MAPS OF CHANNEL PROCESSES: COMPILATION PRINCIPLES, CLASSIFICATION, AND PURPOSE

The author describes a method, developed at Moscow State University beginning in the 1980s, whereby small-scale maps can be compiled to depict various processes associated with river channels and floodplains. As an example of the application of the method, an excerpt from a map of river channels of European Russia and adjacent regions is presented that simultaneously depicts channel morphology, dynamics, causes of channel deformation, use by humans, and floodplain relief. This type of (general channel) map is compared with those produced by three other main directions of river channel mapping in Russia—thematic, atlas, and applied. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA from: Geografiya i prirodnyye resursy, 1999, No. 3, pp. 18-28.