Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Flow data <br />Annual discharge data for the lower Duchesne River were taken from U.S. Geological <br />Survey annual water-data reports for each of the water years of this study. This flow data was <br />taken from the Randlett stream gage located below the confluence of the Uintah River near river- <br />mile 14. Total discharge, peak (maximum-daily), and daily mean discharge were used in our <br />analysis to describe flow regimes. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Analysis <br />Correlation coefficients (Pearson r) were calculated to assess the degree of association <br />among years between annual discharge parameters and annual relative abundance of fishes in the <br />lower Duchesne River below Myton. The objective ofthis analysis was to estimate the degree of <br />association between discharge parameters and relative abundance and not to describe the <br />functional relationship. The significance level for coefficients was set at P ~ 0.10. Coefficients <br />ofr 2:: 0.88 were considered statistically significant. Degree of association for correlations with <br />non-significant coefficients was considered strong for r values of 0.78-0.87. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Results and Discussion <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Flow Regimes <br />Annual flow regimes of the lower Duchesne River over the three years of this study <br />were generally moderate with some variation in timing and duration of peak flows and <br />magnitude of sustained summer base flows. There were not any unusually high or low flow <br />years. The peak flow of 1997 was the earliest and lowest of the three years, with a peak of 4120 <br />cfs (50 % exceedence; period of record 1943 - 1999) on 3 June. Flows in 1998 peaked near <br />5880 cfs (28 % exceedence) on 18 June and had the longest duration of the three years. Summer <br />base flows stayed above 500 cfs during 1998. Peak flows in 1999 were of shorter duration and <br />higher magnitude than the preceding two years of the study (Figure 2). Flows peaked near 7000 <br />cfs (18 % exceedence) on 20 June 1999, then dropped off to less than 1000 cfs by 2 July and <br />reached the summer=s lowest flows (daily mean of 193 cfs) on 14 July. The Duchesne River <br />channel was reshaped and redirected in some areas by high flows of 1999. Many areas <br />experienced substantial bank erosion and shifts in the channel location. In one instance the <br />channel near river-mile 28.0 (Peacock Farm) cut through a bend in the channel uprooting <br />cottonwood trees and washing old agricultural equipment and junk automobiles into the river <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />. <br />