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<br />Grams and Schmidt <br /> <br />8 <br /> <br />July 1995. Characteristics such as bed and bank material, high-water marks, bankfull <br />stage indicators, and distinct geomorphic surfaces were noted and surveyed at each site. <br />The precise location of each cross section was recorded on aerial photographs (1:5000 <br />scale) and topographic maps. Channel geometry characteristics at low and post-dam <br />bankfull discharge were calculated from the survey data. <br />The bed material was determined at each cross section either while wading or by <br />interpreting fathometer traces. Sand beds have a smooth fathometer trace, sometimes <br />showing ripples or dunes. A gravel bed produces an uneven fathometer trace indicative of <br />coarse bed material. The fathometer trace of a boulder bed is even more irregular, often <br />showing sudden changes in depth corresponding to individual boulders. The bed material <br />coarsens from bank to thalweg at most cross sections. The bed material recorded for each <br />cross section is the dominant material in the channel thalweg. <br />Gravel and sand bars exposed at low water represent the only portion of the stream <br />bed that is easily accessible. Bed material size was measured at 18 gravel bars; each bar <br />was sampled at the upstream end below the high-water line. Particles were sampled at <br />regularly-spaced intervals along a tape measure for the above-water portion of the bar and <br />by random walk for the submerged areas that were wadable (Wolman, 1954). Median <br />diameter, lithology, and roundness were recorded for each particle. Roundness was <br />,:Visually estimated on a scale from angular to rounded. <br />The primary criteria for cross section establishment were the desired 1-km spacing, <br />the existence of uniform downstream flow, and feasibility of measurement. Cross sections <br />were generally not surveyed in rapids or in large recirculating eddies. Because these areas <br />were avoided, few cross sections traversed eddy-deposited sand bars, gravel bars in flow <br />expansions, and coarse material in rapids. Therefore, analysis of bed material distribution <br />determined from cross-section data describe characteristics of uniform flow reaches. Our <br />observations of bed material in rapids and eddies indicate that the thalweg is coarser in the <br />unsurveyed areas. <br />