To the bottom of the Meuse: Long-term riverbed morphodynamics in a heterogeneous subsoil

Human interventions such as dams, dredging, and river training disturb sediment transport, often causing riverbed erosion and long-term channel incision. This PhD research improves understanding and prediction of these processes using the Meuse River as a case study.

Through linear stability analyses and numerical modelling, the study examined how small and larger riverbed waves grow and migrate, provided evidence for the applicability of analytical methods ,and identified faster but still accurate simplified numerical for predicting long-term morphological riverbed changes.

As sediment loads are an important input for morphological simulations, a detailed sediment budget for the Dutch Meuse (2011–2019) was developed, confirming a strongly supply-limited system, and the importance of bank erosion and dredging for sediment transports. The July 2021 flood exposed how slow tectonic processes, incision and uneven river widening caused unprecedented erosion.

This thesis shows the importance of data on sediment loads and the subsurface composition, to better assess morphological processes, morphological time scales and morphological risks of excessive erosion, enabling improved and sustainable river management.