Palaeohydrology and River Channel Management

Palaeohydrology has continued to develop during the GLOCOPH period (1991-2003) so that it is now appropriate to consider how its research contributions can relate to global change Palaeohydrology is just one multidisciplinary research field that can make a contribution to the study of global change, achieved through deriving data, elucidating the mechanics of change, identifying spatial contrasts, assisting the coupling of global change models to hydrological models, and eventually providing new models of palaeohydrological change Palaeohydrology can contribute to river channel management, which has now progressed from hard engineering, to ecological and thence to sustainable approaches. Inputs from palaeohydrology can inform river channel hazards, although necessarily varying according to the engineering, working with the river, or sustainable approaches. Research on temporal change can provide information for river management to complement periods of continuous instrumental records. Contributions can be made from palaeohydrology for the elaboration of flow records, especially of palaeofloods, demonstration of the sensitivity of reaches and their role within a basincontext, provision of hydrological and sedimentological histories to provide a temporal context, and elucidating the question of what is 'natural'. It is possible to extend protocols for river channel management by a provisional protocol from palaeohydrology. Although palaeohydrology may not readily provide analogues for future sequences it can provide insight Into the scenarios and mechanisms that may occur, and offers experience that requires river management to be undertaken within the framework of a long-term perspective.