Storm-generated Holocene and historical floods in the Manawatu River, New Zealand

Ian C. Fuller; Mark G. Macklin; Willem H.J. Toonen; Katherine A. Holt

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.03.010

Storm-generated Holocene and historical floods in the Manawatu River, New Zealand

Ian C. Fuller^*, Mark G. Macklin, Willem H.J. Toonen, Katherine A. Holt

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

This paper reports the first reconstruction of storm-generated late Holocene and historical river floods in the North Island of New Zealand. The sedimentary infills of nine palaeochannels were studied in the lower alluvial reaches of the Manawatu River. Floods in these palaeochannels were recorded as a series of sand-rich units set within finer-grained fills. Flood chronologies were constrained using a combination of radiocarbon dating, documentary sources, geochemical markers, and palynological information. Flood units were sedimentologically and geochemically characterised using high resolution ITRAX™ X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) core scanning and laser diffraction grain-size analysis. The longest palaeoflood record extends back ca.3000 years. The temporal resolution and length of the Manawatu record reflects accommodation space for fluvial deposits, channel dynamics and mobility, and high sediment supply. Floods that occurred in the Manawatu during the mid-1800s at the time of European land clearance and in the first decade of the twentieth century appear to be among the largest recorded in the last 3000 years.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	102-124
Number of pages	23
Journal	Geomorphology
Volume	310
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.03.010
Publication status	Published - 1 Jun 2018
Externally published	Yes

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by the 2015 Massey University Research Fund to ICF, MGM and KAH. WHJT was supported by a NWO Rubicon grant ( 825.14.005 ). We thank David Feek (Physical Geography Technician, SAE) for assistance with fieldwork. Ian Saunders (Aberystwyth University) is acknowledged for supporting the grain-size analyses. Horizons Regional Council are thanked for providing the LiDAR data set (Andrew Steffert), flood modelling data (Jon Bell), and additional archive information (Jeff Watson). We thank the reviewers tasked with reviewing this manuscript, and the especially helpful comments of an anonymous referee and the Editor, Richard Marston.

Keywords

Floodplain
Fluvial sedimentary archive
Palaeochannel
XRF analysis

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title = "Storm-generated Holocene and historical floods in the Manawatu River, New Zealand",

abstract = "This paper reports the first reconstruction of storm-generated late Holocene and historical river floods in the North Island of New Zealand. The sedimentary infills of nine palaeochannels were studied in the lower alluvial reaches of the Manawatu River. Floods in these palaeochannels were recorded as a series of sand-rich units set within finer-grained fills. Flood chronologies were constrained using a combination of radiocarbon dating, documentary sources, geochemical markers, and palynological information. Flood units were sedimentologically and geochemically characterised using high resolution ITRAX{\texttrademark} X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) core scanning and laser diffraction grain-size analysis. The longest palaeoflood record extends back ca.3000 years. The temporal resolution and length of the Manawatu record reflects accommodation space for fluvial deposits, channel dynamics and mobility, and high sediment supply. Floods that occurred in the Manawatu during the mid-1800s at the time of European land clearance and in the first decade of the twentieth century appear to be among the largest recorded in the last 3000 years.",

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AU - Fuller, Ian C.

AU - Macklin, Mark G.

AU - Toonen, Willem H.J.

AU - Holt, Katherine A.

PY - 2018/6/1

Y1 - 2018/6/1

N2 - This paper reports the first reconstruction of storm-generated late Holocene and historical river floods in the North Island of New Zealand. The sedimentary infills of nine palaeochannels were studied in the lower alluvial reaches of the Manawatu River. Floods in these palaeochannels were recorded as a series of sand-rich units set within finer-grained fills. Flood chronologies were constrained using a combination of radiocarbon dating, documentary sources, geochemical markers, and palynological information. Flood units were sedimentologically and geochemically characterised using high resolution ITRAX™ X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) core scanning and laser diffraction grain-size analysis. The longest palaeoflood record extends back ca.3000 years. The temporal resolution and length of the Manawatu record reflects accommodation space for fluvial deposits, channel dynamics and mobility, and high sediment supply. Floods that occurred in the Manawatu during the mid-1800s at the time of European land clearance and in the first decade of the twentieth century appear to be among the largest recorded in the last 3000 years.

AB - This paper reports the first reconstruction of storm-generated late Holocene and historical river floods in the North Island of New Zealand. The sedimentary infills of nine palaeochannels were studied in the lower alluvial reaches of the Manawatu River. Floods in these palaeochannels were recorded as a series of sand-rich units set within finer-grained fills. Flood chronologies were constrained using a combination of radiocarbon dating, documentary sources, geochemical markers, and palynological information. Flood units were sedimentologically and geochemically characterised using high resolution ITRAX™ X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) core scanning and laser diffraction grain-size analysis. The longest palaeoflood record extends back ca.3000 years. The temporal resolution and length of the Manawatu record reflects accommodation space for fluvial deposits, channel dynamics and mobility, and high sediment supply. Floods that occurred in the Manawatu during the mid-1800s at the time of European land clearance and in the first decade of the twentieth century appear to be among the largest recorded in the last 3000 years.

KW - Floodplain

KW - Fluvial sedimentary archive

KW - Palaeochannel

KW - XRF analysis

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Storm-generated Holocene and historical floods in the Manawatu River, New Zealand

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

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