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G. P. Williams

Publications and source records attributed to G. P. Williams.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2017

Paleohydrological methods and some examples from Swedish fluvial environments. II - River meanders

Empirical relations are developed between river-meander features and water-discharge characteristics for 19 reaches along Swedish rivers. In these relations, either average channel width or average radius of curvature of meander arcs can be used to estimate average annual peak discharge and average daily discharge. By accepting certain assumptions, the relations can be applied to other meandering Swedish rivers, present or ancient. The Öster-Dalälven River near Mora is used as an example.

Geografiska Annaler, Series A↗
USGS1990

Comparison of structural and least-squares lines for estimating geologic relations

Two different goals in fitting straight lines to data are to estimate a "true" linear relation (physical law) and to predict values of the dependent variable with the smallest possible error. Regarding the first goal, a Monte Carlo study indicated that the structural-analysis (SA) method of fitting straight lines to data is superior to the ordinary least-squares (OLS) method for estimating "true" straight-line relations. Number of data points, slope and intercept of the true relation, and variances of the errors associated with the independent (X) and dependent (Y) variables influence the degree of agreement. For example, differences between the two line-fitting methods decrease as error in X becomes small relative to error in Y. Regarding the second goal-predicting the dependent variable-OLS is better than SA. Again, the difference diminishes as X takes on less error relative to Y. With respect to estimation of slope and intercept and prediction of Y, agreement between Monte Carlo results and large-sample theory was very good for sample sizes of 100, and fair to good for sample sizes of 20. The procedures and error measures are illustrated with two geologic examples. ?? 1990 International Association for Mathematical Geology.

Mathematical Geology↗
USGS1989

Sediment concentration versus water discharge during single hydrologic events in rivers

Relations between sediment concentration ( C ) and water discharge ( Q ) for a hydrologic event, such as a flood, are studied qualitatively by analyzing "smoothed" temporal graphs (discharge and concentration vs. time) in terms of mode, spread, and skewness. Comparing C Q ratios at a given discharge on the rising and falling limbs of the discharge hydrograph provides a consistent, reliable method for categorizing C-Q relations. Five common classes of such relations are single-valued (straight or curved), clockwise loop, counterclockwise loop, single-valued plus a loop, and figure eight. Temporal-graph mode and skewness influence the type of relation, whereas temporal-graph spread affects the details of the particular C-Q relation (its graphical breadth, shape, orientation, and plotted location). Field examples of the various types of relations are given, including varieties that heretofore have received little attention, such as the figure eight. Explanations for each type of C-Q relation are discussed.

Journal of Hydrology↗
USGS1988

Sediment yield and spurious correlation-toward a better portrayal of the annual suspendend-sediment load of rivers

Bivariate relations between annual sediment yield (tons per year per unit drainage area) and drainage-basin area are spurious because drainage-basin area is common to both axes. Two alternative methods for portraying the annual suspended-sediment load of a river are suggested. One method consists of plotting suspended-sediment load (tons per year) against distance downstream. Such plots indicate that annual suspended-sediment load does not necessarily have a linear relationship with distance. The second method consists of plotting annual suspended-sediment load against drainage-basin area. Both methods more accurately portray fundamental relations between annual sediment load and drainage-basin characteristics than does the yield-area relation because spurious correlation is avoided. Plots were made of annual suspended-sediment load versus time for several stations along each of eight rivers for the 10–15 years of available data. The plots are in-phase with respect to relative magnitude of annual sediment loads.

Geomorphology↗
USGS1986

River meanders and channel size

This study uses an enlarged data set to (1) compare measured meander geometry to that predicted by the Langbein and Leopold (1966) theory, (2) examine the frequency distribution of the ratio radius of curvature/channel width, and (3) derive 40 empirical equations (31 of which are original) involving meander and channel size features. The data set, part of which comes from publications by other authors, consists of 194 sites from a large variety of physiographic environments in various countries. The Langbein-Leopold sine-generated-curve theory for predicting radius of curvature agrees very well with the field data (78 sites). The ratio radius of curvature/channel width has a modal value in the range of 2 to 3, in accordance with earlier work; about one third of the 79 values is less than 2.0. The 40 empirical relations, most of which include only two variables, involve channel cross-section dimensions (bankfull area, width, and mean depth) and meander features (wavelength, bend length, radius of curvature, and belt width). These relations have very high correlation coefficients, most being in the range of 0.95-0.99. Although channel width traditionally has served as a scale indicator, bankfull cross-sectional area and mean depth also can be used for this purpose.

Journal of Hydrology↗