Preface v 1. Introduction 1 Characteristics of mountain rivers 1 Overview of the development of mountain science 5 Overview of the development of fluvial geomorphology 11 Overview of the development of stream biology 14 Purposea ndo rganization of this volume 16 2. Mountain Drainage Basins 19 Slopep rocesses 23 Channel initiation and development 30 River chemistry 32 Valley morphology 43 Hydraulic geometry 48 Longitudinal profiles and channel incision 49 Quaternary changes 55 Terraces 59 3. Channel Processes 63 Hydrology 63 Hydraulics 78 Sediment processes 92 4. Channel Morphology 149 Morphologic variability 149 Channel classification systems 154 Step-pool channels 157 Plane-bed channels 162 Pool-riffle channels 162 Knickpoints and gorges 166 Braided channels 170 5. Mountain Channel Biota 173 River ecology 173 Aquatic communities 173 Riparian communities 176 The hyporheic zone 179 Conceptual models 180 Biological stream classifications 184 Mountain rivers 188 A case study of human impacts' the Columbia River 191 6. Mountain Rivers and Humans 195 Types of impact 195 Hazards 214 River management 227 7. Field Data, Please 231 References 235 Subject Index 315.