4D GIS FOR MONITORING RIVER BANK EROSION AT MEANDER BEND SCALE: CASE OF MOSELLE RIVER

We used a combination of remote sensing, field investigations, and laboratory analysis to map and characterize abandoned river channels within the French Upper Rhine alluvial plain. Our results show five major paleochannel groups with significant differences in their pattern, morphological characteristics, and sediment filling. The formation of these paleochannel groups is attributed to significant changes in environmental processes in the area during the last ~ 11 700 years.

Soil moisture is a key variable related to droughts and flood genesis, but little is known about the evolution of soil moisture under climate change. Here, using a simulation approach, we show that changes in soil moisture are driven by changes in precipitation intermittence rather than changes in precipitation intensity or in temperature.

Remote sensing is widely used to document historical fluvial dynamics. However, the geometric error affecting the inferred planform changes can result in undesired geomorphological misinterpretation. Here, we present a novel approach to quantify the uncertainty associated with eroded/deposited surfaces. Concluding that this uncertainty depends on the magnitude and the shape of the surficial changes, restoration programs targeting lateral mobility of streams can benefit from our approach.

PalaeoCADIX-Z is an interdisciplinary project that studied three cores drilled in a marine palaeochannel that ran through the ancient city of Cádiz (Spain). These cores reveal a ≥ 50 m thick Holocene sedimentary sequence. Importantly, most of the deposits date from the 1st millennium BCE to the 1st millennium CE. Geoarchaeologists, geomorphologists, archaeologists, sedimentologists, palaeoenvironmentalists, geochemists, and geochronologists collaborated within this project.

A hydrological model is used in combination with thermal measurements to investigate the effect of restoration actions in an artificial island of the Upper Rhine river. The injection of water in a newly built channel is efficient as it enhances overall hydrologic dynamics of the system with possible benefits for water quality and biodiversity. The combined use of the model and thermal measurements is also proven to be a relevant tool to study the effect of restoration on hydrological systems.

In this study we show the relevance of an interdisciplinary study for improving restoration within the framework of a European LIFE+ project on the French side of the Upper Rhine (Rohrschollen Island). Our results underscore the advantage of combining functional restoration with detailed knowledge of past trajectories in complex hydrosystems. We anticipate our approach will expand the toolbox of decision-makers and help orientate functional restoration actions in the future.