The
Department of Geography,
The
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and
The
Center for Water as a Complex Environmental System announce a
Special
Colloquium
John
Pitlick
Department
of Geography
Channel
morphology and sediment transport in high gradient stream systems
Abstract
Headwater
streams are a prominent but poorly understood part of the physical and cultural
landscape of the western US. Erosion and sediment transport in these
streams occur sporadically, thus it is difficult to predict the system response
to perturbations caused by changes in climate, land use or hydrology.
This talk will summarize research that attempts to link the processes of
sediment transport to channel morphology across a very wide range of scales,
from small headwater streams to large alluvial rivers. A consistent set
of relations for hydraulic geometry and sediment transport are developed, and
they are shown to be essentially the same across a range of scales. The
results suggest that headwater streams operate much more like lowland streams
than previously assumed. Recognition of these similarities will almost
certainly aid in assessments of the potential impact of natural and
anthropogenic disturbances on headwater streams.
Friday, February 25
219
refreshments will be
served