HR: 0800h
AN: H51I-0890    [Abstracts]
TI: Predicting Bed Mobility in a Simple River Channel
AU: * Wydzga, M A
EM: wydzga@umail.ucsb.edu
AF: Department of Earth Scince, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States
AU: Legleiter, C
EM: carl@geog.ucsb.edu
AF: Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States
AU: Dunne, T
EM: tdunne@bren.ucsb.edu
AF: Department of Earth Scince, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States
AB: Prediction of the frequency and spatial pattern of bed mobility in gravel bed rivers is central to a wide range of theoretical and applied interests ranging from sediment transport to the impacts of natural or managed floods on aquatic organisms. Although bed mobility has been investigated in numerous flume and field studies, accurate predictions of grain entrainment and transport in gravel bed rivers remain elusive. Alluvial rivers typically encompass a much wider range of hydraulic and sedimentological conditions than those that have been recreated in laboratory flume studies upon which many grain entrainment and transport models are based. These flume studies are limited to the examination of processes occurring over the short term, commonly with the absence of slower processes such as fine-grain infilling. On the other hand, in field studies key variables can not be controlled and the spatial complexity of processes and conditions complicate data collection and analysis. A unique opportunity currently exists to help bridge this gap between laboratory and field studies: a 3.2 km long, recently constructed, single thread, alternate bar, gravel bed river channel of the Merced River. This channel, constructed for ecosystem restoration purposes, is slowly developing greater complexity, but is still currently defined by a simple plan form and cross-sectional channel geometry compared to most natural gravel bed river channels. This channel can thus be considered a full-scale flume. In the six years since the channel was constructed, a wider range of sedimentological bed conditions have evolved than have been created in a laboratory flume. We are characterizing the bed grain sizes, flow field, grain entrainment, and the sedimentological or bed state conditions in this simple channel. The flow field is modeled using a calibrated, 2D hydrodynamic flow model, MD_SWMS. Grain entrainment is measured with both metal tags inserted into the bed, and painted rock tracers, encompassing a wide range of grain sizes, placed in the bed. Bed state is characterized by measuring the local microtopography, vertical plucking force (used to calculate the degree of grain interlocking), and the bed-parallel force required to roll or slide a grain (used to calculate the grain friction angle). To date these measurements have been made for two flow conditions: a low flow and a 3/4 bankfull flow. Preliminary data show that sedimentological conditions vary greatly from those typically created in laboratory flume studies. For example, coarse grains embedded in and reinforced by fine sediments have significantly higher friction angles than grains in loose beds. During the 3/4 bankfull event, approximately 30% of all tracers were entrained and transported. Areas of both full mobility (all grain sizes become entrained) and partial mobility (some grain sizes become entrained) were measured. Using existing and future data, we plan to develop a calibrated, predictive model of bed mobility based on a range of naturally occurring bed states.
DE: 1813 Eco-hydrology
DE: 1825 Geomorphology: fluvial (1625)
DE: 1847 Modeling
DE: 1856 River channels (0483, 0744)
DE: 1862 Sediment transport (4558)
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting