Channel incision, gravel mining and bedload transport in the Rhône river upstream of Lyon, France (“canal de Miribel”)

The Miribel canal is a former arm of the Rhône embanked between 1848 and 1857 over a length of 18 km to improve navigation at low discharges. The impact of this was a hydraulic tilting of the long profile characterised by 4 m of degradation upstream and 4-6 m of aggradation of bedload downstream. This phenomenon increased downstream flooding. Since 1937 a diversion dam has controlled upstream water input, thus reducing the transit of the pebble bedload. However, excessive harvesting of sands and gravels occurred between 1970 and 1980, resulting in a general lowering of the river bed and the accompanying water table with ecological consequences in the alluvial plain and for water supply. This development made it all the more necessary to obtain knowledge about the bedload discharges passing through the Miribel canal, and more broadly about the hydraulic conditions as functions of the varying discharge. Calculation of shear stresses and grain size measurements on the lateral bars after several floods in 1989-90 show that movement of bed-material is initiated at a discharge of 440 m³ · s⁻¹ (equalled or exceeded 40 days · year⁻¹), and becomes general at 550 m³ · s⁻¹ (equalled or exceeded 30 days · year⁻¹). Transport discharge is thus relatively frequent and involves distal fluvio-glacial deposits composed of fine-grained materials. Potential transport calculated by the Meyer-Peter formula is around 60,000 t · year⁻¹ for the range of discharges between 440 and 850 m³ · s⁻¹. For these discharge values, the canal experiences a loss of materials without replacement from upstream; for higher rates of discharge, the floodgates let through an unknown quantity of materials which partially make up the loss. Gravel harvesting ceased in 1991 but the diversion dam will have to be operated in a different way in order to increase the input of bedload into the canal.