An-Najah Staff

Phenomena related to gravel-bed rivers continue to receive considerable attention. This effort has been facilitated by the collection of extensive field data under relatively wide range of flow, bed load transport and channel slope conditions over the last decade. In some cases, these data have provided the opportunity to go beyond bed load transport and boundary shear stress correlations and have enabled researchers to examine the behavior of gravel streams within the context of watershed processes and characteristics. Several of the gravel-bed stream studies published during the past 5 years have been analyzed and some of the information has been synthesized in an effort to attain an improved understanding about the interplay between sediment supply, armor layer development and bed load transport. Although the development of the “general equation” of bed load transport remains elusive, better comprehension about the complexity of the problem, given the remarkable variability of prevailing field conditions, has been obtained and improved understanding about overall trends and interaction of the various processes has been attained. The present state of the subject provides a sound basis for significant future developments.