The configuration and behavior of river bedforms is strongly governed by the interrelationship between present sediment load and hydraulic conditions. A quantitative description of both configuration and behavior is necessary to understand and establish the effect they bring on bedform migration and roughness changes. This contribution elaborates on the application of one-dimensional wavelet transforms to describe the bed morphology of natural channels. Since the election of the mother wavelet is crucial to retrieve representative information of the signal, this contribution also provides insights in the criteria to choose the most efficient mother wavelet based on sampling frequency and signal-to-noise ratios quantities. Likewise, 1D-wavelet is applied to quantify the bedform features of the Parana River. Since bedforms in natural channels predominantly show three-dimensional patterns, we discuss the limitations of one-dimensional wavelet transforms to capture such patterns. © 2011 ASCE.