{{short description|Network of river channels}}
[[File:Rakaia River NZ aerial braided.jpg|thumb|The Rakaia River in the South Island of New Zealand is braided over most of its course]]
A '''braided river''' (also called '''braided channel''' or '''braided stream''') consists of a network of river channels separated by small, often temporary, islands called ''braid bars'' or, in British English usage, ''aits'' or ''eyots''.
Braided streams tend to occur in rivers with high sediment loads or coarse grain sizes, and in rivers with steeper slopes than typical rivers with straight or meandering channel patterns. They are also associated with rivers with rapid and frequent variation in the amount of water they carry, i.e., with "flashy" rivers, and with rivers with weak banks.
Braided channels are found in a variety of environments all over the world, including gravelly mountain streams, sand bed rivers, on alluvial fans, on river deltas, and across depositional plains.<ref name=BristowBest>{{cite journal |title=Braided rivers: perspectives and problems |first1=C. S. |last1=Bristow |first2=J. L. |last2=Best |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |volume=75 |pages=1–11 |date=1 January 1993 |issue=1 |doi=10.1144/GSL.SP.1993.075.01.01|bibcode=1993GSLSP..75....1B |s2cid=129232374 }}</ref>
==Description== A braided river consists of a network of multiple shallow channels that diverge and rejoin around ephemeral ''braid bars''. This gives the river a fancied resemblance to the interwoven strands of a braid.<ref name=Jackson1997>{{cite book |editor1-last=Jackson |editor1-first=Julia A. |title=Glossary of geology. |date=1997 |publisher=American Geological Institute |location=Alexandria, Virginia |isbn=0922152349 |edition=Fourth |chapter=braided stream}}</ref><ref name=Leeder2011>{{cite book |last1=Leeder |first1=M. R. |title=Sedimentology and sedimentary basins : from turbulence to tectonics |date=2011 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Chichester, West Sussex, UK |isbn=9781405177832 |edition=2nd |pages=247–252}}</ref> The braid bars, also known as channel bars,{{sfn|Jackson|1997|loc="channel bar"}} branch islands,{{sfn|Jackson|1997|loc="branch island"}} or accreting islands, are usually unstable and may be completely covered at times of high water.<ref name=Leeder2011/> The channels and braid bars are usually highly mobile, with the river layout often changing significantly during flood events.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hickin |first1=E |last2=Sichingabula |first2=H |title=The geomorphic impact of the catastrophic October 1984 flood on the planform of the Squamish River, southwestern British Columbia |journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |year=1988 |volume=25 |issue=7 |pages=1078–1087 |doi=10.1139/e88-105|bibcode=1988CaJES..25.1078H }}</ref> When the islets separating channels are stabilized by vegetation, so that they are more permanent features, they are sometimes called aits or eyots.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Allaby |first1=Michael |title=A dictionary of geology and earth sciences |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780199653065 |edition=Fourth}}</ref>
A braided river differs from a ''meandering river'', which has a single sinuous channel. It is also distinct from an ''anastomosing river'', which consist of multiple interweaving semi-permanent channels which are separated by floodplain rather than channel bars; these channels may themselves be braided.<ref name=Leeder2011/>
==Formation== [[File:White River 5965.JPG|thumb|right|The White River in the U.S. state of Washington transports a large sediment load from the Emmons Glacier of Mount Rainier, a young, rapidly eroding volcano.]] The physical processes that determine whether a river will be braided or meandering are not fully understood.{{sfn|Leeder|2011|p=248}}<ref name="MurrayPaola1994"/> However, there is wide agreement that a river becomes braided when it carries an abundant supply of sediments.<ref name=Jackson1997/>{{sfn|Leeder|2011|p=248}}<ref name=Gray>{{cite web |last1=Gray |first1=D. |last2=Harding |first2=J.S. |title=Braided river ecology: A literature review of physical habitats and aquatic invertebrate communities |series=Science for Conservation 279|year=2007 |url=https://dcon01mstr0c21wprod.azurewebsites.net/globalassets/documents/science-and-technical/sfc279.pdf|isbn=978-0-478-14341-6|access-date=19 July 2025|publisher=New Zealand Department of Conservation|location=Wellington}}</ref>
Experiments with flumes suggest that a river becomes braided when a threshold level of sediment load or slope is reached. On timescales long enough for the river to evolve, a sustained increase in sediment load will increase the bed slope of the river, so that a variation of slope is equivalent to a variation in sediment load, provided the amount of water carried by the river is unchanged. A threshold slope was experimentally determined to be 0.016 (ft/ft) for a {{convert|0.15|cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=on}} stream with poorly sorted coarse sand. Any slope over this threshold created a braided stream, while any slope under the threshold created a meandering stream or – for very low slopes – a straight channel. Also important to channel development is the proportion of suspended load sediment to bed load. An increase in suspended sediment allowed for the deposition of fine erosion-resistant material on the inside of a curve, which accentuated the curve and in some instances, caused a river to shift from a braided to a meandering profile.<ref name=Schumm>{{cite journal |last1=Schumm |first1=S |last2=Kahn |first2=H |title=Experimental Study of Channel Patterns |journal=Bulletin of the Geological Society of America |year=1972 |volume=83 |issue=6 |pages=1755–1770 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1972)83[1755:esocp]2.0.co;2}}</ref>
These experimental results were expressed in formulas relating the critical slope for braiding to the discharge and grain size. The higher the discharge, the lower the critical slope, while larger grain size yields a higher critical slope. However, these give only an incomplete picture,{{sfn|Leeder|2011|p=248}} and numerical simulations have become increasingly important for understanding braided rivers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Richard D. |last2=Brasington |first2=James |last3=Hicks |first3=D. Murray |title=Numerical Modelling of Braided River Morphodynamics: Review and Future Challenges: Modelling Braided River Morphodynamics |journal=Geography Compass |date=March 2016 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=102–127 |doi=10.1111/gec3.12260|url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/114536/7/114536.pdf }}</ref><ref name=MurrayPaola1994>{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=A. Brad |last2=Paola |first2=Chris |title=A cellular model of braided rivers |journal=Nature |date=September 1994 |volume=371 |issue=6492 |pages=54–57 |doi=10.1038/371054a0|bibcode=1994Natur.371...54M |s2cid=4276051 }}</ref>
Aggradation (net deposition of sediments) favors braided rivers, but is not essential. For example, the Rakaia and Waitaki Rivers of New Zealand are not aggrading, due to retreating shorelines, but are nonetheless braided rivers. Variable discharge has also been identified as important in braided rivers,<ref name=Leopold>{{cite journal |last1=Leopold |first1=L.B. |last2=Wolman |first2=M.G. |title=River channel patterns: Braiding, meandering, and straight |journal=U.S. Geological Survey Professional Papers |series=Professional Paper |year=1957 |volume=282-B |pages=39–85 |doi=10.3133/pp282B|doi-access=free |bibcode=1957usgs.rept....7L }}</ref> but this may be primarily due to the tendency for frequent floods to reduce bank vegetation and destabilize the banks, rather than because variable discharge is an essential part of braided river formation.{{sfn|Williams|Brasington|Hicks|2016|p=104}}
Numerical models suggest that bedload transport (movement of sediment particles by rolling or bouncing along the river bottom) is essential to formation of braided rivers, with net erosion of sediments at channel divergences and net deposition at convergences. Braiding is reliably reproduced in simulations whenever there is little lateral constraint on flow and there is significant bedload transport. Braiding is not observed in simulations of the extreme cases of pure scour (no deposition taking place), which produces a dendritic system, or of cohesive sediments with no bedload transport. Meanders fully develop only when the river banks are sufficiently stabilized to limit lateral flow.<ref name=MurrayPaola1994/> An increase in suspended sediment relative to bedload allows the deposition of fine erosion-resistant material on the inside of a curve, which accentuated the curve and in some instances, causes a river to shift from a braided to a meandering profile.<ref name=Schumm/> A stream with cohesive banks that are resistant to erosion will form narrow, deep, meandering channels, whereas a stream with highly erodible banks will form wide, shallow channels, preventing the helical flow of the water necessary for meandering and resulting in the formation of braided channels.<ref name="Easterbrook, Don J. 1999">{{cite book |last1=Easterbrook |first1=Don J. |title=Surface processes and landforms |date=1999 |publisher=Prentice Hall |location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey |isbn=978-0138609580 |edition=2nd}}</ref>
==Occurrences== <!-- This section is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all braided rivers. Include only particularly notable examples. --> [[File:STS065-96-048.jpg|thumb|Brahmaputra River seen from the Space Shuttle]] Braided rivers occur in many environments, but are most common in wide valleys associated with mountainous regions or their piedmonts{{sfn|Williams|Brasington|Hicks|2016|p=104}} or in areas of coarse-grained sediments and limited growth of vegetation near the river banks.<ref name="Ashmore2013">{{cite journal |last1=Ashmore |first1=P. |title=9.17 Morphology and Dynamics of Braided Rivers |journal=Treatise on Geomorphology |date=2013 |pages=289–312 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-374739-6.00242-6|isbn=9780080885223 }}</ref> They are also found on fluvial (stream-dominated) alluvial fans.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boggs |first1=Sam Jr. |title=Principles of sedimentology and stratigraphy |date=2006 |publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall |location=Upper Saddle River, New Jersey |isbn=0131547283 |edition=4th |page=248}}</ref> Extensive braided river systems are found in Alaska, Canada, New Zealand's South Island, and the Himalayas, which all contain young, rapidly eroding mountains.
* The enormous Brahmaputra river in Northeastern India is a classic example of a braided river.<ref name="Catling1992">{{cite book |last=Catling |first=David |title=Rice in deep water |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5JxwKx1RAgC&pg=PA177 |access-date=23 April 2011 |year=1992 |publisher=International Rice Research Institute |isbn=978-971-22-0005-2 |page=177}}</ref> * A notable example of a large braided stream in the contiguous United States is the Platte River in central and western Nebraska.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blodgett |first1=R.H. |last2=Stanley |first2=K.O. |title=Stratification, Bedforms, and Discharge Relations of the Platte Braided River System, Nebraska |journal=SEPM Journal of Sedimentary Research |date=1980 |volume=50 |issue=1 |doi=10.1306/212F7987-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D}}</ref> Platte-type braided rivers are characterized by abundant linguoid (tonguelike) bar and dune deposits.<ref name=Miall1977>{{cite journal |last1=Miall |first1=Andrew D. |title=A review of the braided-river depositional environment |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |date=May 1977 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=1–62 |doi=10.1016/0012-8252(77)90055-1|bibcode=1977ESRv...13....1M }}</ref> * The Scott River of southern Alaska is the type for braided glacial outwash rivers characterized by longitudinal gravel bars and by sand lenses deposited in scours from times of high water.<ref name=Miall1977/> * The Donjek River of the Yukon Basin is the type for braided rivers showing repeated cycles of deposition, with finer sediments towards the top of each cycle.<ref name=Miall1977/> * The Bijou Creek of Colorado is the type for braided rivers characterized by laminated sand deposits emplaced during floods.<ref name=Miall1977/> * A portion of the lower Yellow River takes a braided form.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Chien |first=N. |year=1961 |title=The braided stream of the lower Yellow River |journal=Scientia Sinica |volume=10 |pages=734–754}}</ref> * The Sewanee Conglomerate, a Pennsylvanian coarse sandstone and conglomerate unit<ref>{{cite conference |last=Fraley |first=Thear Kirk |title=Depositional Environment of Lower Pennsylvanian Sewanee Conglomerate, Lookout Mountain, Georgia |conference=Geological Society of America Northeastern Section (45th Annual) and Southeastern Section (59th Annual) Joint Meeting |date=13–16 March 2010}}</ref> present on the Cumberland Plateau near the University of the South, may have been deposited by an ancient braided and meandering river that once existed in the eastern United States.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Churnet |first1=Habte Giorgis |last2=Bergenback |first2=Richard E. |title=Depositional Systems of Pennsylvanian Rocks in the Cumberland Plateau of Southern Tennessee |year=1986 |publisher=Georgia Geological Society}}</ref> Others have interpreted the depositional environment for this unit as a tidal delta.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ferm |first1=J. C. |last2=Miliei |first2=R. C. |last3=Eason |first3=J.E. |year=1972 |title=Carboniferous depositional environments in the Cumberland Plateau of Southern Tennessee and Northern Alabama |journal=Tennessee Div. Geology Rept. Inv. |issue=33}}</ref> thumb|Tagliamento River seen from the Pinzano bridge<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ponte+di+Pinzano+al+Tagliamento/@46.1846956,12.9556653,17.17z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x477a296db4e7c121:0xdcf471d684c8b8b1!2s33094+Pinzano+Al+Tagliamento+PN!3b1!8m2!3d46.1830944!4d12.9455901!3m4!1s0x477a293ff75c5077:0x14600045fa75c25a!8m2!3d46.1847356!4d12.9569417 | title=Google Maps }}</ref> * The Tagliamento of Italy is an example of a gravel bed braided river.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bertoldi |first1=W. |last2=Zanoni |first2=L. |last3=Tubino |first3=M. |title=Assessment of morphological changes induced by flow and flood pulses in a gravel bed braided river: The Tagliamento River (Italy) |journal=Geomorphology |date=January 2010 |volume=114 |issue=3 |pages=348–360 |doi=10.1016/j.geomorph.2009.07.017|bibcode=2010Geomo.114..348B }}</ref> * The Piave, also in Italy, is an example of a river that is transitioning from braided to meandering due to human interventions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Surian |first1=Nicola |title=Channel changes due to river regulation: the case of the Piave River, Italy |journal=Earth Surface Processes and Landforms |date=8 November 1999 |volume=24 |issue=12 |pages=1135–1151 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1096-9837(199911)24:12<1135::AID-ESP40>3.0.CO;2-F|bibcode=1999ESPL...24.1135S }}</ref> * The Waimakariri River of New Zealand is an example of a braided river with an extensive floodplain.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reinfelds |first1=Ivars |last2=Nanson |first2=Gerald |title=Formation of braided river floodplains, Waimakariri River, New Zealand |journal=Sedimentology |date=December 1993 |volume=40 |issue=6 |pages=1113–1127 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-3091.1993.tb01382.x|bibcode=1993Sedim..40.1113R }}</ref> * The Hawkesbury Sandstone of Sydney is commonly interpreted as having been deposited by a large braided river system that existed during the Triassic period in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/the-hawkesbury-sandstone-and-the-brahmaputra-a-depositional-model/?|title=The hawkesbury sandstone and the brahmaputra: A depositional model for continental sheet sandstones|author= P. J. Conaghan, J. G. Jones|publisher=Macquarie University|date= 1 January 1975|access-date=15 December 2025}}</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px"> File:Waimakariri03 gobeirne.jpg|Waimakariri River with the Southern Alps in the background, Canterbury, New Zealand File:Rakaia_River_NZ_aerial_closer.jpg|Rakaia River, South Island, New Zealand File:Braided_Stream_FairbanksTananaRiver.jpg|Tanana River, Fairbanks, Alaska, United States File:Toklat_River_-_East_Fork_01.jpg|Toklat River, Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, United States File:Intermittent_Medano_Creek_Seeps_through_Desert_Sands.jpg|Medano Creek, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado, United States File:Rio de las Vueltas - El Chalten, Argentina.webp|Las Vueltas River, El Chalten, Argentina </gallery>
==See also== * {{annotated link|Anabranch}} * {{annotated link|Lagoon}} * {{annotated link|Shoal}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{Cite book |editor-last=Hibbert |editor-first=Barry |editor2-last=Brown |editor2-first=Kerry |date=2001 |title=Braided River Field Guide |location=Christchurch, N.Z. |publisher=Department of Conservation |isbn=9780478221213}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline|Braided rivers}}
{{river morphology}} {{Rivers, streams and springs}} {{sediment transport}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Rivers Category:Geomorphology Category:Fluvial landforms Category:Sedimentology Category:Water streams Category:Braided rivers