rainfall event.
 These graphs are useful because they show us how
variable runoff can be.
 They also reveal the contributions of water from the
ground (as Antecedent or base flow) and from the
soil.
 These will be ever present on the graph unless there
is a long-extended period without any rainfall.
 Peak discharge is the maximum amount of water in a
river after a rainfall event, if this level surpasses the
bankfull discharge then a flood will occur where the
river overtops its banks.
 Lag time is the amount of time between the peak
amount of rainfall and the peak discharge in the
river.
 Lag time can vary depending on the relief of the
drainage basin, the underlying rock type, the
vegetation, the land use and the drainage density.
 Generally, the less the lag time the quicker the river
rises, the more flashy the graph and the more likely a
flood.
 Lag time is therefore a key feature of a river
hydrograph, as it shows how much preparation time
people have before a flood strikes.
 Steep slopes tend to reduce the amount of
infiltration of water into the ground, this water can
then flow quickly down to rivers as overland flow.
 Gentle slopes or flat land allow water to penetrate
into the soil and increase lag times and reduce peak
discharges.
 Vegetation type and coverage plays a big role, with
forests intercepting more rainfall than grasses.
 This interception increases lag time and reduces
the risk of a flood.
 Indeed, deforestation can increase soil erosion,
reduce interception and increase flood risk.
 Soil and rock type can also influence what happens
to precipitation when it reaches the ground.
 Impermeable soils and rocks such as clay or shale do
not allow water to infiltrate, this forces water to run
off reducing river lag times and increasing flood risk.
 With more streams in an area or a higher drainage
density more water can collect quickly from within
the basin. This reduces lag times and increases
peak discharges.
 Urbanisation can cause flooding because many of the
surfaces in towns and cities are Impermeable.
 Also the whole urban system is designed to move
water from the surface into underground pipes and
away from urban areas which can lead to floods in
other regions.
 Ploughing of the soil breaks it up and allows more
infiltration. This reduces peak discharges and
increases lag time.
 Conversely, drainage channels and ditches
designed to drain fields speed water into local
rivers and increase peak discharges and reduce lag
times.
 When fields are harvested that reduces
interception, results in greater over land flow and
decreases lag times.
 These changes and all of the factors mentioned
above would have different consequences for the
drainage basin and their river discharge at
different times of the year.
 One of the main factors influencing the erosive
power of a given flow is its discharge: the volume of
flow passing through a given cross-section in a given
time.
 Discharge varies both spatially and temporally in
natural river channels, changing in a downstream
direction and fluctuating over time in response to
inputs of precipitation.
 The discharge of a river is calculated by multiplying
the cross sectional area of the river by its velocity.
 Because the cross section is measured in
metres2 and the velocity is measured in metres per
second the discharge is measured in metres3 per
second. These units are known as CUMECs (cubic
metres per second).
 Q=A×v
 where Q = discharge,
 A = cross-sectional area and
 v =mean flow velocity.
 The annual flow regime of a river describes the
seasonal variations in flow that are observed during
an ‘average’ year.
 This is influenced by the seasonal distribution of
rainfall, and the balance between rainfall and
evaporation at different times of year.
 For example, some tropical rivers experience a
marked wet and dry season, drying up completely for
part of the year and carrying high flows during the
wet season.
 Climate also has an important influence on the type
and density of vegetation, soils and land use, all of
which act as controls on the processes of runoff
generation.
 Several climate characteristics are important in
determining the flow regime-these include whether
it is humid or arid, if it is predominantly warm or
cold, the annual range of temperatures, and
whether precipitation is seasonal or occurs all year
round.
 At high latitudes and in some mountain
environments, the timing and length of glacial
ablation and snowmelt is a dominant.
 According to Beckinsale (1969) the different
regimes are categorized using a system of two
letters.
 The first letter relates to the mean annual
precipitation and annual temperature range:
A: Warm, moist tropical climates, where the
mean temperature exceeds 18°C for all months of
the year.
B: Dry climates, where rates of potential evaporation1
exceed annual precipitation.
C: Warm moist temperate climates.
D: Seasonally cold climates with snowfall, where the
mean temperature is less than –3°C during the
coldest month.
 The second letter indicates the seasonal distribution of
precipitation:
F: Appreciable rainfall all year round.
W: Marked winter low flow.
S: Marked summer low flow.
 For example, the regime of the Pendari River is influenced
by a tropical climate with a marked winter low flow, and
would be classified as AW.
 Factors affecting hydrological response of a basin:
 Soils and geology

 Vegetation and land use

 Physiographic characteristics

 Channel characteristics

 Meteorological factors

 Downstream variations in discharge:

 As well as varying through time, discharge also

changes along the course of a river.
 In most cases, discharge increases downstream as
the area of the drainage basin increases and
tributaries join the main channel.