River type specific restoration
For 13 different types of river across Europe a synthesis of pressures, restoration experiences and variables suited for monitoring restoration is presented in a table, with links to a PDF factsheet for each river type (Table 1). The "River Type Specific Restoration" factsheets are meant to give insight into the diversity and similarities of restoration techniques for different types of rivers in terms of present practice and promising but to date little used approaches. Each fact sheet gives information on river type name, pressure categories/pressures, measure categories/measures and monitoring scheme. Per river type the valley- and planform, hydrology, morphology, chemistry, riparian zone are briefly described. Major pressures, problems and constraints for river restoration , common restoration practice with their problems and constraints and promising and new measures are given for each type.
The river typology adopted for the factsheets differs from the river reach typology developed in REFORM (Table 2) and refers to the (sub)catchment setting of a river in terms of altitude, size and geology and as such links to the European broad river types (ETC/ICM, 2015; Table 3). The setting of these types does not change in time. In contrast, the REFORM river reach typology is designed for assessing the hydromorphological functioning of individual river reaches. REFORM river reach types may change in time because they represent the response of the river reaches to processes of flow, sediment and vegetation. Furthermore, river (sub-)catchments of a single type according to the types presented in these factsheets may and often will contain different REFORM reach types (Table 3). Thus when identifying the most appropriate restoration techniques it is even for apparently similar river types i.e. covered by the same factsheet not a ‘one size fits all’ approach, but a tailor-made approach acknowledging the governing hydrological and morphological conditions and the interaction with vegetation. The factsheets drawn by regional experts are thus meant to support decision making, and should not be used as cookbooks.
Table 1 Overview of fact sheets per type of river
| # | Factsheet | REFORM river type | European Topic Centre 2015 |
| High energy, highland rivers | |||
| 1 | Small, sinuous-straight, highland rivers with bedrock-coarse mixed sediments | 1 - 3 | ECT14, 15, 19, 20 |
| 2 | Mid-sized, sinuous-straight, highland rivers with bedrock-coarse mixed sediments | 1 - 3 | ECT14, 15, 19, 20 |
| 3 | Small, cascade, step-pool/plain bed, riffle-pool, highland rivers with (very) coarse sediments | 4 - 7 | ECT14, 15, 19, 20 |
| 4 | Mid-sized, cascade, step-pool/plain bed, riffle-pool, highland rivers with (very) coarse sediments | 4 - 7 | ECT14, 15, 19, 20 |
| Medium energy, mid altitude rivers with coarse to fine sediments | |||
| 5 | Small, single-thread or multi-thread, mid altitude rivers | 8- 15 | ECT9, 11-13, 19, 20 |
| 6 | Mid-sized, single-thread or multi-thread, mid altitude rivers | 8 - 15 | ECT8, 10, 12, 13, 18 |
| 7 | As 6, but specific for boreal rivers | ||
| Low energy, lowland rivers with fine to very fine bed sediment | |||
| 8 | Small, single-thread, lowland rivers | 16 - 18, 20, 21 | ETC3, 5 - 7, 19, 20 |
| 9 | Mid-sized, single-thread, lowland rivers | 16 - 18, 20, 21 | ETC2, 4, 6, 7, 17 |
| 10 | Small, anabranching , lowland rivers | 19, 22 | ETC3, 5 – 7 |
| 11 | Mid-sized, anabranching, lowland rivers | 19, 22 | ETC2, 4, 6, 7 |
| Others | |||
| 12 | Very large rivers (all Europe) | 15 - 22 | ETC1 |
| 13 | Glacial rivers (all Europe) | 1 – 9, 11 | ETC16 |
Table 2. River typology European Topic Centre (source ETC/ICM 2015). WB = water body
| Code | Broad river type name | Altitude (masl) | Catchment area (km2) | Geology | number of national types | number of WBs | % of WBs |
| ETC1 | Very large rivers (all Europe) | any | >10000 | any (usually mixed) | 54 | 827 | 1 |
| ETC2 | Lowland, Siliceous, Medium-Large | ≤200 | 100-10000 | Siliceous | 24 | 1139 | 1,4 |
| ETC3 | Lowland, Siliceous, Very small-Small | ≤200 | ≤100 | Siliceous | 30 | 7302 | 8,9 |
| ETC4 | Lowland, Calcareous or Mixed, Medium-Large | ≤200 | 100-10000 | Calcareous/Mixed | 67 | 2872 | 3,5 |
| ETC5 | Lowland, Calcareous or Mixed, Very small-Small | ≤200 | ≤100 | Calcareous/Mixed | 47 | 14137 | 17,1 |
| ETC6 | Lowland, Organic and Siliceous | ≤200 | <10000 | Organic and Siliceous | 18 | 6193 | 7,5 |
| ETC7 | Lowland, Organic and Calcareous/Mixed | ≤200 | <10000 | Organic and Calcareous/Mixed | 9 | 336 | 0,4 |
| ETC8 | Mid altitude, Siliceous, Medium-Large | 200-800 | 100-10000 | Siliceous | 41 | 3051 | 3,7 |
| ETC9 | Mid altitude, Siliceous, Very small-Small | 200-800 | ≤100 | Siliceous | 37 | 8627 | 10,5 |
| ETC10 | Mid altitude, Calcareous or Mixed, Medium-Large | 200-800 | 100-10000 | Calcareous/Mixed | 61 | 1797 | 2,2 |
| ETC11 | Mid altitude, Calcareous or Mixed, Very small-Small | 200-800 | ≤100 | Calcareous/Mixed | 48 | 7663 | 9,3 |
| ETC12 | Mid-altitude, Organic and siliceous | 200-800 | <10000 | Organic and Siliceous | 8 | 3290 | 4 |
| ETC13 | Mid-altitude, Organic and Calcareous/Mixed | 200-800 | <10000 | Organic and Calcareous/Mixed | 6 | 154 | 0,2 |
| ETC14 | Highland (all Europe), Siliceous, incl. Organic (humic) | >800 | <10000 | Siliceous | 16 | 1525 | 1,8 |
| ETC15 | Highland (all Europe), Calcareous/Mixed | >800 | <10000 | Calcareous/Mixed | 17 | 2227 | 2,7 |
| ETC16 | Glacial rivers (all Europe) | >200 | <10000 | any | 16 | 3251 | 3,9 |
| ETC17 | Mediterranean, Lowland, Medium-Large, perennial | ≤200 | 100-10000 | any | 16 | 941 | 1,1 |
| ETC18 | Mediterranean, Mid altitude, Medium-Large, perennial | 200-800 | 100-10000 | any | 13 | 615 | 0,7 |
| ETC19 | Mediterranean, Very small-Small, perennial | <800 | ≤100 | any | 21 | 1942 | 2,4 |
| ETC20 | Mediterranean, Temporary/Intermittent streams | any | <1000 | any | 26 | 3549 | 4,3 |
Table 3. Link between REFORM river types, planform pattern, bed material size and ETC type.
| REFORM river type | Planform pattern | Bed material size (dominant size) | ETC |
| Bedrock and Colluvial channels | |||
| 1 | Straight-sinuous | Bedrock | 9, 11, 14 - 16, 19, 20 |
| 2 | Straight-sinuous | Coarse - mixed | 9, 11, 14 - 16, 19, 20 |
| 3 | Straight-sinuous | Mixed | 9, 11, 14 - 16, 19, 20 |
| Alluvial channels | |||
| 4 | Straight-sinuous | Boulder | 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20 |
| 5 | Straight-sinuous | Boulder-Cobble | 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20 |
| 6 | Straight-sinuous | Boulder-Cobble-Gravel | 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20 |
| 7 | Straight-sinuous | Cobble-Gravel | 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20 |
| 8 | Braided | Gravel-Sand | 8 - 13, 16, 18 - 20 |
| 9 | Island-braided | Gravel-Sand | 8 - 13, 16, 18 - 20 |
| 10 | Anabranching (high energy) | Gravel-Sand | 8 - 13, 18, 19 |
| 11 | Wandering | Gravel-Sand | 8 - 13, 16, 18 - 20 |
| 12 | Pseudo-meandering | Gravel-Sand | 8 - 13, 18 - 20 |
| 13 | Straight-sinuous | Gravel-Sand | 8 - 13, 18 - 20 |
| 14 | Meandering | Gravel-Sand | 8 - 13, 18 - 20 |
| 15 | Braided | Fine gravel-Sand | 1 - 7; 17 |
| 16 | Pseudo-meandering | Fine gravel-Sand | 1 - 7; 17 |
| 17 | Straight-sinuous | Fine gravel-Sand | 1 - 7; 17 |
| 18 | Meandering | Fine gravel-Sand | 1 - 7; 17 |
| 19 | Anabranching (low energy) | Fine gravel-Sand | 1 - 7; 17 |
| 20 | Straight-sinuous | Fine sand-Silt-Clay | 1 - 7; 17 |
| 21 | Meandering | Fine sand-Silt-Clay | 1 - 7; 17 |
| 22 | Anabranching (low energy) | Fine sand-Silt-Clay | 1 - 7; 17 |
