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Natural levees routinely develop along alluvial streams in flood plains, when a river overtops its natural banks during an overbank flood or the flood stage (Fig. 1, section 2). Deposition is favored in the flow transition area because of a dramatic decrease in the depth of flow divided by the wetted perimeter (hydraulic radius). The increased friction hastened by shallow flow over the normally vegetated flood plain decreases flow velocity, allowing entrained sediment to settle and deposit along the banks. Natural levees are often difficult to discern because they may be locally breached and re-worked by subsequent overbank events. Consequently, natural levees are usually discontinuous features (Leopold et al. 1964).
Schematic illustrations of natural and artificial levees
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References
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Hoyt WG, Langbein WB (1955) Floods. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 469 p
Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee (IFMRC) (1994) Sharing the challenge: floodplain management in the 21st century. Report of the IFMRC to the Administration Floodplain Management Task Force, Washington, DC
Kemp GP, Day JW, Freeman AM (2014) Restoring the sustainability of the Mississippi River Delta. Ecol Eng 65:131–146
Leopold LB, Maddock T Jr (1954) The flood control controversy. The Conservation Foundation, Ronald Press Co., New York, 278 p
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David Rogers, J. (2018). Levees. In: Bobrowsky, P., Marker, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12127-7_186-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12127-7_186-1
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