The construction of levees along the Mississippi River [MR], beginning in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, have isolated the river along many segments from its floodplain. Sediment from the river is currently deposited in the hydrologically connected floodplain [HCF], the area between the channel margin at low water and the levees. Researchers have studied the amount and rates of sediment deposition along the Upper and Lower Mississippi River segments from the headwaters to Pool 22 and from the Ohio River to the delta; however, no such assessments have been undertaken along the Middle Mississippi River [MMR]. This study attempts to fill the knowledge gap by assessing sedimentation along three islands within the Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge. On these islands two approaches were undertaken to assess sedimentation along the MMR’s HCF: dendrogeomorphology and the DEM of Difference [DoD] approach. The dendrogeomorphic approach uses tree-ring analyses to document and interpret geomorphic processes and the rates at which they are occurring. The DoD approach subtracts an older DEM from a newer DEM in order to see the change in elevation/depth over time. The geomorphology of the islands and then the entire MMR HCF (from the confluence of the Missouri River to Thebes, IL) were mapped. Using the sedimentation rates for the geomorphic landforms from the three study islands, the sedimentation rates and volumes for the aforementioned portion of the MMR’s HCF were estimated. The estimated volume of sediment was then compared to the MMR’s suspended sediment flux to determine how much of the suspended sediment was going into storage within the MMR’s HCF. The dendrogeomorphic and DoD methods for the study islands yielded average sedimentation rates of 13.3-16.9 mm year-1 and 21.5-80.1 mm year-1, respectively. The rates for the individual landforms on the islands using the dendrogeomorphic results ranged from 5.2 mm year-1 for the splay to 21.8 mm year-1 for the natural levee and splay, with a weighted average of 16.6 mm year-1 for the MMR HCF. Using these rates and the likely range of densities for the floodplain sediments, it is estimated that 4.9-6.6 million metric tons of sediment is accumulating within the MMR annually. This is approximately 5.4-7.4% of the average annual suspended sediment load of the Mississippi River at St. Louis. This means that the MMR is a major sediment sink. If these relatively rapid rates of deposition continue, they have the potential to substantially reduce the HCF’s ability to convey and store flood water which will result in increased flood levels and, consequently, flood risk within the MMR’s levee protected floodplain in the coming decades.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:siu.edu/oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:theses-3203 |
| Date | 01 August 2017 |
| Creators | Ryherd, Julia Kay |
| Publisher | OpenSIUC |
| Source Sets | Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses |
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