Water Resources Data for Alaska, Water Year 1988
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Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to R.L. Burrows.
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Suspended-sediment- and bedload-transport rates for the Tanana River near Fairbanks, Alaska, can be related to water discharge. Annual sediment loads can be computed using these relations. For a site at Fairbanks, the annual loads in 1980 were 22.0 million metric tons of suspended sediment and 272,000 metric tons of bedload; in 1981, 27.3 million metric tons of suspended sediment and 333,000 metric tons of bedload passed the Fairbanks site. Data collected at five other locations within a 40 km reach of the river indicate very similar suspended-sediment transport relations, but bedload-transport relations vary from site to site and between 1980 and 1981. For all sites bedload is usually 1 to 1.5 percent of suspended-sediment load. Particle-size distribution for suspended sediment is similar at all six sites. Median particle size is generally in the silt range; only occasionally is it in the very fine sand range. Median particle size of bedload varied from the gravel range to the medium sand range for five of the six sampling sites in both years. At the sixth site, the most downstream location, median particle size of bedload was in the sand range. (USGS)
Suspended-sediment and bedload-transport rates for the Tanana River near Fairbanks can be related to water discharge, and annual sediment loads can be computed using these relations. For a site at Fairbanks the annual loads in 1982 were 26.1 million metric tons of suspended sediment and 227,000 metric tons of bedload. Data collected at five other sites within a 40-kilometer reach of the river indicate similar suspended-sediment-transport relations but bedload-transport relations varied from site to site. For all sites bedload is about 1 percent of suspended-sediment load. Particle-size distribution of suspended sediment is similar at all six sites. Median particle size is generally in the silt range; only occasionally is it in the very fine sand range. Median particle size of bedload ranged from the gravel range to the medium sand range at four of the six sampling sites. At the farthest downstream site, Byers Island, and the farthest upstream site, above Chena River Floodway, median particle size of bedload was always in the sand range. (USGS)