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.
Facts
Timescale
Timescale (category) Process Type Connections
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Shaped
Source Brahmaputra River (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Avulsion (river) (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia infobox 'Lead section' = 'In sedimentary geology and fluvial geomorphology, avulsion is the p...' on 'Avulsion (river)'View the Source 2. 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.
Brahmaputra River (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Brahmaputra River, Formation statement for target 296189Quote, Shaped: Brahmaputra River, Formation statement for target 296189
In an 8.8 magnitude earthquake on 2 April 1762, however, the main channel of the Brahmaputra at Bhahadurabad point was switched southwards and opened as Jamuna due to the result of tectonic uplift of the Madhupur tract.
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