New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics abstracts

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Deposits of a rapidly eroding meandering river: terrace cut and fill in the Taupo Volcanic Zone

KEN J. WOOLFE

Department of Earth Sciences
James Cook University
Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia

RICHARD G. PURDON*

Research School of Earth Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington
P.O. Box 600
Wellington 6000, New Zealand

*Present address: Department of Earth Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.

Abstract  River terraces in a section of the upper Rangitaiki River have formed in the last 1850 years as the river rapidly regrades following a major volcanic eruption (Taupo Tephra Formation). Terrace treads are cut at the migrating outside edge of meander loops and are subsequently filled by scroll and point bar deposits associated with the same loop. Entrenchment rates as high as 5 mm/yr cause the meanders to be permanently abandoned following cutoff. This results in the widespread preservation of fluvial cover sequences up to 6 m thick in an otherwise strongly erosive regime.

Keywords  river terraces; meander loops; cut and fill; Taupo Pumice Alluvium

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 1996, Vol. 39: 243-249

0028-8306/96/3902-0243 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1996

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1634K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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