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@PHDTHESIS{Wolf:961214,
author = {Wolf, Stefanie Sabine},
othercontributors = {Schüttrumpf, Holger and Lehmkuhl, Frank},
title = {{T}he long-term-memory of a typical mid-{E}uropean upland
to lowland river : or why we struggle to reach a good
ecological state for our rivers; [überarbeitete {A}uflage]},
school = {Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen},
type = {Dissertation},
address = {Aachen},
publisher = {RWTH Aachen University},
reportid = {RWTH-2023-06686},
pages = {1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen, Diagramme, Karten},
year = {2023},
note = {Überarbeitete Auflage mit Korrektur von Abbildungen. -
Veröffentlicht auf dem Publikationsserver der RWTH Aachen
University; Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische
Hochschule Aachen, 2023},
abstract = {Anthropogenic impacts on rivers date back several millennia
BC, starting with agricultural land use and deforestation.
In Europe, many of today’s measures, like mill ditches,
still used by industries for process and cooling water
today, originate from medieval times. With
Industrialization, rivers were regulated, and large dams
were constructed. Until today, several resulting
morphodynamic processes from former and recent measures
overlap, and it is almost impossible to determine how the
river’s morphology will develop in the future. Thus,
systematically evaluating the river’s morphological
behavior supports sustainable water resources management.
The Rur River (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) is a model
example for a typical mid-sized mid-European low-mountain to
lowland river whose catchment has been affected by
industrial development, including the construction of seven
reservoirs. In this thesis, anthropogenic impacts are
evaluated qualitatively and quantitively on different
spatial scales. We identify the morphological developments
from different eras affecting the Rur River until today,
specific measures of water resources management impacting
the sediment connectivity, and long-term impacts of damming
to assess boundaries for a river’s morphological
development. Morphological changes over the last 200 years
are determined in GIS. Changes in river straightening and
structural diversity are described by structural indicators
and correlated with eras of water resources management. The
most severe measures affecting sediment transport are
identified by modifying the sediment rating curve. A hybrid
examination of field measurements and numerical modeling
investigates the impact of large dams on the downstream’s
morphology. We identified five eras characterized by
priority shifts in water resources management during the
last 200 years: The Pre- Industrial Era (mid-18th –
mid-19th century), the Industrial Era (mid-19th century –
WWI), the Agricultural Era (after WWI – 1980s), the Era of
Ecological Improvement (1980s – 2000), and the Era of
EU-WFD (from 2000 to the present). The Industrial and
Agricultural Era led to river straightening, even without
direct hydraulic measures. The suspended sediment transport
as the main morphodynamic driver could be described more
accurately with the sediment rating curve when incorporating
parameters for the length of a river’s section and
damming. Results are river specific as they are closely
linked to connectivity behavior. For the Rur River, the
construction of large dams leads to a sediment deficit,
increased mean sediment diameters downstream of the
reservoir, and an alteration of the flow regime. The local
lithostratigraphy superimposes the sedimentological changes
downstream of the dam. The changes in the flow regime,
however, lead to severe floodplain decoupling. Natural
boundaries pose the foundation on which a river develops.
Geomorphological boundaries primarily operate on different
scales and, amongst other boundaries, lead to a specific
fingerprint in a river’s connectivity, which determines
responses to anthropogenic measures. However, the
socio-economic era determines priorities in water resources
management. To achieve sustainable river development, we
need a shift in the socio-economic priorities of the present
era and the implementation of water resources management in
current political agendas. Further, evaluating a river’s
connectivity behavior on different scales needs to be
incorporated into water resources management to achieve
development within the river’s natural boundaries.},
cin = {314410},
ddc = {624},
cid = {$I:(DE-82)314410_20140620$},
pnm = {DFG project 418362535 - "Humanized River Systems“ – Der
Einfluss von Landnutzungsänderungen und Industrialisierung
auf die Morphodynamik kleiner Fließgewässer im Übergang
vom Mittelgebirge zum Tiefland: Beispiele aus dem
Rureinzugsgebiet (418362535)},
pid = {G:(GEPRIS)418362535},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)11},
doi = {10.18154/RWTH-2023-06686},
url = {https://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/961214},
}
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