River Typology in The Netherlands

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River typology in The Netherlands

General description

In The Netherlands, 42 natural and 13 artificial water body types have been identified. Considering only the larger groups, there are 12 types for rivers, 9 for lakes and 4 for coastal waters (van der Molen and Pot, 2007)[1]. Focusing on the freshwater river types, 11 out of 12 have been found to present significantly different ecological conditions for individual fish species (Buijse and Beers 2009). [2]. The hydromorphological characteristics of these river types are presented here below.

Classification system

Type Name Slope (m/km) Flow velocity (cm/s) Geology (>50%) Width (m) Catchment (km2)
R4 Permanent slow-flowing headwater on sandy soil <1 <50 Siliceous 0-3 0-10
R5 Slow-flowing middle/lower course on sandy soil <1 <50 Siliceous 8-25 100-200
R6 Slow-flowing rivulet on sandy/clay soil <1 <50 Siliceous 8-25 100-200
R7 Slow-flowing river on sandy/clay soil <1 <50 Siliceous >25 >200
R8 Freshwater tidal river on sandy/clay soil <1 <50 Siliceous >25 >200
R10 Slow-flowing middle/lower course on calcareous soil <1 <50 Calcareous 3-8 10-100
R12 Slow-flowing middle/lower course on peaty soil <1 <50 Organic 3-8 10-100
R14 Fast-flowing middle/lower course on sandy soil >1 >50 Siliceous 3-8 10-100
R15 Fast-flowing rivulet on siliceous soil >1 >50 Siliceous 8-25 100-200
R16 Fast-flowing middle/lower course on sandy or gravel soil >1 >50 Siliceous >25 >200
R18 Fast-flowing middle/lower course on calcareous soil >1 >50 Calcareous 3-8 10-100

References

  1. van der Molen, D.T. and Pot. R [eds.] 2007. Referentie en maatlatten voor natuurlijke watertypen voor de Kaderrichtlijn Water. STOWA rapport 2007-32, 361 pp. (original document in Dutch)
  2. Buijse, T., and Beers, M. 2009. References and metrics for fish in rivers in The Netherlands, 10 pp. (original document in English)