Quantitative Application of Fluvial Geomorphology:

Preliminary Analogue Study from Modern Mahakam River,

East Borneo
Rian Cahya Rohmana1,2 Iqbal Fardiansyah2 Octavika Malda2 Agung Budiman2 Leon

Taufani2 and Jovianto Prisila3

1
Department of Geology UPNVeteranYogyakarta,
2

GeoPangea Research Group (GPRG),

Remote Sensing & Geomorphology Laboratory. UPNVeteranYogyakarta

Corresponding
authors : riancrohmana@gprgindonesia.com,iqbalfardiansyah@gprgindonesia.com

Introduction
Borneo is known as the largest island in the Southeast Asia which drains through the longest and
biggest tropical rivers (approximately 900-1000 km in length and 50-700 km wide). Most of the rivers
are charged with great amounts of sedimentary materials, resulting from equatorial weathering
condition, and combinations of climate, tectonics, base level changes, and avulsion (Schumm, 1968).
Despite of high-resolution seismic image capability that able to directly visualize paleogeography
appearance, quantification of the fluvial morphology dimension using modern analogue will provide
further insight of channel style and depositional facies geometry to the subsurface (Posamentier,
2001). This article aims at better understanding of fluvial controls and morphology of Mahakam
River, Borneo using Landsat data and field surveys (Figure 1). The morphometric measurements aim
to predict paleo-channel shape, composition of the major lithologies, as well as various parameters
that control their geometry.

Figure 1. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) of Borneo Island. Study area focuses on
location highlighted by coloured boxes.
Morphometric Measurement Method
Fluvial morphometric measurements were performed from upstream to the downstream of the three
main rivers using Landsat images. Measurements include channel width (CW), channel length (CL),
meander belt width (MBW), meander wavelength (ML), radius of curvature (RC), and sinuosity
(SI) (Figure 2). The various styles of fluvial morphology are related to bed load or suspended load
transport and the cross section of channel geometry that shows the river width-depth ratio and the
sinuosity (Schumm,1968 in Miall, 2006; Galloway, 1981) (Figure 3). Schumms classification is not
necessarily applicable to equatorial rivers, hence it requires additional field measurement in numerous
parts of Mahakam River, such as depth and sediment distribution in order to constrain the data.

Figure 2. Morphometric measurement method using landsat image (courtesy of Google Earth, 2013).
Measurement consists of channel width (CW), channel length (CL), meander belt width (MBW),
meander wave length (ML), radius of curvature (RC), and sinuosity (SI).

Figure 3.Classification of fluvial styles, following the fluvial-geomorphological classification of

Schumm (1963), given in the left column (modified after Galloway, 1981).
Statistic of River Morphology, Types, and Controls
Two major channel styles are identified within the Kapuas, Mahakam and Barito rivers: (1) highsinuosity, and (2) low-sinuosity channels. High-sinuosity channels are characterized by the
development of meander scroll bars (ridges and swales), abandoned channels / oxbow lakes, and
lateral accretion. Schumms classification (1968) suggests that meandering channel relief has a low to
moderate depth : width ratio, with muddy to mixed-sediment dominating the inside of the channel. In

addition, low-sinuosity rivers can be identified by non-meandering scroll bars development with
vertical accretion, relatively straight channels and a moderate to high depth : width channel relief
ratio. Low-sinuosity rivers are commonly filled by coarse sediments transported as bed load.
However, in some area, both channel types are controlled by Quatenary sediments, structures, and
bedrock-incised morphology. In total, 213 morphometric measurements of the three rivers have been
quantified in order to predict the probability of fluvial geometry. A statistic example of channel widths
is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. General statistic charts showing width measurement of Kapuas,Mahakam,and Barito rivers.
a) cumulative probability of channel width; b) histogram chart that reflects distribution of channel
width, ranges from 200 to 400 m, interpreted as meandering river system.
Mahakam River (East Borneo)
The Mahakam River is the second longest river in Borneo (approximately 980 km long). The middle
to upstream parts of the Mahakam River are located in the Long Iram area, whereas the downstream
part is located in Sanga-Sanga. We recorded 71 measurements along 321.8 km of river. Geological
map and Landsat imagery show a high-sinuosity river system developed in the up to middle Mahakam
River. In the downstream area, development of the river is predominantly controlled by incised
structures and bedrock of the Mahakam fold thrust belt (Figure 5 and 6).

Figure 5. Comparison between Landsat imagery data (courtesy of Google, 2013) and geological map
(GRDC, 1993) of Mahakam River. Note that the river initially incised Tertiary rocks of Mahakam
Fold and Thrust Bel
Morphometric measurement reveals that channels width (CW) of the Mahakam River ranges from
145 to 1032 m (mean: 340 m, median: 278.35 m, and mode: 462 m), with meander belt width (MBW)
ranging from 272 to 3973 m (mean: 1524 m, median: 1163 m, mode: 3670 m), meander wavelength
(ML) ranges from 1218 to 17139 m (mean: 4476 m, median: 3302 m, mode: N/A), and radius of
curvature (RC) ranges from 95 to 886 m (mean: 421 m, median: 388.5 m, and mode: 739 m).

Figure 6. A) Meander scroll of Mahakam river lies in the upstream quaternary sediments, the
abandoned channel or oxbow lake are clearly observed from landsat image. B) Long straight channel
represents structural and bedrock incised river of Mahakam Fold Thrust Belt.
Quantitative morphometric analysis exposes similarities between the Mahakam and Kapuas rivers.
Cross-plots channel width (CW) versus sinuosity (SI) yields two main population trends. Class of data
dominated by bedload and suspended load transport which shows a linear relationship, with
meandering system width ranges from > 100 m to < 400m (bounded by the red line on Figure 7).
Inverse relationship indicates a low-sinuosity to straight channel (SI < 1.4), and the uncertainty of
channel width to more than 1000 m (Figure 7a). Cross-plots of meander wavelength (ML) versus
channel length (CL) displays three linear population trends. In bed load transport rivers, the potential
meander wavelength is followed by an increases of channel length. In contrast, the mixed and
suspended load channel lengths are usually larger than the meander wavelength (Figure 7b). The
radius of curvature (RC) versus sinuosity (SI) relationship infers that mixed and suspended rivers
have large values ranging from up to 1.4 to 4 with the radius of curvature over 200 m to < 900 m
indicating a meandering system. The radius of curvature may have wide ranges to predict from
sinuosity until we are able to define the maximum and minimum boundaries (Figure 7c). Clusters of
homogenous bed load transport are possibly associated with bedrock incision and structural rivers
without development of meander scroll, whereas sparse distribution is interpreted as a meandering
river system (Figure 7d).

Figure 7. Cross-plots showing relationship of morphometric parameter in the Mahakam River. a)

Channel Width (CW) versus Sinuosity (SI); b) Meander Wavelength (ML) versus Channel Length
(CL); c) Radius of Curvature (RC) versus Sinuosity (SI); and d) Meander Wavelength (ML) versus
Meander Belt Width (MBW).
In the Mahakam River, we added a few bathymetric survey points and collected samples in order to
constrain Schumms river classification (Schumm, 1968). Bathymetric survey was conducted from
Penyinggahan (upstream), Muara Muntai, Muara Wis, Kota Bangun, Muara Kaman, Sebulu,
Tenggarong and Loa Janan (downstream) (Hestinawati, 2008) (Figure 8). Echo sounding surveys
measured the various river depths, with the shallowest being 5 m and the deepest 30 m (Figure 9a).
In addition, sediment materials were examined from the meander channels by collecting samples in
the Muara Muntai upstream area. The channel is predominantly composed of fine-grained sediments
(mud to very fine sand grain size). Heterogeneous fine grain sediments inside the sinuosity channel
suggest that the channel is sourced from a mixed load transport river (Figure 9b). However, the
coarse-grained sediments percentages are increased in the Loa Janan area (downstream). This may be
locally sourced from immature Tertiary rocks from the Mahakam Fold and Thrust Belt. Several river
cross-sections of Muara Muntai are shown in (Figure 9c), inferring a moderate width depth ratio (w/d
= 17.5) with high relief of single thalweg (the deepest part of the channel) as distinctive candidate
sign of future mixed load river. Cross-plots depth versus width show two population trends, the
meandering river system class consists of a mixed and suspended load transport with low to moderate
width depth ratio (w/d= 8.9 46.8), whereas the second class reflects a bedrock incised and structural
rivers with a of bed load with high width (w/d= 46.8 64) (Figure 9d).

Figure 8. Bathymetric survey location in the Mahakam River, highlighted by yellow boxes

Figure 9. a) Bathymetric map of meandering river in the Muara Muntai (modified from Hestinawati,
2009); b) sediment distribution map showing various materials inside the channel. This indicates
mixed to suspended load channel, an important clue that suggests channel thalweg was covered by
mud plug and possibly turned to flow baffle for sand compartmentalization; c) River cross-sections of
the channel consisting of single thalweg with low to moderate width-depth ratio; d) Cross-plot of
channel width (CW) versus depth (D) suggesting two population trends, and conclude that large or
wide river tends to have large number of depth and deposited thick sediments.
High sinuosity or meandering river systems (SI > 1) are developed within Quaternary sediments in the
upstream to middle areas of the Mahakam River. Low-sinuosity rivers (SI=1 to 1.1) were initially
observed by the presence of existing long and big river channel in the downstream area, as the
channel most likely associated with bedrock incision and structures. Therefore, there is similarity

between the Mahakam and Kapuas rivers, both are controlled by bedrock and structures in the
downstream area.
Application to Subsurface Interpretation
Identification of channel styles is important, particularly in reservoir analysis for hydrocarbon
exploration. The reason being interpretation of river channel styles holds fundamental controls in the
geometry and heterogeneity of fluvial reservoirs. Moreover, it can be used for further analysis on
reservoir characterization in the development stage. Width and thickness of fluvial sand bodies are
functions of the hydraulic character of the river. Long-term, spatial or temporal changes in hydraulic
character are preserved as lateral or vertical changes in sand bodies (reservoir) dimensions. Short-term
hydraulic changes in fluvial systems are reflected by intra-reservoir variation in grain size, shaliness
and sedimentary structures. These lithological and textural variation exercises are essentially able to
determine distribution of porosity and permeability in sandstone reservoir (Davis et al., 1993).Figure
10 shows the example of morphometric identification using high-resolution seismic time slices.

Figure 10. A) Example of 3D time slices (335 ms) of mid-upper Miocene meander channel system in
the West Natuna Basin (Fachmi and Wood, 2005), showing a meander cut off and scroll bars. B) Lowsinousity of bedrock incised channel system of Upper Miocene, West Natuna Basin (time slice, 146
ms) (Fachmi and Wood, 2005). C) Bedrock incised channel of Pleistocene NE Java Sea, 3D time slice
96 ms (Posamentier, 2001).
In areas with sparse data and/or 3D seismic time slices with low resolution, the morphometric
quantification of Landsat images is useful as an analogue to identify the paleo-fluvial style. Modern
geomorphic features and morphometric parameters help to predict ancient fluvial morphology and its
dimensions, lateral facies associations, dominant lithological contents (shaliness, sand ratio) and
variable control of geometry (faulting and local uplift). Quantitative morphometrics of modern fluvial
systems is a critical component to develop knowledge in geologic interpretation, for example
sequence stratigraphy, reservoir heterogeneity and modelling, correlation strategies, drainage radius,
and geobodies, thus can minimize wide range of uncertainties.
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