The wide range of different river types (meandering, straight, braided; coarse, fine) has spawned a wide range of possible fades models. The best known end member – the meandering fining-upward sequence – is itself a composite model involving facies sequences for active lateral accretion, neck cut-off, and chute cut-off. The philosophy and ultimate usefulness of “splitting” existing models will be examined in the lecture. Models for braided systems, especially the emerging models of sandy and gravelly systems, will be developed, compared, and contrasted. The possible spectrum of types from meandering to braided sandy systems will be emphasized, within the context of what a good model should do, namely 1) act as a norm for purposes of comparison, 2) act as a guide for future observations, 3) act as a predictor in new situations, and 4) act as a basis for an overall interpretation.