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<br />CHAPTER 1 <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />The Green River is the longest tributary of the Colorado River, draining <br />approximately 115,772 km2 of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. The Green flows <br />primarily to the southwest, which is perpendicular to the orientation of the major <br />geologic features of the region. The river flows through bedrock formations of <br />varying erosional resistance, resulting in alternating reaches of canyons and. <br />wide alluvial valleys. Over the last century, the hydrology of the Green has <br />been influenced by many factors, both natural and anthropogenic, including <br />natural climatic change, invasion of exotic species, altered land use, diversion <br />of water, construction of levees, and the building of major dams. Th~ <br />cumulative effect of these factors has caused the channel of the Green River to <br />narrow. This narrowing has been well documented, but the extent, timing, and <br />causal mechanisms for the change have been the source of disagreement <br />within the scientific literature (Graf, 1978; Andrews, 1986). <br />Chapter 2 addresses the primary objective of this study, to determine the <br />extent, timing, causal mechanisms of channel narrowing on the Green River, <br />and to provide insight into the processes that govern channel adjustment to <br />changes in fluvial processes. <br />Chapter 3 examines the interactions between sediment transport and <br />bank accretion by analyzing a set of detailed measurements of the velocity <br />