Holocene lateral channel migration and incision of the Red River, Manitoba, Canada

The Holocene evolution of the shallow alluvial valley occupied by the Red River was investigated at two successive river meanders near St. Jean Baptiste, Manitoba. A transect of five boreholes was sited across the flood plain at each meander to follow the path of lateral channel migration. From the cores, 24 wood and charcoal samples were AMS radiocarbon dated. The dates from the lower half of the alluvium in each core are interpreted to represent the age of the lateral accretion deposits within the flood plain at the borehole sites. The ages of these deposits increase progressively from ∼900 to 7900 and 1000 to 8100 cal years B.P. along each transect, respectively, from the proximal to distal portions of the flood plain. At the upstream meander, the average rate of channel migration was initially 0.35 m/year between ∼7900 and 7400 cal years B.P., then decreased to 0.18 m/year between ∼7400 and 6200 cal years B.P., and subsequently varied between 0.04 and 0.08 m/year. Net channel incision of the river since 8100 cal years B.P. is estimated to have ranged between 0.4 and 0.8 m/ky. The pre-6000-years-B.P. interval of greater channel migration is hypothesized to reflect a higher phase of sediment supply that was associated with the establishment of the river system on the former bed of glacial Lake Agassiz. Since 1000 years B.P., the outward migration of the meanders has caused a gradual enlarging of 0.7–2% in the cross-sectional area of the shallow valley at the two meanders. When considered proportionally over timescales of up to several centuries, the widening of the valley cross-section is very low to negligible and is deemed an insignificant factor affecting the modern flood hazard on the clay plain.