HR: 0800h
AN: H51E-0819 [Abstracts]
TI: Slow Lateral Migration Rates of the Gravel-Bedded South River, Virginia: the Influence of Bedrock, Riparian Vegetation, and Bend Geometry.
AU: * Narinesingh, P
EM: prame@udel.edu
AF: University of Delaware, Department of Geological Sciences
Penny Hall, Newark, DE 19716, United States
AU: Pizzuto, J
EM: pizzuto@udel.edu
AF: University of Delaware, Department of Geological Sciences
Penny Hall, Newark, DE 19716, United States
AB:
Shorelines mapped on orthorectified aerial photographs from 1937 and 2005 demonstrate that the South River is
unusually stable: rates of lateral migration from 1937-2005 range from 0 to 0.3 m/yr with a median of 0.02 m/yr.
Shoreline changes are barely resolvable at some locations on aerial photographs despite rectification errors that
are typically less than 1m. Field surveys indicate that only 12.4 percent of the entire shoreline is currently actively
eroding. Lateral shifting of the channel appears to occur where riverbanks are composed of alluvium, rather than
bedrock. In some areas, mid-channel bars and tributary confluences are areas of significant bank erosion, as
the bars and tributary-mouth deltas deflect the main flow into the opposite banks. Erodibility values computed
using the model of Johanneson and Parker (1989) are distinctly different for bends with different geologic setting
and riparian vegetation.
DE: 1800 HYDROLOGY
DE: 1815 Erosion
DE: 1825 Geomorphology: fluvial (1625)
DE: 1856 River channels (0483, 0744)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting