The Selenga River Delta, Lake Baikal, Russia, is ~600 km 2 in size and contains multiple distributary channels that receive varying amounts of water and sediment discharge. The delta is positioned along the deep-water (~1600 m) margin of Lake Baikal, a half-graben-styled rift basin, qualifying it as a modern analogue of a shelf-edge delta system. This study provides a detailed field survey of channel bed sediment composition, channel geometry, and water discharge. The data and analyses presented here indicate that the Selenga Delta ex hibits downstream sediment fining over tens of kilometers, ranging from predominantly gravel (coarse pebble) and sand near its apex to silt and sand at the delta-lake interface. We developed an analytical framework to evaluate the downstream elimination of gravel within the multiple distributary channels. The findings include the following. (1) The Selenga River Delta consists of at least eight orders of distributary channels. (2) With increasing channel order downstream, channel cross-sectional area, width-depth ratio, water discharge, boundary shear stress, and sediment flux systematically decrease. (3) The downstream elimination of gravel in distributary channels is caused by declining boundary shear stress as a result of water discharge partitioning among the bifurcating channels. (4) Over longer time scales, gravel is contained on the delta topset due to frequent and discrete seismic events that produce subsidence and accommodation, so that coarse sediment cannot be transported to the axis of the Baikal Rift basin. The distribution of sediment grain size in deltaic channels, as related to hydrodynamics and sediment transport, plays a critical role in influencing stratigraphy, because the sustained tectonism leads to high preservation potential of the delta topset sedimentary deposits. Therefore, the Selenga River Delta provides an opportunity to explore the interactions between modern deltaic sedimentation processes and tectonics that affect the production of basin stratigraphy.

Channel bifurcations control the distribution of water and sediment in deltas, and the routing of these materials facilitates land building in coastal regions. Yet few practical methods exist to provide accurate predictions of flow partitioning at multiple bifurcations within a distributary channel network. Herein, multiple nodal relations that predict flow partitioning at individual bifurcations, utilizing various hydraulic and channel planform parameters, are tested against field data collected from the Selenga River delta, Russia. The data set includes 2.5 months of time-continuous, synoptic measurements of water and sediment discharge partitioning covering a flood hydrograph. Results show that width, sinuosity, and bifurcation angle are the best remotely sensed, while cross-sectional area and flow depth are the best field measured nodal relation variables to predict flow partitioning. These nodal relations are incorporated into a graph model, thus developing a generalized framework that predicts partitioning of water discharge and total, suspended, and bedload sediment discharge in deltas. Results from the model tested well against field data produced for the Wax Lake, Selenga, and Lena River deltas. When solely using remotely sensed variables, the generalized framework is especially suitable for modeling applications in large-scale delta systems, where data and field accessibility are limited.

A semi‐empirical bankfull Shields number relation as a function of slope, bed, and bank sediment grain size is obtained based on a field data set that includes the delta of the Selenga River, Russia, and other rivers from around the globe. The new Shields number relation is used in conjunction with continuity, flow resistance, and sediment transport equations to deduce predictive relations for bankfull width, depth, and slope of sand‐bed rivers. In addition, hydraulic geometry relations are obtained specifically for the Selenga River delta. Key results of this study are as follows: (1) bankfull width is strongly dependent on water discharge and is directly related to bank sediment size; (2) bankfull shear velocity is weakly dependent on bed sediment size and is inversely related to bank sediment size; (3) sand‐bed deltas with multiple distributary channels maintain smaller bankfull Shields numbers than is typical of alluvial rivers. This analysis is the first of its kind to include bank sediment size into a predictive bankfull Shields number relation to obtain relations for bankfull hydraulic geometry. The relations presented here can be utilized in morphodynamic models that explore how fluvial and deltaic systems respond to a range of imposed conditions, such as variable base level, sediment, and water supply.