The sudden abandonment of a river's existing channel for a new course across its floodplain, typically triggered when sediment deposition raises the existing bed until it becomes easier for floodwater to break out and carve a new, lower-gradient path. Avulsion can relocate a river's course by many kilometres within a single flood season and has repeatedly reshaped major deltas, including the Yellow River's, whose mouth has shifted across a wide span of coastline over recorded history.
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1. River Avulsion (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIntroductionQuote, Introduction
In sedimentary geology and fluvial geomorphology, avulsion is the process by which flow is diverted out of an established river channel and into a new course via a bifurcation, or splitting of the channel.
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