Geology topics

Daniel E. Kroes

Publications and source records attributed to Daniel E. Kroes.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2025

Regional hydraulic geometry characteristics of stream channels in the Boston Mountains in Arkansas

Many stream-channel infrastructure, habitat enhancement, and restoration projects are undertaken on streams throughout Arkansas by Federal, State, and local agencies as well as by private organizations and businesses with limited data on local geomorphology and streamflow conditions. Equations that relate drainage area above stable stream reaches to the basin characteristics, bankfull streamflow, and the associated channel dimensions can be used to estimate stream conditions. These equations, along with streambed material particle information, provide information that can be used to improve stream-channel projects. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District, completed a study to develop these equations for streams in the Boston Mountains in Arkansas. Fourteen U.S. Geological Survey streamgages and stream reaches located in the Boston Mountains were selected for analysis. Geomorphic parameters of streams, including the mean bankfull channel dimensions (cross-sectional area, top width, mean depth, and streamflow), and the contributing drainage areas were investigated. Streambed materials were collected at eight of these sites to develop descriptive statistics of the streambed particle-size distributions and percentages of substrate type. Stream reaches at each study site were classified to Rosgen level II stream type based on the averages of stream-channel metrics collected from site cross sections and profiles. Of the 14 selected Boston Mountain stream reaches, 7 were classified as B-type streams, and 7 were classified as C-type streams. For these streams, the significant differences in measured parameters between stream types were that the B-type streams had greater depth, hydraulic radii, and bar D50 and D85 particle sizes, while C-type streams had greater watershed slopes. Streambed material particle size decreased with mean drainage basin elevation and decreased with increasing entrenchment ratios. Bar sediment size exhibited decreasing size with increasing sinuosity. Regional hydraulic geometry curves were constructed for the streams in the Boston Mountains by plotting measured bankfull geometry dimensions from stable reaches and the associated bankfull streamflow against the contributing drainage area.

Arkansas, Oklahoma↗

USGS2019

Sediment trapping and carbon sequestration in floodplains of the lower Atchafalaya Basin, LA: Allochthonous vs. autochthonous carbon sources

Recent studies suggest that about 2 Pg of organic C is stored on floodplains worldwide. The present study indicates the Atchafalaya River, fifth largest river in the United States in terms of discharge, traps 30 mm/y of sediment on average within its floodplain, which is the highest average non‐episodic rate of fluvial deposition on the U.S. Coastal Plain. We installed sediment sampling stations at 23 sites, normally in transect, in the Atchafalaya Basin; these sites represent the range of hydrogeomorphic conditions on the floodplain based on hydrologic connectivity with the river main stem. The rate of sedimentation translates into about 12.5 Tg/y and includes 694 Mg/y of organic C. Highest sedimentation rates are associated with areas of high connectivity to channels and prograding deltaic processes. The δ 13 C content suggests that 35% of deposited C is derived from river‐suspended sediment compared to litterfall in the Basin. Thus, much of the organic C sequestered is allochthonous material. However, isolated interior sites with limited connectivity to the channel may generate and sequester large amounts of autochthonous C. The substantial trapping of both auto‐ and allochthonous C (392 Mg/y) make this freshwater‐forested floodplain critical in storage of material before reaching the coastal delta and estuary. This C deposition rate (340 g C m ‐2 y ‐1 ) exceeds all other rates reported in recent Blue Carbon and Tidal Freshwater Forested Wetland studies. Atchafalaya C sequestration occurs in/near areas with tidal influence and like other coastal systems is an important site for trapping mineral and organic sediment and in global C cycling.

Louisiana↗

USGS2014

Floodplain biogeochemical processing of floodwaters in the Atchafalaya River Basin during the Mississippi River flood of 2011

The 2011 flood in the Lower Mississippi resulted in the second highest recorded river flow diverted into the Atchafalaya River Basin (ARB). The higher water levels during the flood peak resulted in high hydrologic connectivity between the Atchafalaya River and floodplain, with up to 50% of the Atchafalaya River water moving off channel. Water quality samples were collected throughout the ARB over the course of the flood event. Significant nitrate (NO 3 -) reduction (75%) occurred within the floodplain, resulting in a total NO 3 - reduction of 16.6% over the flood. The floodplain was a small but measurable source of dissolved reactive phosphorus (SRP) and ammonium (NH 4 +). Collectively, these results from this large flood event suggest that enhancing river-floodplain connectivity through freshwater diversions will reduce NO 3 - loads to the Gulf of Mexico during large annual floods.

Louisiana↗

USGS2013

Human-induced stream channel abandonment/capture and filling of floodplain channels within the Atchafalaya River Basin, Louisiana

The Atchafalaya River Basin is a distributary system of the Mississippi River containing the largest riparian area in the lower Mississippi River Valley and the largest remaining forested bottomland in North America. Reductions in the area of open water in the Atchafalaya have been occurring over the last 100 years, and many historical waterways are increasingly filled by sediment. This study examines two cases of swamp channels (< 85 m 3 /s) that are filling and becoming unnavigable as a result of high sediment loads and slow water velocities. The water velocities in natural bayous are further reduced because of flow capture by channels constructed for access. Bathymetry, flow, suspended sediment, deposited bottom-material, isotopes, and photointerpretation were used to characterize the channel fill. On average, water flowing through these two channels lost 23% of the suspended sediment load in the studied reaches. Along one of the studied reaches, two constructed access channels diverted significant flow out of the primary channel and into the adjacent swamp. Immediately downstream of each of the two access channels, the cross-sectional area of the studied channel was reduced. Isotopic analyses of bottom-material cores indicate that bed filling has been rapid and occurred after detectable levels of Cesium-137 were no longer being deposited. Interpretation of aerial photography indicates that water is bypassing the primary channels in favor of the more hydraulically efficient access channels, resulting in low or no-velocity flow conditions in the primary channel. These swamp channel conditions are typical in the Atchafalaya River Basin where relict large channel dimensions result in flow velocities that are normally too low to carry fine-grained sediment. Constructed channels increase the rate of natural channel avulsion and abandonment as a result of flow capture.

Louisiana↗

USGS2010

Bank erosion, mass wasting, water clarity, bathymetry and a sediment budget along the dam-regulated Lower Roanoke River, North Carolina

Dam construction and its impact on downstream fluvial processes may substantially alter ambient bank stability, floodplain inundation patterns, and channel morphology. Most of the world's largest rivers have been dammed, which has prompted management efforts to mitigate dam effects. Three high dams (completed between 1953 and 1963) occur along the Piedmont portion of the Roanoke River, North Carolina; just downstream, the lower part of the river flows across largely unconsolidated Coastal Plain deposits. To document bank erosion rates along the lower Roanoke River, more than 700 bank erosion pins were installed along 124 bank transects. Additionally, discrete measurements of channel bathymetry, water clarity, and presence or absence of mass wasting were documented along the entire 153-kilometer-long study reach. Amounts of bank erosion in combination with prior estimates of floodplain deposition were used to develop a bank erosion and floodplain deposition sediment budget for the lower river. Present bank erosion rates are relatively high [mean 42 milimeters per year (mm/yr)] and are greatest along the middle reaches (mean 60 mm/yr) and on lower parts of the bank on all reaches. Erosion rates were likely higher along upstream reaches than present erosion rates such that erosion rate maxima have migrated downstream. Mass wasting and water clarity also peak along the middle reaches.

North Carolina↗