Linking the Evolution of the Andalién River Morphology (Central–Southern Chile) to Anthropogenic Interventions by Using a New QGIS Tool

Andrea Gianni Cristoforo Nardini, Constanza Gonzalez, Angela Contreras, Germán Velásquez, José Vargas-Baecheler, Hervé Piégay, Joaquin Espinoza and Santiago Yépez ()
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Andrea Gianni Cristoforo Nardini: Fundación Centro de Recuperación de Ecosistemas Acuáticos (CREACUA), Riohacha 440001, La Guajira, Colombia
Constanza Gonzalez: Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
Angela Contreras: Departamento Ciencias de la Tierra, Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
Germán Velásquez: Instituto de Geología Económica Aplicada—GEA, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción 4030000, Chile
José Vargas-Baecheler: Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
Hervé Piégay: UMR 5600, CNRS EVS, ISIG Platform, University of Lyon, Site ENS de Lyon, 15 Parvis René Descartes, F-69362 Lyon, France
Joaquin Espinoza: Departamento Ciencias de la Tierra, Ciencias Químicas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
Santiago Yépez: Departamento Manejo de Bosques y Medio Ambiente, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: In recent decades, the interplay of several factors, including land use change (particularly urbanization) and global warming, has resulted in harsher flooding, often associated with geomorphic disruption. These events in Latin America are predominantly driven by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. The Andalién River basin is no exception, with a notable incident occurring in July 2006. This reality points out the need to study the geomorphological behavior of rivers. Geomatic tools can contribute to address this issue, thereby improving the planning and management of water courses. This paper presents the assessment of the morphological evolution of the Andalién River, downstream to the city of Concepción in a period of 75 years (1945–2020), in response to changes in land use and anthropogenic interventions on the river itself. Based on temporal satellite imagery and historical aerial images (from 1945 to 2020) combined with digital elevation models (LiDAR and TamDEM-X data), morphological alterations are revealed, which were caused by urbanization and anthropogenic activities. We demonstrate how the South River Toolbox (SRT), an original GIS tool developing in QGIS (in-house), enables the extraction of key geomorphological features of a river and their analysis, including their time evolution. This retrospective analysis includes an innovative method and tool to measure the lateral migration rate of the active channel. Ultimately, this study provides valuable insights for future management strategies, offering a comprehensive basin-level analysis of the Andalién River and a cartographic framework to aid decision-making, planning, and management of the fluvial corridor.

Keywords: river morphology; GIS tool; Andalién river; anthropogenic interventions; temporal satellite imagery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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