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Confluences are critical nodes in a river network and affect flow, sediment transport, water quality, and ecological patterns. Significant changes in hydrodynamics, bed morphology as well as environmental and ecological features occur at the confluence, where the flows from two tributaries combine and adjust to the postconfluence planform geometry. Confluence of two flows with different momentum and velocity ratios (the ratio of the variable of one channel to that of the other) often results in a downstream shear layer driven by the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability. It enhances turbulent mixing and exchange of momentum and other matter (e.g., sediment and pollutants;

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