  We explore connections between surficial deltaic processes (e.g. avulsion,
deposition) and the stratigraphic record using a simple numerical model of
delta-plain evolution, with the aim of constraining these connections and thus
improving prediction of subsurface features. The model represents channel
dynamics using a simple but flexible cellular approach, and is unique in that
it explicitly includes backwater effects that are known to be important in
low-gradient channel networks. The patterns of channel deposits in the
stratigraphic record vary spatially due to variation in avulsion statistics
with radial distance from the delta's source of water and sediment. We
introduce channel residence time as an important statistical measure of the
surface channel kinematics. The model suggests that the mean channel residence
time anywhere within the delta is nicely described by a power law distribution
showing a cutoff that depends on radial distance. Thicknesses of channel
deposits are not uniquely determined by the residence time of channelization.
The channel residence time distributions at given radial distances from the
source are found to be approximately lognormally distributed, a finding
consistent with the scale-dependent radial structure of channel deposits in the
stratigraphic record.
