Avulsion (river)

Plumes of sediment enter the ocean from several mouths of the Mississippi River bird's-foot delta. This sediment is responsible for building the delta and allowing it to advance into the sea. As it extends further offshore, the channel slope will decrease and its bed will aggrade, promoting an avulsion.

In sedimentary geology and fluvial geomorphology, avulsion is the rapid abandonment of a river channel and the formation of a new river channel. Avulsions occur as a result of channel slopes that are much less steep than the slope that the river could travel if it took a new course.[1]

  1. ^ Slingerland, Rudy; Smith, Norman D. (1998). "Necessary conditions for a meandering-river avulsion". Geology. 26 (5): 435–438. Bibcode:1998Geo....26..435S. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1998)026<0435:NCFAMR>2.3.CO;2.