WSP09960

• File Number: 8407.600
• Description: Platte River Basin - River Basin General Publications - Kansas General Publications
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 6/1/1971
• Author: Kansas Water Resourc
• Title: Kansas Streamflow Characteristics - Part 8 - In-Channel Hydraulic Geometry of Streams in Kansas - Technical Report Number 8
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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001&85

INTRODUCTION

This is the eighth report in a series that describes the charac-
teristics of streamflow in Kansas. The report defines the
channel characteristics of streams for in-channel flow based on
the relations between selected hydraulic-geometry parameters and
discharge developed at 117 gaging stations in Kansas and parts of
adjoining states (Figure 1). These relations may have limited
immediate value, but will be extremely useful in future analyses
of the relation of mean annual runoff to hydraulic geometry, the
relation of peak discharge to hydraul ic geometry, and the
extension of discharge ratings on the basis of hydraulic geometry.

Channel characteristics of natural streams constitute an inter-
dependent system that can be described by a series of graphs having
a simple geometric form. Graphs of the three parameters width,
depth, and velocity, as functions of discharge at the cross section,
constitute a part of what Leopold and Maddock (1953) in a pioneering
report called the hydraulic geometry of stream channels.

Leopold and Maddock showed that when discharges are of equal
frequency at different points on a river, the width, depth, and
velocity increase in a downstream direction. By using equations
to determine the discharge for selected frequencies and the state-
wide relations of the parameters with discharge, the expected
channel geometry for any location on streams can be determined.
Also, the reaeration coefficient of the stream can be computed, which
is useful in planning for recreation and other water activities.

This report has been prepared as a part of the cooperative program
for water resources investigations in Kansas between the Kansas
Water Resources Board, Keith S. Krause, Executive Director, and the
U.S. Geological Survey, Charles W. Lane, District Chief. The
State Geological Survey of Kansas, Frank C. Foley, and William W.
Hambleton, successive Directors, provided the funds for the use
of the computer at the University of Kansas Computation Center,
P. J. Wolfe, Director.

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