Fluvial Morphology in Different Permafrost Environments—A Review

This review presents a synthesis of the interaction between the hydro-morphological processes on interfluves and channels within fluvial catchments in permafrost regions. Both in modern and ancient permafrost catchments, this integrated landscape is quite diverse because of a variegated extent of frozen ground, density of vegetation cover, snow thickness, and other local factors. Moreover, temporal changes in environmental conditions are expressed in the morphological evolution of catchments. Channel patterns vary between single- and different multi-channel forms while the interfluves show a high diversity ranging from complete stability to intense denudation by surface runoff. It appears that braided channels, despite their high energy, were only significant during short intervals of peak discharge and transported only limited amounts of eroded sediment, while other channel patterns required more subdued annual discharge variability. Further, denudational processes on interfluves were a specific characteristic of landscape evolution during subsequent ice ages, especially in conditions of snow-rich and poorly vegetated, seasonal frost, or discontinuous permafrost resulting in the formation of extended planforms (cryopediments). In contrast, interfluves appeared to be rather stable on continuously frozen soils.