Abstract
Quantitative analysis of alluvial channel patterns is essential in fluvial science, as their morphology both reflects and influences river behavior through interactions with water and sediment regimes, landscape processes, and human interventions. However, a comprehensive global study to identify predominant channel patterns and their underlying mechanisms remains lacking. Here, we map global alluvial channel patterns using high-resolution satellite observations. Our results reveal a hidden dominance of anabranching channels that surprisingly constitute half (51%) of total reach length globally, exceeding meandering (24%), straight (18%), and braided (7%) channels. In non-mountainous settings, anabranching channels dominate most continents except Oceania. They are not confined to typical alluvial lowland systems, also comprising 50% of alluvial tracts in mountains. While anabranching is typically associated with gentle slopes and expansive floodplains, these conditions are not exclusive determinants. The prevalence of anabranching channels transforms fundamental perspectives on global river systems, posing challenges for the fluvial geomorphology community.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The global alluvial channel pattern (GACP) data in this study have been deposited in the Figshare database under accession code https://figshare.com/s/db4065c089d798f6177c. The SWORD river network database33 used in this study can be accessed at https://zenodo.org/record/3898569. The Global Surface Water Occurrence dataset31 is accessible through the Google Earth Engine at https://earthengine.google.com/. The Global Unconsolidated Sediments Map database (GUM)37 is available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.884822, and the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment (GMBA) Mountain Inventory v235 can be accessed at https://www.earthenv.org/mountains. The GLAKES68 is available through the link https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7016548. The GAIA dataset69 can be accessed at http://data.ess.tsinghua.edu.cn. Source data are provided with this paper.
Code availability
The Python code developed for the alluvial channel pattern is available via Figshare at https://figshare.com/s/db4065c089d798f6177c.
References
Schumm, S. A. Patterns of alluvial rivers. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 13, 5–27 (1985).
Wu, Q. et al. Satellites reveal hotspots of global river extent change. Nat. Commun. 14, 1587 (2023).
Fryirs, K. A. River sensitivity: a lost foundation concept in fluvial geomorphology. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 42, 55–70 (2017).
Mård, J., Di Baldassarre, G. & Mazzoleni, M. Nighttime light data reveal how flood protection shapes human proximity to rivers. Sci. Adv. 4, eaar5779 (2018).
Best, J. Anthropogenic stresses on the world’s big rivers. Nat. Geosci. 12, 7–21 (2019).
Leopold, L. B. & Wolman, M. G. River channel patterns: braided, meandering, and straight. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 282-B, 39–85 (1957).
Drury, G. Relation of morphology to runoff frequency. In Water, Soil, and Man (ed. Chorley, R. J.) 418–430 (Methuen, London, 1969).
Schumm, S. A. The Fluvial System (New York, Wiley, 1977).
Miall, A. D. A review of the braided-river depositional environment. Earth-Sci. Rev. 13, 1–62 (1977).
Rust, B. R. A classification of alluvial channel systems. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 5, 187–198 (1977).
Alabyan, A. M. & Chalov, R. S. Types of river channel patterns and their natural controls. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 23, 467–474 (1998).
Nanson, G. C. & Knighton, A. D. Anabranching rivers: their cause, character and classification. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 21, 217–239 (1996).
Tooth, S. & Nanson, G. C. Anabranching rivers on the Northern Plains of arid central Australia. Geomorphology 29, 211–233 (1999).
Nanson, G. C. Anabranching and anastomosing rivers. In Treatise on Geomorphology (Second Edition) (ed. Shroder, J. F.) 6, 544–564 (Academic Press, 2022).
Brice, J. C. Planform properties of meandering rivers. In River Meandering (ed. Elliott, C. M.) 1–15 (ASCE, 1984).
Smith, D. G. & Smith, N. D. Sedimentation in anastomosed river systems; examples from alluvial valleys near Banff, Alberta. J. Sediment. Res. 50, 157–164 (1980).
Smith, D. G. Anastomosed fluvial deposits: modern examples from Western Canada. In Modern and Ancient Fluvial Systems (eds Collinson, J. & Lewin, J.) 6, 155–168 (Blackwell Scientific, 1983).
Carson, M. Observations on the meandering-braided river transition, the Canterbury plains, New Zealand: part two. N.Z. Geographer 40, 89–99 (1984).
David Knighton, A. & Nanson, G. C. Anastomosis and the continuum of channel pattern. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 18, 613–625 (1993).
Huang, H. Q. & Nanson, G. C. Hydraulic geometry and maximum flow efficiency as products of the principle of least action. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 25, 1–16 (2000).
Huang, H. Q. & Nanson, G. C. Why some alluvial rivers develop an anabranching pattern. Water Resour. Res. 43, W07441 (2007).
Latrubesse, E. M. Patterns of anabranching channels: the ultimate end-member adjustment of mega rivers. Geomorphology 101, 130–145 (2008).
Latrubesse, E. M. Large rivers, megafans and other Quaternary avulsive fluvial systems: a potential “who’s who” in the geological record. Earth-Sci. Rev. 146, 1–30 (2015).
Tooth, S., Jansen, J. D., Nanson, G. C., Coulthard, T. J. & Pietsch, T. Riparian vegetation and the late Holocene development of an anabranching river: magela Creek, northern Australia. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 120, 1021–1035 (2008).
Nyberg, B., Sayre, R. & Luijendijk, E. Increasing seasonal variation in the extent of rivers and lakes from 1984 to 2022. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 28, 1653–1663 (2024).
Gautier, E. et al. Fifty-year dynamics of the Lena River islands (Russia): spatio-temporal pattern of large periglacial anabranching river and influence of climate change. Sci. Total Environ. 783, 147020 (2021).
Jarriel, T., Swartz, J. & Passalacqua, P. Global rates and patterns of channel migration in river deltas. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2103178118 (2021).
Ielpi, A., Lapôtre, M. G., Finotello, A. & Roy-Léveillée, P. Large sinuous rivers are slowing down in a warming Arctic. Nat. Clim. Change 13, 375–381 (2023).
Wang, B. et al. Remote sensing of broad-scale controls on large river anabranching. Remote Sens. Environ. 281, 113243 (2022).
Nyberg, B., Henstra, G., Gawthorpe, R. L., Ravnås, R. & Ahokas, J. Global scale analysis on the extent of river channel belts. Nat. Commun. 14, 2163 (2023).
Pekel, J.-F., Cottam, A., Gorelick, N. & Belward, A. S. High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes. Nature 540, 418–422 (2016).
Altenau, E. H. et al. The surface water and ocean topography (SWOT) mission river database (SWORD): a global river network for satellite data products. Water Resour. Res. 57, e2021WR030054 (2021).
Yamazaki, D. et al. MERIT Hydro: a high-resolution global hydrography map based on latest topography dataset. Water Resour. Res. 55, 5053–5073 (2019).
Caldwell, R. L. et al. A global delta dataset and the environmental variables that predict delta formation on marine coastlines. Earth Surf. Dyn. 7, 773–787 (2019).
Snethlage, M. A. et al. A hierarchical inventory of the world’s mountains for global comparative mountain science. Sci. Data 9, 149 (2022).
Snethlage, M. A. et al. GMBA Mountain Inventory v2. GMBA-EarthEnv. https://doi.org/10.48601/earthenv-t9k2-1407 (2022).
Börker, J., Hartmann, J., Amann, T. & Romero-Mujalli, G. Terrestrial sediments of the earth: development of a global unconsolidated sediments map database (GUM). Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst. 19, 997–1024 (2018).
Montgomery, D. R. & Buffington, J. M. Channel-reach morphology in mountain drainage basins. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 109, 596–611 (1997).
Wohl, E. E. & Merritt, D. M. Bedrock channel morphology. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 113, 1205–1212 (2001).
Bujalesky, G. G. Holocene coastal evolution of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. In Quaternary of South America and Antarctic Peninsula (ed. Rabassa, J.) 11, 247–282 (A.A. Balkema, 1998).
Roccati, A., Faccini, F., Luino, F., De Graff, J. V. & Turconi, L. Morphological changes and human impact in the Entella River floodplain (Northern Italy) from the 17th century. Catena 182, 104122 (2019).
Horsak, M., Bojková, J., Zahrádková, S., Omesová, M. & Helešic, J. Impact of reservoirs and channelization on lowland river macroinvertebrates: a case study from Central Europe. Limnologica 39, 140–151 (2009).
Ciszewski, D. & Czajka, A. Human-induced sedimentation patterns of a channelized lowland river. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 40, 783–795 (2015).
Ashmore, P. Morphology and dynamics of braided rivers. Treatise Geomorphol. 9, 289–312 (2013).
Lunt, I. & Bridge, J. Evolution and deposits of a gravelly braid bar, Sagavanirktok River, Alaska. Sedimentology 51, 415–432 (2004).
Thorne, C. R. et al. Direct measurements of secondary currents in a meandering sand-bed river. Nature 315, 746–747 (1985).
Seminara, G. Meanders. J. Fluid Mech. 554, 271–297 (2006).
Constantine, J. A., Dunne, T., Ahmed, J., Legleiter, C. & Lazarus, E. D. Sediment supply as a driver of river meandering and floodplain evolution in the Amazon Basin. Nat. Geosci. 7, 899–903 (2014).
Ielpi, A., Lapôtre, M. G., Gibling, M. R. & Boyce, C. K. The impact of vegetation on meandering rivers. Nat. Rev. Earth Environ. 3, 165–178 (2022).
Wu, C. et al. Lowland river sinuosity on Earth and Mars set by the pace of meandering and avulsion. Nat. Geosci. 16, 747–753 (2023).
Nanson, G. C. & Huang, H. Q. Least action principle, equilibrium states, iterative adjustment and the stability of alluvial channels. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 33, 923–942 (2008).
Kleinhans, M. G., de Haas, T., Lavooi, E. & Makaske, B. Evaluating competing hypotheses for the origin and dynamics of river anastomosis. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 37, 1337–1351 (2012).
Davies, N. S. & Gibling, M. R. Cambrian to Devonian evolution of alluvial systems: the sedimentological impact of the earliest land plants. Earth-Sci. Rev. 98, 171–200 (2010).
Long, D. G. F. Architecture and depositional style of fluvial systems before land plants: a comparison of Precambrian, early Paleozoic, and modern river deposits. In From River to Rock Record. (eds Davidson, S. K., Leleu, S. & North, C.) 97, 37–61 (SEPM, 2011).
Gibling, M. R. & Davies, N. S. Palaeozoic landscapes shaped by plant evolution. Nat. Geosci. 5, 99–105 (2012).
Blum, M., Martin, J., Milliken, K. & Garvin, M. Paleovalley systems: insights from Quaternary analogs and experiments. Earth-Sci. Rev. 116, 128–169 (2013).
Jansen, J. D. & Nanson, G. C. Functional relationships between vegetation, channel morphology, and flow efficiency in an alluvial (anabranching) river. J. Geophys. Res.: Earth Surf. 115 (2010).
Jones, J., Collins, A., Naden, P. & Sear, D. The relationship between fine sediment and macrophytes in rivers. River Res. Appl. 28, 1006–1018 (2012).
Repasch, M. et al. Fluvial organic carbon cycling regulated by sediment transit time and mineral protection. Nat. Geosci. 14, 842–848 (2021).
Torres, M. A. et al. Model predictions of long-lived storage of organic carbon in river deposits. Earth Surf. Dyn. 5, 711–730 (2017).
Zhang, T. et al. Warming-driven erosion and sediment transport in cold regions. Nat. Rev. Earth Environ. 3, 832–851 (2022).
Tananaev, N. & Lotsari, E. Defrosting northern catchments: fluvial effects of permafrost degradation. Earth-Sci. Rev. 228, 103996 (2022).
Chalov, S. & Prokopeva, K. Sedimentation and erosion patterns of the Lena River anabranching channel. Water 14, 3845 (2022).
Allen, G. H. & Pavelsky, T. M. Global extent of rivers and streams. Science 361, 585–588 (2018).
Lehner, B. & Grill, G. Global river hydrography and network routing: baseline data and new approaches to study the world’s large river systems. Hydrol. Process. 27, 2171–2186 (2013).
Whittemore, A. et al. A participatory science approach to expanding instream infrastructure inventories. Earth’s. Future 8, e2020EF001558 (2020).
Tessler, Z. et al. Profiling risk and sustainability in coastal deltas of the world. Science 349, 638–643 (2015).
Pi, X. et al. Mapping global lake dynamics reveals the emerging roles of small lakes. Nat. Commun. 13, 5777 (2022).
Gong, P. et al. Annual maps of global artificial impervious area (GAIA) between 1985 and 2018. Remote Sens. Environ. 236, 111510 (2020).
Scherer, D., Schwatke, C., Dettmering, D. & Seitz, F. ICESat-2 river surface slope (IRIS): a global reach-scale water surface slope dataset. Sci. Data 10, 359 (2023).
Lin, P. et al. Global estimates of reach-level bankfull river width leveraging big data geospatial analysis. Geophys. Res. Lett. 47, e2019GL086405 (2020).
Sun, X. et al. Changes in global fluvial sediment concentrations and fluxes between 1985 and 2020. Nat. Sustain. 8, 142–151 (2025).
Pavelsky, T. M. & Smith, L. C. RivWidth: a software tool for the calculation of river widths from remotely sensed imagery. IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett. 5, 70–73 (2008).
Yang, X., Pavelsky, T. M., Allen, G. H. & Donchyts, G. RivWidthCloud: an automated Google Earth Engine algorithm for river width extraction from remotely sensed imagery. IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett. 17, 217–221 (2019).
Van den Berg, J. H. Prediction of alluvial channel pattern of perennial rivers. Geomorphology 12, 259–279 (1995).
Thorne, C. R., Russell, A. P. & Alam, M. K. Planform Pattern and Channel Evolution of the Brahmaputra River, Bangladesh. Vol. 75, 257–276 (Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 1993).
Morón, S., Edmonds, D. & Amos, K. The role of floodplain width and alluvial bar growth as a precursor for the formation of anabranching rivers. Geomorphology 278, 78–90 (2017).
Leli, I. T., Stevaux, J. C. & Assine, M. L. Origin, evolution, and sedimentary records of islands in large anabranching tropical rivers: the case of the Upper Paraná River, Brazil. Geomorphology 358, 107118 (2020).
Ramonell, C. G., Amsler, M. L. & Toniolo, H. Shifting modes of the Paraná River thalweg in its middle/lower reach. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie Supplementband. 129, 129–142 (2002).
Latrubesse, E. M. & Franzinelli, E. The late Quaternary evolution of the Negro River, Amazon, Brazil: implications for island and floodplain formation in large anabranching tropical systems. Geomorphology 70, 372–397 (2005).
Mertes, L. A., Dunne, T. & Martinelli, L. A. Channel-floodplain geomorphology along the Solimões-Amazon river, Brazil. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 108, 1089–1107 (1996).
Sarma, J. Fluvial process and morphology of the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India. Geomorphology 70, 226–256 (2005).
Latrubesse, E. M., Amsler, M. L., de Morais, R. P. & Aquino, S. The geomorphologic response of a large pristine alluvial river to tremendous deforestation in the South American tropics: the case of the Araguaia River. Geomorphology 113, 239–252 (2009).
Ashworth, P. J. & Lewin, J. How do big rivers come to be different? Earth-Sci. Rev. 114, 84–107 (2012).
Lahiri, S. K. & Sinha, R. Tectonic controls on the morphodynamics of the Brahmaputra River system in the upper Assam valley, India. Geomorphology 169, 74–85 (2012).
Lewin, J. & Ashworth, P. J. Defining large river channel patterns: alluvial exchange and plurality. Geomorphology 215, 83–98 (2014).
Lewin, J. & Ashworth, P. J. The negative relief of large river floodplains. Earth-Sci. Rev. 129, 1–23 (2014).
Zhu, Z. & Woodcock, C. E. Object-based cloud and cloud shadow detection in Landsat imagery. Remote Sens. Environ. 118, 83–94 (2012).
Foga, S. et al. Cloud detection algorithm comparison and validation for operational Landsat data products. Remote Sens. Environ. 194, 379–390 (2017).
Pal, M. & Mather, P. M. Support vector machines for classification in remote sensing. Int. J. remote Sens. 26, 1007–1011 (2005).
Awad, M. & Khanna, R. Support Vector Machines. In Efficient Learning Machines: Theories, Concepts, and Applications for Engineers and System Designers 39–66 (Apress, 2015).
Pedregosa, F. et al. Scikit-learn: machine learning in Python. J. Mach. Learn. Res. 12, 2825–2830 (2011).
Brierley, G. J. & Fryirs, K. A. Geomorphology and River Management: Applications of the River Styles Framework (Blackwell, 2005).
Moody-Stuart, M. High-and low-sinuosity stream deposits, with examples from the Devonian of Spitsbergen. J. Sediment. Res. 36, 1102–1117 (1966).
Horacio, J. River sinuosity index: geomorphological characterisation (CIREF & Wetlands International European Association, 2014).
Church, M. Pattern of instability in a wandering gravel bed channel. In Modern and Ancient Fluvial Systems (eds Collinson, J. D. & Lewin, L.) 6, 169–180 (Blackwell Scientific, 1983).
Desloges, J. R. & Church, M. A. Wandering gravel-bed rivers. Can. Geographer/Le. Géographe Canadien 33, 360–364 (1989).
Makaske, B. Anastomosing rivers: a review of their classification, origin and sedimentary products. Earth-Sci. Rev. 53, 149–196 (2001).
Galloway, W. E. Process framework for describing the morphologic and stratigraphic evolution of deltaic depositional systems. In Deltas, Models for Exploration (ed. Broussard, M. L.) 87–98 (Houston Geological Society, 1975).
Finotello, A. et al. Three-dimensional flow structures and morphodynamic evolution of microtidal meandering channels. Water Resour. Res. 56, e2020WR027822 (2020).
Murray, N. J. et al. The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats. Nature 565, 222–225 (2019).
Beck, H. E. et al. Present and future Köppen-Geiger climate classification maps at 1-km resolution. Sci. Data 5, 1–12 (2018).
Lehner, B. & Grill, G. Hydrobasins: Global Watershed Boundaries And Sub-basin Delineations Derived From Hydrosheds Data At 15 Second Resolution—Technical Documentation Version 1. C. https://data.hydrosheds.org/file/technical-documentation/HydroBASINS_TechDoc_v1c.pdf (2014).
Naskar, R. & Bhattacharya, H. Neotectonic and climatic control on channel evolution in the Himalayan foot-hill, northern West Bengal, India–A case study. J. Earth Syst. Sci. 132, 2 (2022).
Eaton, B., Millar, R. G. & Davidson, S. Channel patterns: braided, anabranching, and single-thread. Geomorphology 120, 353–364 (2010).
Parker, G. On the cause and characteristic scales of meandering and braiding in rivers. J. Fluid Mech. 76, 457–480 (1976).
Lane, E. A Study of the Shape of Channels Formed by Natural Streams Flowing in Erodible Material. Missouri River Division Sediment Series No. 9. (US Army Engineer Division, Missouri River, Corps of Engineers, Omaha, NE, 1957).
Bledsoe, B. P. & Watson, C. C. Logistic analysis of channel pattern thresholds: meandering, braiding, and incising. Geomorphology 38, 281–300 (2001).
Słowik, M. The formation of an anabranching planform in a sandy floodplain by increased flows and sediment load. Earth Surf. Process. Landf. 43, 623–638 (2018).
Acknowledgements
We thank Google Earth Engine for providing the Global Surface Water Occurrence dataset and the data processing resources. L.F. was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 42425604 and 42271322), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2022YFC3201802), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2023B1515120061), and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (KCXFZ20240903093659003). E.P. was supported by various grants from the Ministry of Education, Singapore, under its Academic Research #Tier 1 [RG142/22], #Tier 1 [2021-T1-001-056], #Tier 2 [MOE-T2EP402A20-0001], #Tier 2 [MOE-T2EP50222-0007], Tier3 Climate Transformation Programme - MOE-MOET32022-0006, NIE AcRF - RI 10/22 EP and the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) via its funding from the National Research Foundation Singapore and the Singapore Ministry of Education under the Research Centres of Excellence.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Q.L.: methodology, data processing and analysis, results interpretation, writing and reviewing. E.P.: conceptualization, methodology, results interpretation, writing and reviewing. E.M.L.: conceptualization, research hypothesis, methodology, results interpretation, writing and reviewing. L.F.: conceptualization, methodology, funding and supervision, results interpretation, writing and reviewing. X.P., H.F., Y.L., A.D.S., D.L., W.Q., C.Z., and P.L. participated in interpreting the results and refining the manuscript.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Peer review
Peer review information
Nature Communications thanks Bo Wang, and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Source data
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Luo, Q., Park, E., Latrubesse, E.M. et al. Global alluvial channel patterns. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68569-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68569-z
