No description available.

Master of Arts / Geography / Charles W. Martin / Tuttle Creek Dam was built in 1962 after near-record flooding in the Kansas River watershed. It has been in operation for over 50 years. In that time, nearly half of its storage capacity has been filled by sediment, reducing its ability to serve its intended purpose under current operations. The Corps of Engineers authorized a study to examine the sediment in Tuttle Creek Lake and determine management strategies to extend its lifespan. This report examines the erodibility of the sediment as a function of depth and distance to dam. Eight sediment cores were tested and analyzed for two erodibility parameters, critical shear stress and erodibility coefficient. After directly comparing these parameters it was determined that Tuttle Creek Lake sediment ranges from erodible to very erodible regardless of depth or location. Analyzing for locational and depth patterns in erodibility coefficients indicated that both influence the erodibility of sediment, with depth being the stronger factor. These results indicate that locations further upstream from the dam and greater depths are the least erodible. Sedimentation patterns were mapped onto a three dimensional model in ArcMap. It is hoped that this research will assist Corps of Engineers leadership in deciding which management practices to pursue for Tuttle Creek Lake.

The Mink Creek region is centered 14 miles northeast of Preston in Franklin County, Idaho (see Index Map, Figure 1). The area of this report comprises approximately 70 square miles. It is bounded on the north and south by parallels 42°17' and 42°11' North Latitude and on the east and west by meridians 111°37' and 111°49'. The easternmost part of the area is located in the Bear River Range and is part of the Cache National Forest. The region is readily accessible. A paved Idaho State Highway goes through the center of the area and State Highway 34 skirts the nothwest corner. Numerous dirt roads, jeep roads, and cattle trails traverse the area.

The incipient motion of sediment particles in gravel-bed rivers is a very important process. It represents the difference between bed stability and bed mobility. A field study was conducted in Oak Creek, Oregon to investigate incipient motion of individual particles in gravel-bed streams. Investigation was also made of the incipient motion of individual gravel particles in the armor layer, using painted gravel placed on the bed of the stream and recovered after successive high flows. The effect of gravel particle shape was examined for a wide range of flow conditions to determine its significance on incipient motion. The result of analysis indicates a wide variation in particle shapes present. Incipient motion and general transport were found to be generally independent of particle shape regardless of particle sizes. A sample of bed material may contain a mixture of shapes such as well-rounded, oval, flat, disc-like, pencil-shaped, angular, and block-like. These are not likely to move in identical manners during transport nor to start motion at the same flow condition. This leads to questions about the role of shape in predicting incipient motion and equal mobility in gravel-bed streams. The study suggests that gravel particles initiate motion in a manner that is independent of particle shape. One explanation may be that for a natural bed surface many particles rest in orientations that give them the best: protection against disturbance, probably a result of their coming to rest gradually during a period of decreasing flows, rather than being randomly dumped. But even when tracer particles were placed randomly in the bed surface there was no evident selectively for initiation of motion on the basis of particle shape. It can be concluded from analysis based on the methods of Parker et al. and Komar that there is room for both equal mobility and flow-competence evaluations. However, the equal mobility concept is best applied for conditions near incipient motion and the flow-competence concept is best applied for larger flows and general bedload transport. Furthermore, with an armored bed, such as that at Oak Creek, there is a tendency for a more-nearly equal mobility (or equivalent) for the normalized transport rates for the various size fractions when incipient motion and moderate bedload transport occurs. / Graduation date: 1995

In the Gulf Coastal Prairie and Marsh region of Texas, historic archaeological sites are often obscured by dense vegetation resulting in extremely limited surface visibility. In an environment such as this, historic sites can only be detected by the presence of above-ground features such as architectural remains and landscaping. Although not standard among cultural resource management firms, the use of historical aerial photography and informant interviews can be effective and efficient pre-field strategies for locating sites in this region. Identification of such sites is further enhanced by an in-depth understanding of the characteristic remains of pier and beam construction, which was commonly utilized in 19th-century southeast Texas farmsteads. Four 160-acre grants located in the Addicks Reservoir, Harris County, Texas were used as a case study to test the effectiveness and efficiency of these pre-field research strategies. Each of these tracts was associated with the mid 19th-century establishment of the German immigrant community of Bear Creek, and each tract contained the remnants of farmsteads where structures had often been removed or relocated leaving little above-ground remains to be discovered using standard survey techniques. A 1915 topographical map and a 1930 aerial photograph of the area were employed together with accounts of former residents and descendants of former residents that indicated locations of former farmsteads on each of these tracts. Additional archival research, including U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acquisition files for Addicks Reservoir, was conducted prior to a field “ground-truthing” survey of the properties. As a result, all six of the historic sites that appear on a 1930 aerial photograph of the area were located and documented. One historic site that appeared on a 1915 topographical map of the area but did not appear on the 1930 aerial photograph was not located.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Pennsylvania State University, 1999. / Diskette not included. --UMI note. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-92).

No description available.

Due to the relatively complex land cover configuration and a series of significant ecological implications, the issue of land cover changes in the Big Creek area are of critical value to environmental conservation groups, policy makers, and relevant stakeholders. In consultation with the Carolinian Canada Coalition (CCC), the potential of IKONOS imagery as a high spatial resolution remote sensing product is assessed for significant habitat mapping, and a change detection methodology is developed and implemented for the Big Creek area that will be of value to decision makers and policy analysts. In order to take advantage of the synergistic strengths of multiple change detection techniques, a hybrid approach is adopted in this study, aiming to detect and stratify land cover changes over the time span from 2004 to 2012. On the basis of an assessment of the capability of differentiating changed from unchanged areas, the image differencing method based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was found to be the most accurate among the three change detection techniques employed in this study. As an attempt to incorporate local spatial autocorrelation information into the change detection analysis, the Getis statistic was used as a spatial filter in conjunction with the image differencing technique, and it showed great promise for improving the change/no change maps both qualitatively and quantitatively. In particular, the extreme Getis statistic proposed in this study demonstrated strong potential for automatically determining the optimal scale for spatial smoothing, which could greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of change detection practices. In addition, the performance of the post-classification comparison approach was found to be highly dependent on the intrinsic characteristics of the individual classified maps, rather than simply the accuracy scores of the classifications subject to the comparison. Therefore, it is recommended that a benchmark approach be taken to compensate for this uncertainty of the post-classification comparison method, such that the negative impact of the misclassification errors in the individual classified maps could be reduced to an acceptable level. The findings of this research will contribute to a better understanding of the usefulness of some widely used change detection techniques in a relatively complex physical environment with abundant vegetation cover. In addition, the application of the Getis statistic as a spatial filter is proven useful for suppressing potential "salt and pepper" effects in the context of change detection analysis, especially if high spatial resolution imagery is employed. With minor modifications, the workflow proposed in this study is likely to reliably fulfill the purpose of monitoring land cover dynamics in other environments as well. However, it should be noted that clear awareness of the characteristics of the study area and needs of information is a premise to the successful application of any change detection approach in different environments.

Thesis (M.S. - Renewable Natural Resources)--University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. - Hydrology and Water Resources)--University of Arizona, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-212).