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GEOREF RECORD

Persistence of effects of high sediment loading in a salmon-bearing river, Northern California

Mary Ann Madej and Vicki Ozaki
Persistence of effects of high sediment loading in a salmon-bearing river, Northern California (in Management and restoration of fluvial systems with broad historical changes and human impacts, L. Allan James (editor), Sara L. Rathburn (editor) and G. Richard Whittecar (editor))
Special Paper - Geological Society of America (2009) 451: 43-55

Abstract

Regional high-magnitude rainstorms have produced several large floods in north coastal California during the last century, which resulted in extensive mass-movement activity and channel aggradation. Channel monitoring in Redwood Creek, through the use of cross-sectional surveys, thalweg profiles, and pebble counts, has documented the persistence and routing of channel-stored sediment following these large floods in the 1960s and 1970s. Channel response varied on the basis of timing of peak aggradation. Channel-stored sediment was evacuated rapidly from the upstream third of the Redwood Creek channel, and the channel bed stabilized by 1985 as the bed coarsened. Currently only narrow remnants of flood deposits remain and are well vegetated. In the downstream reach, channel aggradation peaked in the 1990s, and the channel is still incising. Channel-bed elevations throughout the watershed showed an approximate exponential decrease with time, but decay rates were highest in areas with the thickest flood deposits. Pool frequencies and depths generally increased from 1977 to 1995, as did median residual water depths, but a 10 yr flood in 1997 resulted in a moderate reversal of this trend. Channel aggradation generated during 25 yr return interval floods has persisted in Redwood Creek for more than 30 yr and has impacted many life cycles of salmon. Watershed restoration work is currently focused on correcting erosion problems on hillslopes to reduce future sediment supply to Redwood Creek instead of attempting in-channel manipulations.


ISSN: 0072-1077
EISSN: 2331-219X
Coden: GSAPAZ
Serial Title: Special Paper - Geological Society of America
Serial Volume: 451
Title: Persistence of effects of high sediment loading in a salmon-bearing river, Northern California
Title: Management and restoration of fluvial systems with broad historical changes and human impacts
Author(s): Madej, Mary AnnOzaki, Vicki
Author(s): James, L. Allaneditor
Author(s): Rathburn, Sara L.editor
Author(s): Whittecar, G. Richardeditor
Affiliation: U. S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Arcata, CA, United States
Affiliation: University of South Carolina, Geography Department, Columbia, SC, United States
Pages: 43-55
Published: 2009
Text Language: English
Publisher: Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, United States
Meeting name: 2007 GSA annual meeting
Meeting location: Denver, CO, USA, United States
Meeting date: 20071028Oct. 28-31, 2007
References: 37
Accession Number: 2009-074386
Categories: GeomorphologyEnvironmental geology
Document Type: Serial Conference document
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. 2 tables, sketch map
Secondary Affiliation: Colorado State University, USA, United StatesOld Dominion University, USA, United StatesRedwood National and State Parks, USA, United States
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2017, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 200940
Program Name: USGSOPNon-USGS publications with USGS authors
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