A RIFFLE STABILITY INDEX TO EVALUATE SEDIMENT LOADING TO STREAMS1

ABSTRACT: Riffles in moderately entrenched stream reaches with gradients of 2 percent to 4 percent that have received excessive sediment from upstream have a distinctly different and higher proportion of smaller mobile particles than riffles in systems that are in dynamic equilibrium. The mobile fraction on the riffle can be estimated by comparing the relative abundance of various particle sizes present on the riffle with the dominant large particles on an adjacent bar. Riffle particles smaller than the dominant large particles on the bar are interpreted as mobile. The mobile percentile of particles on the riffle is termed “Riffle Stability Index” (RSI) and provides a useful estimate of the degree of increased sediment supply to riffles in mountain streams. The RSI addresses situations in which increases in gravel bedload from headwaters activities is depositing material on riffles and filling pools, and it reflects qualitative differences between reference and managed watersheds. The RSI correlates well with other measures of stream channel physical condition, such as V and the results of fish habitat surveys. Thus, it can be used as an indicator of stream reach and watershed condition and also of aquatic habitat quality.     

OPEN CHANNEL INTERPOLATION OF CROSS SECTIONAL PROPERTIES1

ABSTRACT: This paper confirms the use of interpolated data to refine water surface profiles. Sources of error within these computations are due to truncation error, inaccuracies in geometric data, and improper modeling. Confirmation includes the development of an equation that models the effect of data measurement error on the computed water surface profile. A review of interpolation procedures includes a proposed method based upon geometric properties.     

洞庭水患与生态环境保护

本文分析了洞庭湖流域生态环境破坏对洪涝造成的影响,指出流域生态环境受到破坏主要是人类违背自然规律、破坏森林植被、盲目围湖造田、生产及建设性破坏河道及湖滩所致。文章还就根治洞庭水患的关键性措施——搞好生态恢复,提出了几点意见。     

长江荆江分流河的河型及其洪灾防治探讨

从长江荆江分流河的河道平面形态及其近百年来的演变特征、河道比降、河道沉积特征、地质背景和地貌特征等方面进行了论述,认为这些河道是一个统一的网状河流体系。对各主要河道的输水输沙特征及其演变趋势和洪水灾害特征进行了讨论,结合网状河流系的基本特征,提出了洪灾防治的主要措施。     

Modeling the Suitability of Potential Wetland Mitigation Sites with a Geographic Information System

Wetland mitigation is frequently required to compensate for unavoidable impacts to wetlands. Site conditions and landscape context are critical factors influencing the functions that created wetlands perform. We developed a spatial model and used a geographic information system (GIS) to identify suitable locations for wetland mitigation sites. The model used six variables to characterize site conditions: hydrology, soils, historic condition, vegetation cover, adjacent vegetation, and land use. For each variable, a set of suitability scores was developed that indicated the wetland establishment potential for different variable states. Composite suitability scores for individual points on the landscape were determined from the weighted geometric mean of suitability scores for each variable at each point. These composite scores were grouped into five classes and mapped as a wetland mitigation suitability surface with a GIS. Sites with high suitability scores were further evaluated using information on the feasibility of site modification and project cost. This modeling approach could be adapted by planners for use in identifying the suitability of locations as wetland mitigation sites at any site or region.     

Application of Decision Analysis to Forest Road Deactivation in Unstable Terrain

Resource managers require objective methodologies to optimize decisions related to forest road deactivation and other aspects of road management, especially in steep terrain, where road-related slope failures inflict extensive environmental damage. Decision analysis represents a systematic framework that clearly identifies real options and critical decision points. This framework links current decisions with expected future outcomes and provides advantages such as a common currency to systematically explore the liability consequences of limited budget expenditures to road deactivation and other road-related activities. Furthermore, the decision framework prevents the analysis from becoming hopelessly entangled by the vast number of possibilities generated by the alternative occurrences, magnitudes, and consequences of landslide/debris flow events and provides the information required for the first step of an adaptive management process. Here, a structured analysis of potential environmental risks for a road deactivation project in coastal British Columbia, Canada is presented. The application of decision analysis generates a ranking of the expected benefits of proposed deactivation activities on various road sections. The ranking distinguishes between road sections that offer high expected benefit from those that offer moderate to low expected benefit. Seventeen of 171, 100–m road segments accounted for 18% of the cumulative cost and 98% of the cumulative expected net benefits from road deactivation. Furthermore, the cost of deactivating a section of road is related to the expected benefit from such deactivation, thus providing the basis for more effective resource allocation and budgeting decisions.     

Prioritizing Wetland Restoration for Sediment Yield Reduction: A Conceptual Model

In a climate of limited resources, it is often necessary to prioritize restoration efforts geographically. The synoptic approach is an ecologically based tool for geographic prioritization of wetland protection and restoration efforts. The approach was specifically designed to incorporate best professional judgment in cases where information and resources are otherwise limited. Synoptic assessments calculate indices for functional criteria in subunits (watersheds, counties, etc.) of a region and then rank the subunits. Ranks can be visualized in region-scale maps which enable managers to identify areas where efforts optimize functional performance on a regional scale. In this paper, we develop a conceptual model for prioritizing watersheds whose wetlands can be restored to reduce total sediment yield at the watershed outlet. The conceptual model is designed to rank watersheds but not individual wetlands within a watershed. The synoptic approach is valid for applying the sediment yield reduction model because there is high demand for prioritizing disturbed wetlands for restoration, but there is limited, quantitative, accurate information available with which to make decisions. Furthermore, the cost of creating a comprehensive database is prohibitively high. Finally, because the model will be used for planning purposes, and, specifically, for prioritizing based on multiple decisions rather than optimizing a single decision, the consequence of prioritization errors is low. Model results cannot be treated as scientific findings. The conclusions of an assessment are based on judgement, but this judgement is guided by scientific principles and a general understanding of relevant ecological processes. The conceptual model was developed as the first step towards prioritizing of wetland restoration for sediment yield reduction in US EPA Region 4.     

Human impacts on the stream-groundwater exchange zone

Active exchanges of water and dissolved material between the stream and groundwater in many porous sand- and gravel-bed rivers create a dynamic ecotone called the hyporheic zone. Because it lies between two heavily exploited freshwater resources—rivers and groundwater—the hyporheic zone is vulnerable to impacts coming to it through both of these habitats. This review focuses on the direct and indirect effects of human activity on ecosystem functions of the hyporheic zone. River regulation, mining, agriculture, urban, and industrial activities all have the potential to impair interstitial bacterial and invertebrate biota and disrupt the hydrological connections between the hyporheic zone and stream, groundwater, riparian, and floodplain ecosystems. Until recently, our scientific ignorance of hyporheic processes has perhaps excused the inclusion of this ecotone in river management policy. However, this no longer is the case as we become increasingly aware of the central role that the hyporheic zone plays in the maintenance of water quality and as a habitat and refuge for fauna. To fully understand the impacts of human activity on the hyporheic zone, river managers need to work with scientists to conduct long-term studies over large stretches of river. River rehabilitation and protection strategies need to prevent the degradation of linkages between the hyporheic zone and surrounding habitats while ensuring that it remains isolated from toxicants. Strategies that prevent anthropogenic restriction of exchanges may include the periodic release of environmental flows to flush silt and reoxygenate sediments, maintenance of riparian buffers, effective land use practices, and suitable groundwater and surface water extraction policies.     

Locational Probability for a Dammed, Urbanizing Stream: Salt River, Arizona, USA

/ Data from historical aerial photographs analyzed with a GIS show that river channel change on the Salt River in the Phoenix metropolitan area of central Arizona has been driven by large-scale regional flood events and local human activities. Mapping of functional surfaces such as low-flow channels, high-flow channels, islands, bars attached to channel banks, and engineered surfaces shows that during the period from 1935 to 1997, the relative areal coverage of these surfaces has changed. Flood events have caused general changes in sinuosity of the low-flow channel, but islands have remained remarkably consistent in location and size, while channel-side bars have waxed and waned. The most important determinant of local channel form and process is sand and gravel mining, which in some reaches occupies more than 70% of the active channel area. The general location of mining is closely related to the location of the moving urban fringe, which serves as a market for sand and gravel during construction. Quantitative spatial analysis of imagery supplemented by field mapping shows that for each location within the general channel area, it is possible to specify a probability of encountering a low-flow channel or other fluvial features. Maps showing the distribution of these probabilities of occurrence reveal the most probable location and configuration of the channel as it occurred in the past. Some reaches have the low-flow channel located persistently within a limited area as a result of bedrock or sinuosity controls, but other reaches dominated by flow separation or shallow gradient have almost no persistence in channel location from one flood to another.     

存在截渗墙情况下地下咸水恢复的优化方案

本文首先分析了咸水分布区的自然地理和水文地质条件，然后对研究区的水文地质条件进行了概化，建立了相应的地下水水量和水质的数值模型，最后通过地下水模拟软件Visual—MODFLOW3.1对存在截渗墙情况下的不同咸水恢复方案进行了数值分析。研究结果表明。单纯的抽水方案对于高浓度咸水的去除非常有效，但是低浓度咸水残留量较大；抽水——注水方案对高低浓度的去除效果都比较好；而抽水优化方案对高浓度和低浓度的咸水的去除更加经济、快速和彻底。