The geomorphological basis for classifying rivers

This paper sets out the background to river channel classification using geomorphological features; these are highly relevant to the description and understanding of physical habitat. 2. The River Habitat Survey (RHS) database contains much geomorphological information which has been statistically analysed for those semi-natural sites surveyed in 1994. Additional geomorphological data have been gathered in an attempt to make the resulting typology ‘dynamic’, i.e. capable of predicting channel stability, an important component of the information needed for sustainable river management. 3. The outcome of TWINSPAN and redundancy analyses is disappointing in statistical terms and does not, therefore, constitute an objective taxonomy. However, the river types selected by the analyses are intuitively realistic, and show promise that, with a broader database (both spatially and in terms of independent variables) the development of a predictive, dynamic typology will be possible.