fluvial geomorphology

Depending on where your interest lies, the river perspective is varied. A biologist sees the fauna and flora, a farmer looks for water supplies and pasture grasses for stock.  A geomorphologist would emphasis the  areas of changes, erosion, transfer zones and sediment deposits within the catchment. Headwaters of the river are seen as the source of the sediments that deposit across flood plains, and channels are transfer zones that carry this sediment.

Professor Mark Macklin and ancient stacks.

Geologists have created a framework that show a sequence across the world which contains subdivisions of new and extinct species in relation to geological formations. Understanding the geology in catchments is crucial to knowing the history of formations and changes happening now.



Jude Macklin, a printmaker and Professor Mark Macklin, both visiting from Wales, joined me while working on the One River project on two of the sites. As a fluvial geomorphologist, working in the department of Physical Geography in Wales, Macklin engages in the study of water in shaping landscapes and predicting future changes. His research includes river system response to climate change and human–river environment interactions.
Toward the headwaters, Macklin pointed out a series of stacks and the cross strata dipping from top left to bottom right in the pillar. This indicates the way the river once flowed and gives the viewer a three dimensional picture of the stratigraphy. This is the branch of geology concerned with the order and relative position of strata and their relationship to the geological time scale. It also provides a chance to imagine an ancient time and to visibly see the constant changes within the landscape. This is a constant process of thought with my drawings.

Found sediments are soaked on the paper in the river. Image Jude Macklin2013

The drainage basin or watershed refers to the natural drainage of the land surface

 (Thoms M 2004)

Satellite imagery map of Maranoa River,  Mitchell.

Martin Thoms, S. H., Melissa Spryu, Xiang Yang Chen, Trevor Mount , Fran Sheldon. (2004). The geomorphology of the Barwon-Darling Basin. In M. D. B. Commission (Ed.), The Darling (pp. pp 68-89). Canberra: Murray-Darling Basin Commission.

1 Jude Macklin (a visiting printmaker from Wales funded by Wales Arts International) 

2 Mark Macklin (a fluvial geomorphologist, also from Wales, and visiting professor at the Australian Rivers Institute, Brisbane)