An understanding of the clogging of fine sediments within gravel substrates is advanced through the use of dimensional analysis and macro-analysis of clogging experiments in hydraulic flumes. Dimensional analysis is used to suggest that the dimensionless clogging depth can be collapsed using the original and adjusted bed-to-grain ratios, substrate porosity, roughness Reynolds number, and Peclet number. Macro-analysis followed by statistical analysis of 146 experimental test results of fine sediment deposition in gravel substrates suggests that the dimensionless clogging depth can be collapsed using the substrate porosity and roughness Reynolds number reflecting the processes of gravity settling and turbulence induced fluid pumping between substrate particles. In addition, a clear cutoff of fine sediment unimpeded static percolation and sediment clogging is found using the adjusted bed-to-grain ratio. Thereafter, a physics-based approach is used to predict the clogging depth of fine sediment in gravel and in turn approve upon the preliminary findings in the empirical analysis. A momentum-impulse model that accounts for the critical impulse of a particle bridge is balanced with a fluid pulse resulting from turbulent pumping. The momentum-impulse model reduces the number of unknown parameters in the clogging problem and increases the model predictability as quantified using k-fold validation and model comparison with the empirical approach. A nomograph derived from applying the momentum-impulse model is provided herein, which will be useful for stream restoration practitioners interested in estimating embeddedness. Also, prediction of the clogging profile is shown using the clogging depth predicted with the momentum-impulse model.

155 pages / In the stratigraphic record of Camp Creek are episodes of fluvial scour and fill thousands of years old. Radiocarbon dates and the Mazama tephra, which serves as a stratigraphic time line, temporally bracket episodes of vertical aggradation and incision. Before 9000 years B.P. the valley floor was scoured to the Tertiary bedrock. Aggradation dominated since that time. Large cut-and-fill structures indicate that two periods of erosion occurred prior to incision of the modern arroyo. The first occurred before 6800 yr B.P. and the second occurred approximately 3000 years ago. The modern arroyo-channel flows at or near the Tertiary bedrock, is entrenched as much as nine meters in the valley-fill alluvium and is thought to have originated during the late 19th century.

When approximating heat transfer through a streambed, an understanding of the thermal properties of the sediments is essential (e.g., thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, and density). Even though considerable research has been completed in this field, little has been done to establish appropriate standard data collection approaches or to compare modeling methods for approximating these properties. Three mixture models were selected for comparison against each other and against a bed conduction model (SEDMOD). Typical data collection approaches were implemented for use in the mixture models while numerous data collection approaches were employed for use within SEDMOD. Sediment samples were taken from the streambed to estimate the necessary parameters for the mixture models (e.g., sediment volume, density, porosity, etc.) and to identify the minerals present. To yield more accurate estimates of the thermal properties from SEDMOD, methods of obtaining sediment temperature profiles representing the influences of conduction only were developed through the use of a steel cylinder and different capping materials (e.g., using geo-fabric or aluminum). In comparison to laboratory measurements of the thermal properties, it was found that the mixture model that provided the best estimates of the thermal properties was a volume weighted average. The method that best isolated conductive heating from advective heating was the steel cylinder with an aluminum cap. Using this data to calibrate SEDMOD yielded thermal diffusivity values most similar to the laboratory measurements. Due to its ability to estimate both thermal diffusivity and reproduce sediment temperature profiles, SEDMOD is recommended in combination with the aluminum isolation technique.

No description available.

I investigated streambed stability in spawning microhabitats of warmwater fishes in the upper Roanoke River, Virginia. Spawning microhabitats used by four reproductive guilds (egg-clusterers, mound-builders, egg-buriers, and pit-builders) were identified and ranges of 15 microhabitat variables used by each guild were compared to available microhabitat conditions to investigate habitat selection. Habitat usage by egg-clusterers was most characterized by selection for spawning rocks in the cobble size range, substrate roughness elements in the cobble to boulder size range, high roughness Reynolds number and moderate water column velocity. The mound-building bluehead chub (Nocomis leptocephalus) was distinct in its selection of substrate in the small gravel range, low water velocity and non-turbulent flow. Egg-buriers were the least distinct of the four guilds, exhibiting much variation in habitat use among the component species. However, all species used areas with small substrate (sand to gravel range), high velocity, and high turbulence. The pit-building central stoneroller (Campostoma anomalum) was distinct in its usage of areas with high velocity and turbulence, gravel sized substrate, and low embeddedness. Stability of each guild's spawning microhabitats was empirically evaluated through analysis of tracer particle movement and repeated surveying of bed elevation along stream transects. Logistic regression equations developed from tracer particle data predicted that microhabitats selected by egg-clusterers are among the most stable of all available habitats during high flows. Microhabitats utilized by mound-builders, egg-buriers, and pit-builders are predicted to be less stable. Repeat transect surveying corroborates model predictions in that egg-burier habitats experienced changes in bed elevation in high flows, while egg-clusterer habitats did not. / Master of Science

Treated wastewater (effluent) has been used as a water source for aquifer recharge and sustaining perennial surface water flow. Artificial recharge basins allow effluent to seep into the ground relieving stressed aquifers. However, these basins frequently become clogged due to physical, chemical, and biological processes. Effluent is also used to replace baseflow for dry streambeds. However, little is known about the effect of effluent on stream-aquifer interactions. Effluent from the Nogales International Waste Water Treatment Plant sustains perennial flow in the Upper Santa Cruz River, Arizona. A series of monthly field campaigns were undertaken to understand the impact of effluent on the streambed at 16 different sites along a 30 km river reach. The field campaigns had two foci: physical transformations in the streambed and water source identification using chemical composition. Historic data sets including USGS stream gauging records, NIWTP outfall data, ADWR well transducer data and USGS well chemistry data were also analyzed to provide a larger context for the work. Results indicate that localized clogging forms in the Upper Santa Cruz River. The clogging layers perch the stream and shallow streambed causing a desaturation below the streambed. A clogging cycle is established in the context of a semi-arid hydrologic cycle: formation during dry and hot pre-monsoon months, and removal by a set of large flood flows (10+ m3/sec) during the monsoon season. However, if the intensity of flooding during the semi-arid hydrologic cycle is lessened, the dependent riparian area can experience a die off.

No description available.

A principal ecological role proposed for the hyporheic zone is as a refugium that promotes benthic invertebrate survival during adverse conditions in the surface stream. Whilst a growing body of work has examined use of this hyporheic refugium during hydrological extremes (spates, streambed drying), little research has considered variation in refugium use over prolonged periods including contrasting conditions of surface flow. In this thesis, benthic invertebrate use of the hyporheic refugium is considered at monthly intervals over a five-month period of variable surface flow, at nine sites in two groundwater-dominated streams, the River Lathkill (Derbyshire) and the River Glen (Lincolnshire). Conditions identified as potential triggers of refugium use included a flow recession and a high-magnitude spate on the Lathkill, and small spates and a decline in flow preceding localised streambed drying on the Glen. During flow recession, reductions in submerged habitat availability and concurrent increases in benthic population densities were dependent on channel morphology. An unusual paired benthic-hyporheic sampling strategy allowed the type of refugium use (active migration, passive inhabitation) to be inferred from changes in hyporheic abundance and the hyporheic proportion of the total population. Using this approach, evidence of active migrations into the hyporheic zone use was restricted to two instances: firstly, Gammarus pulex (Amphipoda: Crustacea) migrated in response to habitat contraction and increased benthic population densities; secondly, migrations of Simuliidae (Diptera) were associated with low-magnitude spates. Refugium use was site-specific, with refugial potential being highest at sites with downwelling water and coarse sediments. A conceptual model describing this spatial variability in the refugial capacity of the hyporheic zone is developed for low flow conditions. In some cases, hyporheic refugium use was apparently prevented by disturbance-related factors (rapid onset, high magnitude) regardless of the refugial potential of the sediments. The extension of the hyporheic zone's refugial role to include low flows highlights the need to explicitly protect the integrity of hydrologic exchange in river rehabilitation schemes. However, the limited capacity of the hyporheic refugium emphasizes the additional importance of maintaining habitat heterogeneity including multiple instream refugia.

No description available.