File:Gravel Rivers in Northeastern Italy.jpg

English: Natural-colour image of north-eastern Italy showing parts of the Cellina, Meduna, and Tagliamento rivers. The gravel-coated riverbeds contrast sharply with the surrounding landscape, highlighting the river contours. The Cellina and Meduna Rivers converge in the south, forming a giant V shape. When a river receives more sediment than it can move effectively, the river changes shape, often carving braided channels. Upstream from the Cellina, Meduna, and Tagliamento Rivers, the mountain basin is seismically active and prone to landslides. As a result, heavy sediment loads often reach these rivers, all three of which have braided channels. Around the rivers, rectangular shapes of green, gold, and brown belong to cultivated fields. The crops mingle with settlements, some of them quite close to river channels. Some hydrologists have expressed concern about continued development on this floodplain because flood damage has occurred fairly frequently, just as the fertile soils have attracted farmers.