The basis for attribution assessments of current extreme weather and climatic events such as droughts and floods is that the record of such events is of sufficient length to be able to compare the occurrence and severity of recent events with those in the past. If this assumption holds, then the magnitude and frequency of extreme hydrological events in the current anthropogenically forced climate can be compared with those in...

The gold rush at the end of the nineteenth century in south-eastern Australia resulted in the mobilization and re-deposition of vast quantities of tailings that modified the geomorphology of the associated river valleys. Previous studies of contamination risk in these systems have either been performed directly on mine wastes (e.g., battery sand) or at locations close to historical mine sites but have largely ignored the exten...

Along the eastern margin of Australia, hydrological variability reaches a peak in the subtropics of south‐east Queensland and many rivers have entrenched characteristics. To address the nature of entrenchment and the relationship with adjacent alluvium, this paper presents the results of detailed chrono‐stratigraphic analysis of alluvial units in the partly confined mid‐reaches of Lockyer Creek, Australia. Four sites were inve...

Valley sequences of Late Quaternary alluvial units reflect alluvial preservation as well as alluvial production factors. Effects of lateral channel migration, incision, aggradation and channel stability on preservation potential are explored and then considered in the light of 14 available data sets: cartographically dated and model data based on lateral channel migration; well‐mapped and dated Late Quaternary valley unit surv...

A new analysis of all 346 published 14 C dated Holocene alluvial units in Britain offers a unique insight into the regional impacts of global change and shows how surprisingly sensitive British rivers have been to relatively modest but repeated changes in climate. Fourteen major but probably brief periods of flooding are identified bracketed within the periods 400–1070, 1940–3940, 7520–8100 and at ca. 10 420 cal. yr BP. There...