Alluvial fans

Develop where a high-gradient stream

leaves a narrow valley and spreads out
onto a broad plain
Slopes outward in a broad arc
Life on Earth is a constant battle between the
Tectonic forces that want to make the Earth
LUMPY and the geomorphic agents that want to
make the Earth SMOOTH
Glaciers
Running Water
Waves
Wind
Gravity
Homo sapo-engineerus
Sources of Sediment: Processes
Erosion processes & their estimated contribution
to total continental sediment output:
96% 2% 1% 1%
Watershed
divide
(higher ridge of
land, the
boundary
between one
drainage basin
and another)
Source
(the place
where a river
begins -a river
system will
have
numerous
sources, such
as springs,
storm drain
outfalls)
Confluence
(a place
where two
rivers meet)
Tributary stream (a smaller river
that flows into a larger river)
RIVER DRAINAGE BASIN. THE CATCHMENT AREA FOR ALL
THE RAIN THAT FALLS WITHIN THE WATERSHED
Stream Erosion
Then, Erosion
Solution (Dissolving - chemical
weathering)
Hydraulic Action (lifting)
Abrasion (crushing and grinding)
.
First, Weathering
Fracturing
(mechanical)
Loosening
(mechanical and
chemical)
Solution (chemical)

Stream Transport
Dissolved Load
Suspended Load
Bed Load
Saltation
Rolling, sliding
Pg. 276
(ions)
Velocity approach
An initiation
of movement
of sediment
Required
sufficient
force to
move or
entrain
particle
Braided Streams
Small islands of deposited material within
the channel.

A network of small intertwining channels
converge and diverge around the eyots.

At times of high discharge, braided streams
carry a large load of coarse material.

Braiding is a characteristic of streams with a
variable discharge

2. Wide valleys high suspended load
Meanders "Meandering Stream"
Cut bank and point bar
Cutoffs and oxbow lakes



Floodplains, either:
Erosional floodplains
Depositional floodplains


Erosion and Deposition

Transport
E.g., Meandering streams
As meanders are migrating
Cutbanks eroding
Point bars building
Sediment is moving
downstream
Very largest sediments
Big stuff deposited here
Clays Silts Sand
Gravel
In a depositional flood plain, natural levee growth
can allow river level to grow higher than flood plain
Levees build during
flooding
Created by overbank
deposits
As flood spreads over
floodplain, flow rate slows
Deposition of sediment
Coarse near stream on
levee
Finer farther away
Natural Levees
Meander Cutoff

Nearby
Oxbow Lake
River meanders across
floodplain.

Base level drops,
or region uplifts.
River cuts into bed

Stream less wide,
uses narrower
floodplain

Old floodplain is a
terrace




Stream Terraces
Delta The end point of a rivers work

Streams and rivers
carry sediment until
they enter a still
water body

Flow velocity then
drops and so do the
sediments

Where the sediments
are not reworked by
waves or tides
wetlands created
River delta distributary channels change location with time
General trend: Delta builds Seaward.
If Floodwaters happen to reach
the sea via a new shortcut, they flow by
the shorter (steeper) path cutting a
new channel, abandon old
A fan-delta in a lake
Flood Frequency
Find maximum annual discharges
Can query Peak Streamflow on USGS site
Rank peak discharges from largest to smallest
Calculate recurrence interval (RI)
RI = # years + 1
flood rank
Year Max Flow
Cu-ft/sec
2007 15,320
1997 11,860
2004 9,176
2001 7,235
1998 7,188
2010 6,694
1995 6,008
2005 4,814
2002 3,509
2009 3,403
1994 3,069
2003 2,786
2000 1,961
2008 1,922
1996 1,891
1999 1,430
2006 1,001
2011 698
Recurrence Interval
For Brazos at SR 21, we
have 18 years of records
Recurrence Interval
defined as
= # years + 1
flood rank
= 18 + 1 = 19
1
For the Brazos, 2007 was
a 19-year flood
Year Max Flow Flood
cf/s Rank
2007 15,320 1
1997 11,860 2
2004 9,176 3
2001 7,235 4
1998 7,188 5
2010 6,694 6
1995 6,008 7
2005 4,814 8
2002 3,509 9
2009 3,403 10
1994 3,069 11
2003 2,786 12
2000 1,961 13
2008 1,922 14
1996 1,891 15
1999 1,430 16
2006 1,001 17
2011 698 18
100-Year Flood
By definition requires 99 years of data
Only the largest flood during that 100 year period would
be a 100-year flood
Very few sites with 100 years of data
The Flood of 2007 likely not a 100-year event
Can create a Flood Exceedance Probability Curve by
calculating inverse of Recurrence interval and plotting
against maximum flood associated
Purely a statistical event, you can have two 100 year
floods in a month or none in a millennium.
More years of records, the better the number
100 year flood = 1% chance each year that the flow will
be exceeded.

Year Max Flow Flood Column1 Column2
cf/s Rank Recurrance Probability
Interval of exceedance
2007 15,320 1 19 0.052631579
1997 11,860 2 9.5 0.105263158
2004 9,176 3 6.33333333 0.157894737
2001 7,235 4 4.75 0.210526316
1998 7,188 5 3.8 0.263157895
2010 6,694 6 3.16666667 0.315789474
1995 6,008 7 2.71428571 0.368421053
2005 4,814 8 2.375 0.421052632
2002 3,509 9 2.11111111 0.473684211
2009 3,403 10 1.9 0.526315789
1994 3,069 11 1.72727273 0.578947368
2003 2,786 12 1.58333333 0.631578947
2000 1,961 13 1.46153846 0.684210526
2008 1,922 14 1.35714286 0.736842105
1996 1,891 15 1.26666667 0.789473684
1999 1,430 16 1.1875 0.842105263
2006 1,001 17 1.11764706 0.894736842
2011 698 18 1.05555556 0.947368421
Calculated
Recurrence
intervals for
each max flow
for years 1994
to 2011 on
Brazos River
at SR-21 plus
the inverse,
the Annual
Probability of
exceeding that
max flow
y = 16478e
-3.023x

100
1,000
10,000
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
P
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a
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D
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a
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1

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F
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Annual Probability of Exceeding
Brazos River at SR 21 Annual Maximum Flood Probablities
Flood risk will not go away
Headwaters Flooding
Rapid City 1972
Big Thompson Canyon Flood
Fort Collins 1997 flood
Main river flooding
Mississippi River 1993 and 2009
Red River of North (Almost annually)
Polder and inflooding
Notable floods
Johnstown 1889, valley dam failure
2400 died
Lower Mississippi River 1927 313 - $300MM
1937 -137- $420MM
Rapid City 1972 - $164MM -237 lost
Philippines 1991 8000
Houston 2001 Allison - $5B 73,000 homes
95,000 vehicles, Tunnel system, Hospitals
May 13, 2004 Hearne TX Highway 6 blocked

The 1993 Mississippi Flood
Cold air and
warm air collide,
causing
persistent
thunderstorms
Discharge higher than
normal for months
Before flooding
During flooding
16.13.a
New Orleans May 17, 2011
Bonnet Carre Spillway open
Floods risk of polders
Holland reclaimed from seabed - 1953
The Fens (Cambridge England)
reclaimed marsh, subsidence Henry VIII
New Orleans reclaimed marsh
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
reclaimed marsh
Other areas - Washington state
Floods are a rivers revenge for:

Building dams that trap sediment, making it hard
for the river to do its job
Building too many things in its floodplain,
property distinctly claimed by the river.
Constructing ugly, lifeless, concrete channels to
constrain it and hurry it along
Adding to it natural levees, limiting its normal
relief and normal depositional pattern, laying the
ground work for future disaster
Paving too much ground without compensating
infiltration area, forcing the river to work hard
when it rain and diminishing it in dry periods
The Beach
In some ways, the beach is nothing more
than a great energy dissipation system to
protect the land from the stormy sea.
Others rock cliffs, mangrove, coral reefs,
and rarely - mud Beaches very rare SW
Louisiana
Sand in beaches always moving onshore-
offshore in response to storm energy
Sand moves alongshore in response to
longshore drift
Waves break when they reach shallow water
and start interacting with the bottom


The importance of the dunes
The dunes particularly the foredunes are
directly interacting with the beach and near
shore sand bars.
Wind (Aeolian) and waves move sand around
but where beaches exist, they work to keep
the sand in place over time.
Importance of vegetation in anchoring dune
grasses and forbs can not be understated
The importance of dunes to a stable beach
environment also cannot be overstated




The Dynamic Beach, dunes and offshore bars
Disappearing beaches
Sand moves from a source (a river mouth or eroding
seaside cliff to a sink, either and inlet or an offshore
canyon
Waves and physics keeps most of the sand in the
surf zone
Dunes and dune sediment keep sand from blowing
inland
If sediment supply gets reduced (dam on river, new
inlet, protection of eroding cliff) sand supply washes
away, erode width of beach
Groins capture some sand but cause greater erosion
downdrift
Beach nourishment projects the only way out for
some beaches Miami the most famous
In the northern Gulf of Mexico, the currents move
Counter clockwise, Bringing silt and mud from the Mississippi
to Galveston and leaving Alabama beaches sandy