Download or read book Channel conveyance capacity channel change and sediment transport in the lower Puyallup White and Carbon Rivers western Washington written by Jonathan A. Czuba and published by U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draining the volcanic, glaciated terrain of Mount Rainier, Washington, the Puyallup, White, and Carbon Rivers convey copious volumes of water and sediment down to Commencement Bay in Puget Sound. Recent flooding in the lowland river system has renewed interest in understanding sediment transport and its effects on flow conveyance throughout the lower drainage basin. Bathymetric and topographic data for 156 cross sections were surveyed in the lower Puyallup River system by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and were compared with similar datasets collected in 1984. Regions of significant aggradation were measured along the Puyallup and White Rivers. Between 1984 and 2009, aggradation totals as measured by changes in average channel elevation were as much as 7.5, 6.5, and 2 feet on the Puyallup, White, and Carbon Rivers, respectively. These aggrading river sections correlated with decreasing slopes in riverbeds where the rivers exit relatively confined sections in the upper drainage and enter the relatively unconstricted valleys of the low-gradient Puget Lowland. Measured grain-size distributions from each riverbed showed a progressive fining downstream. Analysis of stage-discharge relations at streamflow-gaging stations along rivers draining Mount Rainier demonstrated the dynamic nature of channel morphology on river courses influenced by glaciated, volcanic terrain. The greatest rates of aggradation since the 1980s were in the Nisqually River near National (5.0 inches per year) and the White River near Auburn (1.8 inches per year). Less pronounced aggradation was measured on the Puyallup River and the White River just downstream of Mud Mountain Dam. The largest measured rate of incision was measured in the Cowlitz River at Packwood (5.0 inches per year). Channel-conveyance capacity estimated using a one-dimensional hydraulic model decreased in some river reaches since 1984. The reach exhibiting the largest decrease (about 20–50 percent) in channel-conveyance capacity was the White River between R Street Bridge and the Lake Tapps return, a reach affected by recent flooding. Conveyance capacity also decreased in sections of the Puyallup River. Conveyance capacity was mostly unchanged along other study reaches. Bedload transport was simulated throughout the entire river network and consistent with other observations and analyses, the hydraulic model showed that the upper Puyallup and White Rivers tended to accumulate sediment. Accuracy of the bedload-transport modeling, however, was limited due to a scarcity of sediment-transport data sets from the Puyallup system, mantling of sand over cobbles in the lower Puyallup and White Rivers, and overall uncertainty in modeling sediment transport in gravel-bedded rivers. Consequently, the output results from the model were treated as more qualitative in value, useful in comparing geomorphic trends within different river reaches, but not accurate in producing precise predictions of mass of sediment moved or deposited. The hydraulic model and the bedload-transport component were useful for analyzing proposed river-management options, if surveyed cross sections adequately represented the river-management site and proposed management options. The hydraulic model showed that setback levees would provide greater flood protection than gravel-bar scalping after the initial project construction and for some time thereafter, although the model was not accurate enough to quantify the length of time of the flood protection. The greatest hydraulic benefit from setback levees would be a substantial increase in the effective channel-conveyance area. By widening the distance between levees, the new floodplain would accommodate larger increases in discharge with relatively small incremental increases in stage. Model simulation results indicate that the hydraulic benefit from a setback levee also would be long-lived and would effectively compensate for increased deposition within the setback reach from increased channel-conveyance capacity. In contrast, the benefit from gravel-bar scalping would be limited by the volume of material that could be removed and the underlying hydraulics in the river section that would be mostly unaffected by scalping. Finally, the study formulated an explanation of the flooding that affected Pacific, Washington, in January 2009. Reduction in channel-conveyance capacity of about 25 percent at the White River near Auburn streamflow-gaging station between November 2008 and January 2009 was caused by rapid accumulation of coarse-grained sediment just downstream of the gage, continuing an ongoing trend of aggradation that has been documented repeatedly.

Download or read book Changes in sediment volume in Alder Lake Nisqually River Basin Washington 1945 2011 written by Jonathan A. Czuba and published by U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Nisqually River drains the southwest slopes of Mount Rainier, a glaciated stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of western Washington. The Nisqually River was impounded behind Alder Dam when the dam was completed in 1945 and formed Alder Lake. This report quantifies the volume of sediment deposited by the Nisqually and Little Nisqually Rivers in their respective deltas in Alder Lake since 1945. Four digital elevation surfaces were generated from historical contour maps from 1945, 1956, and 1985, and a bathymetric survey from 2011. These surfaces were used to compute changes in sediment volume since 1945. Estimates of the volume of sediment deposited in Alder Lake between 1945 and 2011 were focused in three areas: (1) the Nisqually River delta, (2) the main body of Alder Lake, along a 40-meter wide corridor of the pre-dam Nisqually River, and (3) the Little Nisqually River delta. In each of these areas the net deposition over the 66-year period was 42,000,000 ± 4,000,000 cubic meters (m3), 2,000,000 ± 600,000 m3, and 310,000 ± 110,000 m3, respectively. These volumes correspond to annual rates of accumulation of 630,000 ± 60,000 m3/yr, 33,000 ± 9,000 m3/yr, and 4,700 ± 1,600 m3/yr, respectively. The annual sediment yield of the Nisqually (1,100 ± 100 cubic meters per year per square kilometer [(m3/yr)/km2]) and Little Nisqually River basins [70 ± 24 (m3/yr)/km2] provides insight into the yield of two basins with different land cover and geomorphic processes. These estimates suggest that a basin draining a glaciated stratovolcano yields approximately 15 times more sediment than a basin draining forested uplands in the Cascade Range. Given the cumulative net change in sediment volume in the Nisqually River delta in Alder Lake, the total capacity of Alder Lake since 1945 decreased about 3 percent by 1956, 8 percent by 1985, and 15 percent by 2011.

Download or read book Geomorphic analysis of the river response to sedimentation downstream of Mount Rainier Washington written by Jonathan A. Czuba and published by U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. This book was released on 2012-12-07 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the geomorphology of rivers draining Mount Rainier, Washington, was completed to identify sources of sediment to the river network; to identify important processes in the sediment delivery system; to assess current sediment loads in rivers draining Mount Rainier; to evaluate if there were trends in streamflow or sediment load since the early 20th century; and to assess how rates of sedimentation might continue into the future using published climate-change scenarios. Rivers draining Mount Rainier carry heavy sediment loads sourced primarily from the volcano that cause acute aggradation in deposition reaches as far away as the Puget Lowland. Calculated yields ranged from 2,000 tonnes per square kilometer per year [(tonnes/km2)/yr] on the upper Nisqually River to 350 (tonnes/km2)/yr on the lower Puyallup River, notably larger than sediment yields of 50–200 (tonnes/km2)/yr typical for other Cascade Range rivers. These rivers can be assumed to be in a general state of sediment surplus. As a result, future aggradation rates will be largely influenced by the underlying hydrology carrying sediment downstream. The active-channel width of rivers directly draining Mount Rainier in 2009, used as a proxy for sediment released from Mount Rainier, changed little between 1965 and 1994 reflecting a climatic period that was relatively quiet hydrogeomorphically. From 1994 to 2009, a marked increase in geomorphic disturbance caused the active channels in many river reaches to widen. Comparing active-channel widths of glacier-draining rivers in 2009 to the distance of glacier retreat between 1913 and 1994 showed no correlation, suggesting that geomorphic disturbance in river reaches directly downstream of glaciers is not strongly governed by the degree of glacial retreat. In contrast, there was a correlation between active-channel width and the percentage of superglacier debris mantling the glacier, as measured in 1971. A conceptual model of sediment delivery processes from the mountain indicates that rockfalls, glaciers, debris flows, and main-stem flooding act sequentially to deliver sediment from Mount Rainier to river reaches in the Puget Lowland over decadal time scales. Greater-than-normal runoff was associated with cool phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Streamflow-gaging station data from four unregulated rivers directly draining Mount Rainier indicated no statistically significant trends of increasing peak flows over the course of the 20th century. The total sediment load of the upper Nisqually River from 1945 to 2011 was determined to be 1,200,000±180,000 tonnes/yr. The suspended-sediment load in the lower Puyallup River at Puyallup, Washington, was 860,000±300,000 tonnes/yr between 1978 and 1994, but the long-term load for the Puyallup River likely is about 1,000,000±400,000 tonnes/yr. Using a coarse-resolution bedload transport relation, the long-term average bedload was estimated to be about 30,000 tonnes/yr in the lower White River near Auburn, Washington, which was four times greater than bedload in the Puyallup River and an order of magnitude greater than bedload in the Carbon River. Analyses indicate a general increase in the sediment loads in Mount Rainier rivers in the 1990s and 2000s relative to the time period from the 1960s to 1980s. Data are insufficient, however, to determine definitively if post-1990 increases in sediment production and transport from Mount Rainier represent a statistically significant increase relative to sediment-load values typical from Mount Rainier during the entire 20th century. One-dimensional river-hydraulic and sediment-transport models simulated the entrainment, transport, attrition, and deposition of bed material. Simulations showed that bed-material loads were largest for the Nisqually River and smallest for the Carbon River. The models were used to simulate how increases in sediment supply to rivers transport through the river systems and affect lowland reaches. For each simulation, the input sediment pulse evolved through a combination of translation, dispersion, and attrition as it moved downstream. The characteristic transport times for the median sediment-size pulse to arrive downstream for the Nisqually, Carbon, Puyallup, and White Rivers were approximately 70, 300, 80, and 60 years, respectively.

Download or read book Flood carrying Capacities and Changes in Channels of the Lower Puyallup White and Carbon Rivers in Western Washington written by Edmund A. Prych and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Quantifying Channel Maintenance Instream Flows written by Larry J. Schmidt and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sediment Transport Data and Related Information for Selected Coarse bed Streams and Rivers in Idaho written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report and associated web site files provide sediment transport and related data for coarse-bed streams and rivers to potential users. Information on bedload and suspended sediment transport, streamflow, channel geometry, channel bed material, floodplain material, and large particle transport is provided for 33 study reaches in Idaho that represent a wide range of drainage areas, average annual streamflows, channel gradients, and substrate sizes. All the study reaches have a coarser layer of surface bed material overlaying finer subsurface material. Both bedload and suspended sediment transport increase with discharge and the relationship can be reasonably represented using a log-log model. At most sites, the suspended load makes up the majority of the total sediment load. The size of the largest bedload particle in transport and usually the median size of the bedload increase with discharge. However, the median size of the bedload is much smaller than the channel surface material and sand is the primary or a large component of the bedload material. A large proportion of the annual sediment production occurs at the higher streamflows during snowmelt. On average, discharges equal to or larger than bankfull occur 3.3 percent of the time and transport 61.5 percent of the annual bedload sediment. Discharges less than the average annual discharge, on average, occur 75.0 percent of the time and transport about 3.8 percent of the annual bedload sediment.

Download or read book Channel Improvements Columbia and Lower Willamette River Federal Navigation Channel OR WA written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sacramento River and Tributaries Bank Protection and Erosion Control Investigation California written by and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Assessment of Changes in Channel Morphology and Bed Elevation in Mad River California 1971 2000 written by Kevin Knuuti and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers currently regulates gravel-mining activities in Humboldt County, CA, under the authority described in Sec. 404 of the Clean Water Act. In order to better understand the effects gravel mining has had on the Mad River, the U.S. Army Engineer District, San Francisco, initiated this study to examine changes in channel morphology and bed elevation between 1971 and 2000. This study focused on existing cross section data and historic aerial photography from a variety of sources, and river sediment (bed-load and bed-material) data collected by the USGS. It also used new cross-section data collected in 2000 and gravel extraction records. This information was used to quantify geomorphic changes in the river, to establish a sediment budget, and to determine a sustainable yield for gravel extraction based on maintaining the river in an equilibrium condition.

Download or read book Stream Channel Stability written by L. D. Meyer and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Well over half the sediment lost from many watersheds originates as eroded soil from their uplands and bottomlands. Such erosion occurs over such a large area that it often goes unnoticed in comparison to the more spectacular losses from stream channels and gullies, yet it may be an even greater sediment source. Upland erosion is sometimes noticeable when rilling occurs at serious rates, but the 'unseen' interrill erosion, caused primarily by raindrop impact on land between rills and gullies, may also produce great quantities of sediment. This research was conducted to study interrill erosion rates for the major soils and land uses in Goodwin Creek Watershed by applying hundreds of simulated rainstorms on many different soils and cropping conditions. The transport of sediment was studied for various conditions that are typical of intensively cropped land to evaluate how much sediment would be carried from the sources to the major stream systems. The capacity of runoff to transport sediment was affected most by the steepness of the runoff flow channel. Steepnesses exceeding 1% could transport large quantities of sediment. Transport capacity also increased rapidly as flow rate increased and as sediment size decreased. This research confirms that Goodwin Creek Watershed soils are very erodible and that the resulting sediment is readily transported.

Download or read book The Channel in the Mouth of the Colorado River Texas written by United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Committee on Tidal Hydraulics and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Summary of Alluvial channel Data from Rio Grande Conveyance Channel New Mexico 1965 69 written by J. K. Culbertson and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Summary of basic hydraulic and sediment data obtained from a field stream.

Download or read book Estimates of Bridge Scour at Two Sites on the Virgin River Southeastern Nevada Using a Sediment transport Model and Historical Geomorphic Data written by Marsha M. Hilmes and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Channel Change and Bed Material Transport in the Lower Chetco River Oregon written by U.S. Department of the Interior and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-03-30 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lower Chetco River is a wandering gravel-bed river flanked by abundant and large gravel bars formed of coarse bed-material sediment. The large gravel bars have been a source of commercial aggregate since the early twentieth century for which ongoing permitting and aquatic habitat concerns have motivated this assessment of historical channel change and sediment transport rates. Analysis of historical channel change and bed-material transport rates for the lower 18 kilometers show that the upper reaches of the study area are primarily transport zones, with bar positions fixed by valley geometry and active bars mainly providing transient storage of bed material. Downstream reaches, especially near the confluence of the North Fork Chetco River, have been zones of active sedimentation and channel migration.

Download or read book The Incidence and Severity of Sediment Contamination in Surface Waters of the United States written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Environmental Engineering Dictionary and Directory written by Thomas M. Pankratz and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2000-09-22 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like most technical disciplines, environmental science and engineering is becoming increasingly specialized. As industry professionals focus on specific environmental subjects they become less familiar with environmental problems and solutions outside their area of expertise. This situation is compounded by the fact that many environmental science

Download or read book Erosion and Sediment Control Planning written by United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Technology Transfer and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: