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Stream power

About: Stream power is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1135 publications have been published within this topic receiving 51324 citations.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the spatial distribution of stream power along major streamlines in the Lane Cove catchment in northern Sydney, Australia was examined using GIS techniques to examine the spatiotemporal distribution of sediment storage.
Abstract: This study uses GIS techniques to examine the spatial distribution of stream power along major streamlines in the Lane Cove catchment in northern Sydney, Australia. Channel gradient estimates derived from a 5 m resolution digital elevation model (DEM) are combined with streamflow data to estimate stream power along river courses. Stream power and its constituent components are then related to a detailed field-based assessment of sediment storage along the trunk stream and primary tributaries. At the catchment scale, sediment storage per unit length decreases as channel gradient and gross stream power increase. However, local controls such as variability in valley width and occurrence of confluence zones exert a greater influence upon sediment storage, disrupting systematic catchment-wide relationships. The total volume of storage along each streamline has a strong linear relationship to the area of the subcatchment, but the distribution of sediment along streamlines varies between subcatchments. The GIS framework employed in this project allows generation of continuous, empirical data, thereby providing catchment-specific predictive capacity that can accompany theoretical approaches to stream power modelling.

13 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a geomorphic investigation of the floodplain geomorphology and historical channel changes, flood-frequency distributions, an erosion threshold, the geomorphic effectiveness of discharge events, and other factors that influence erosion hazards at the landfill site were analyzed.
Abstract: The Norman, Oklahoma, municipal landfill closed in 1985 after 63 years of operation, because it was identified as a point source of hazardous leachate composed of organic and inorganic compounds. The landfill is located on the floodplain of the Canadian River, a sand-bed river characterized by erodible channel boundaries and by large variation in mean monthly discharges. In 1986, floodwaters eroded riprap protection at the southern end of the landfill and penetrated the landfill's clay cap, thereby exposing the landfill contents. The impact of this moderate-magnitude flood event (Q12) was the catalyst to investigate erosion hazards at the Norman landfill. This geomorphic investigation analyzed floodplain geomorphology and historical channel changes, flood-frequency distributions, an erosion threshold, the geomorphic effectiveness of discharge events, and other factors that influence erosion hazards at the landfill site. The erosion hazard at the Norman landfill is a function of the location of the landfill with respect to the channel thalweg, erosional resistance of the channel margins, magnitude and duration of discrete discharge events, channel form and hydraulic geometry, and cumulative effects related to a series of discharge events. Based on current climatic conditions and historical channel changes, a minimum erosion threshold is set at bankfull discharge (Q = 572 m3/s). The annual probability of exceeding this threshold is 0.53. In addition, this analysis indicates that peak stream power is less informative than total energy expenditures when estimating the erosion potential or geomorphic effectiveness of discrete discharge events. On the Canadian River, long-duration, moderate-magnitude floods can have larger total energy expenditures than shorter-duration, high-magnitude floods and therefore represent the most serious erosion hazard to floodplain structures.

13 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, two sets of triangular hydrographs were generated in a 12m-long laboratory flume for different initial bed conditions: intact and water-worked gravel bed.
Abstract: Abstract Two sets of triangular hydrographs were generated in a 12-m-long laboratory flume for two sets of initial bed conditions: intact and water-worked gravel bed. Flowrate ranging from 0.0013 m3 s-1 to 0.0456 m3 s-1, water level ranging from 0.02 m to 0.11 m, and cumulative mass of transported sediment ranging from 4.5 kg to 14.2 kg were measured. Then, bedload transport rate, water surface slope, bed shear stress, and stream power were evaluated. The results indicated the impact of initial bed conditions and flow unsteadiness on bedload transport rate and total sediment yield. Difference in ratio between the amount of supplied sediment and total sediment yield for tests with different initial conditions was observed. Bedload rate, bed shear stress, and stream power demonstrated clock-wise hysteretic relation with flowrate. The study revealed practical aspects of experimental design, performance, and data analysis. Water surface slope evaluation based on spatial water depth data was discussed. It was shown that for certain conditions stream power was more adequate for the analysis of sediment transport dynamics than the bed shear stress. The relations between bedload transport dynamics, and flow and sediment parameters obtained by dimensional and multiple regression analysis were presented.

13 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, Mazama ash and an early Holocene paleosol are used to correlate the terrace suites examined by previous researchers and to generate a model which accounts for the development of the upper two sets of paired terraces.
Abstract: Researchers working in the Bow River valley have identified a minimum of four alluvial terraces, the upper two of which have been designated as paired terraces. Over the past 35 years, they have attempted to correlate these alluvial landforms and to generate models for the development of the terraces along the section of the Bow River between Calgary and the Rocky Mountains. In this study, Mazama ash and an early Holocene paleosol are used to correlate the terrace suites examined by previous researchers and to generate a model which accounts for the development of the upper two sets of paired terraces. These paired terraces reflect major episodes of aggradation and degradation that result from changes in independent variables such as climate and uplift. The initial episode of aggradation, dating from the late Pleistocene, is the result of paraglacial processes in a sparsely vegetated, yet saturated environment. Following a brief episode of degradation at the end of the Younger Dryas, the second episode of aggradation, dating from 9000 to 5000 BP, is caused by increased sediment load and lowered stream power during the Hypsithermal.

13 citations

Book ChapterDOI
17 Feb 2012
TL;DR: This article examined the variables governing bed material transport, and asked whether there are important differences in the individual terms (width, depth, slope, and grain size) that would help explain the transition from single-thread to braided channel patterns.
Abstract: Braided rivers are distinguished from their single-thread counterparts by high channel complexity (multiple bars per active channel width), and wide variations in flow properties and sediment flux. Presumably, braided river dynamics are driven by high rates of sediment supply, which force lateral instability and channel switching (Schumm, 1985; Church, 2006). The key problem highlighted by Metivier and Barrier (Chapter 34, this volume) is that, in most cases, we don’t know the sediment supply: in situmeasurements of sediment loads (bedload and suspended load) are taken at relatively few locations, thus the influence of sediment supply on channel pattern is not well understood. Consequently, the best we can do is to make inferences about the role of sediment supply based on relations between the more easily measured variables, such as discharge, slope, stream power, width–depth ratio and grain size. This approach has a long history, but it does not appear that the distinction between braided and meandering channel patterns is any clearer now than it was when Leopold and Wolman (1957) first defined such a threshold (see Lewin and Brewer, 2001, and subsequent discussion by van den Berg and Bledsoe, 2003). In order to move forward on this topic, we believe it is essential to incorporate information on sediment supply into the framework for analyzing changes in river channel patterns. It is not likely, however, that we (river scientists) will see an expansion in sediment sampling programs in the near future, thus we will need to develop and test alternative methods for estimating the sediment supply to rivers. In this chapter, we examine the variables governing bed material transport, and ask whether there are important differences in the individual terms –width, depth, slope, and grain size – that would help explain the transition from single-thread to braided channel patterns. We frame the discussion around a bedload transport equation and suggest that such an equation can be applied in the “forward” sense (Church, 2006) to estimate the sediment supply to rivers with different channel patterns. We do not discuss the alternative technique in which the sediment flux is back-calculated fromchanges in channel morphology – termed the “inverse problem” – as this approach is adequately described in a number of papers (Martin and Church, 1995; Lane et al., 1995; Ashmore and Church, 1998; Church, 2006).

13 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202351
2022103
202154
202067
201952
201847