File talk:Junction of the Yukon and Koyukuk Rivers, Alaska.jpg

Misleading file name and image description

This is most definitely not a braided river, the sinuous abandoned channels are the hallmark of a meandering system. Maybe a file name change would be appropriate? Rygel, M.C. (talk) 17:30, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Full ack. Maybe, presently, this river section represents a transition of a braided stream to a meandering one. Anyway there are characteristic loops (i.e. meanders) of the active main channel at the lower right corner of the image. So the photograph does not show a braided river in a strict sense and the file should be shifted to a different, less misleading name... --Gretarsson (talk) 23:35, 16 September 2017 (UTC)

Addendum: Indeed, the image in question can be found in the USGS image library using the search term “braided”, and it also bears the explanation given in the description box overleaf [“Alaska. Braided drainage pattern […]”, see [1], hopefully a more stable URL than the old one given overleaf). However, when using the search term “braided”, many of the photographs returned do obvoiusly not show braided rivers and sometimes not even rivers. Furthermore, I checked the original source (Troy Lewis Pewe (1975): Quaternary geology of Alaska. USGS Professional Paper 835 (download page)): The image caption of the very same photograph (fig. 35, p. 69) reads as follows:

Figure 35.—High-altitude oblique aerial photograph looking south toward the junction of the Yukon and Koyukuk Rivers. The Koyukuk River (dark color) joins the silt-laden Yukon River (light color) at the right. Flood plain units indicated by number are the (1) linear phase, (2) advanced linear phase, (3) coalescent phase, and (4) scalloped phase. Unit (5) is the high terrace. Photograph by U.S. Army Air Corps, August 24, 1941. From Pewe, (1948) and Weber and Pewe (1961).

Additionally, on the previous page it says:

“The flood plains of the Yukon and Koyukuk Rivers in this area are classic examples of development of flood plains by meandering rivers under subarctic conditions (Pewe, 1947).”

So it becomes clear that, not surprising, the photo definitely shows meandering rivers instead of braided ones. Maybe that the explanation “braided drainage pattern” was intended to refer to the narrow intersecting channels which are visible mainly in the lower center of the image, but these do not form a typical braided river in the sense of fluvial sedimentary geology. So, referring these channels to as “braided” is highly misleading! --Gretarsson (talk) 17:08, 18 September 2017 (UTC)

Update: I have renamed the file (i.e. transferred to a differently named file page) and changed the file description accordingly now. So this issue seems to be resolved...

Resolved

--Gretarsson (talk) 20:50, 18 September 2017 (UTC)