Morphological changes in Alpine rivers following the end of the Little Ice Age

The variability in width and morphological pattern changes were very pronounced between and within single rivers, highlighting the value of such a large data set. Overall, the analysed rivers varied their morphological pattern, mostly exhibiting a shift from multithread/transitional to single-thread patterns, but unchanged planform types were also common. Variations in channel width varied substantially among the analysed rivers, which featured narrowing (slightly prevailing) and widening (the least common) as well as many cases of very limited changes. Channel width variations appear statistically, although weakly, related to some morphometric variables; and significant differences emerge comparing glaciated vs. unglaciated basins. Climate-related variations (glacier dynamics and channel disturbance frequency) are argued to be the dominant factors that affected channel variations.