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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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TL;DR: In this paper, the minimum stream power for stable alluvial channels has been derived and a method incorporating this condition with a flow-resistance formula and a sediment-discharge formula has been developed to compute the width, depth, and slope of stable channels for a given set of water and sediment discharges.
Abstract: The hypothesis of minimum stream power for stable alluvial channels has been used to derive a condition for alluvial channels in equilibrium. A method incorporating this condition with a flow-resistance formula and a sediment-discharge formula has been developed to compute the width, depth, and slope of stable alluvial channels for a given set of water and sediment discharges. Applying this method yields a design chart that provides the stable width and depth of alluvial canals with trapezoidal shape for a given set of water discharge, channel slope, sediment size, and side slope. Comparing data from some regime canals and small experimental canals has shown good agreement between the observed data and analytical predictions.

73 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The largest accidental surface release of radioactive materials in the United States occurred 16 July 1979, when a uranium tailings pond collapsed near Church Rock, New Mexico, releasing 378,500 m3 of liquids and 1000 mg of solids into the Puerco River as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The largest accidental surface release of radioactive materials in the United States occurred 16 July 1979, when a uranium tailings pond collapsed near Church Rock, New Mexico, releasing 378,500 m3 of liquids and 1000 mg of solids into the Puerco River. The resulting flood wave distributed radioactive thorium-230 through an 80-km reach of the river. A detailed analysis of 48 km of the entrenched channel shows that radionuclide concentrations in stream-bed sediments fluctuated irregularly with increasing distance from the source of contamination instead of declining exponentially as might be expected from hydraulic and geographic theory. Hydraulic calculations at 154 cross-sections in the 48-km reach show that concentrations of radionuclides in channel sediments were inversely related to unit stream power generated during the peak of the flood wave. Concentrations were also inversely related to the length of time that shear stress exceeded critical values during the passage of the flood wave. Regi...

73 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focused on the sequence observed between Celilo and the John Day River, where the erosional features can be physically quantified in terms of stream power and geomorphic work.
Abstract: Cataclysmic releases from the glacially dammed Lake Missoula, producing exceptionally large floods, have resulted in significant erosional processes occurring over relatively short time spans. Erosional landforms produced by the cataclysmic Missoula floods appear to follow a temporal sequence in many areas of eastern Washington State. This study has focused on the sequence observed between Celilo and the John Day River, where the erosional features can be physically quantified in terms of stream power and geomorphic work. The step-backwater calculations, in conjunction with the geologic evidence of maximum flow stages, indicate a peak discharge for the largest Missoula flood of 10 ×10 6 m 3 s -1 . The analysis of local flow hydraulics and its spatial variation were obtained calculating the hydrodynamic variables within the different segments of a cross-section. The nature and patterns of erosional features left by the floods are controlled by the local hydraulic variations. Therefore, the association of local hydraulic parameters with erosional and depositional flood features was critical in understanding landform development and geomorphic processes. The critical stream power required to initiate erosion varied for the different landforms of the erosional sequence, ranging from 500 W m -2 for the streamlined hills, up to 4500 W m -2 to initiate processes producing inner channels. Erosion is possible only during catastrophic floods exceeding those thresholds of stream power below which no work is expended in erosion. In fact, despite the multiple outbursts which occurred during the late Pleistocene, only a few of them had the required magnitude to overcome the threshold conditions and accomplish significant geomorphic work. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

72 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Stanley River in western Tasmania, Australia, contains sub-fossil rainforest logs within the channel and floodplain and radiocarbon dates obtained from 17 ka to the present allow an interpretation of fluvial and related environmental changes over this period as discussed by the authors.

72 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the abundance of five plant morphotypes (mosses, linear-submersged, patch-submerged, linear emergent, branched emergent) was estimated for each river reach and applied to the abundances of the five morphotypes across the 467 British river reaches to identify six typical assemblages or clusters of the morphotypes.

72 citations


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