Upland rivers comprise the majority of the total stream length in steep regions and are the source of major rivers across the world. With distinctive features including bedrock exposure, waterfalls, coarse sediment, and shallow flow, fluvial processes are often more complex than in lowland counterparts. Inherited landscape characteristics and localized morphological features modify high-energy stream hydraulics. Hydraulics, in turn, sculpt channels, inducing feedbacks between form and process, including sediment transport and landform dynamics. For example, slope or roughness modulated by post-glacial response or variable sediment supply can alter channel equilibrium by dictating flow velocity and transport processes. Understanding these processes is fundamental to predicting how upland rivers respond to environmental change, to anticipating hazards such as floods and debris-laden flows, and to linking headwater dynamics with downstream sediment delivery, ecology, and river management.

This session explores the processes and interactive feedbacks between channel hydraulics sediment processes, and landform dynamics in upland rivers across space and time. We welcome applied, experimental, and theoretical research across field measurements, remote sensing, and numerical & physical modeling. We encourage contributions on areas including:

Hydraulic modulation of upland river sediment transport and morphodynamics
Sediment process and morphodynamic modulation of hydraulics in upland rivers
Investigations of flow resistance, sediment transport, landform evolution, and roughness in upland rivers
Experimental insights into the coupling between hydraulics, sediment transport, and morphology
Temperature-driven controls on upland river processes