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WSP00684
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Last modified
1/26/2010 12:27:18 PM
Creation date
10/11/2006 9:52:41 PM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Water Supply Protection
File Number
8220.101.16
Description
Glen Canyon Dam/Lake Powell
State
AZ
Basin
Colorado Mainstem
Date
1/1/2000
Author
Webb et al.
Title
Sediment Delivery by Ungaged Tributaries of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon Arizona
Water Supply Pro - Doc Type
Report/Study
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<br />gaging records from which flow and sediment <br />transport have been estimated (U.S. Department of <br />the Interior, 1995). <br />Witb the exception of Bright Angel Creek (fig, <br />I), the small tributaries below the dam are ungaged. <br />Previous estimates of sediment yield from these <br />tributaries range from zero to the yield from a major <br />gaged tributary with a drainage area equivalent to <br />the total drainage area of all ungaged tributaries. A <br />combination of fluvial and hillslope processes <br />occurs in small tributaries in Grand Canyon, <br />making estimates of sediment yield complicated. <br />Sediment-yield estimates must consider the contri- <br />butions of streamflow, which occur annually in <br />most tributaries, as well as debris flow (Webb and <br />others, 1989). In addition to their importance as <br />sources of fine-grained sediment, the small trib- <br />utaries create and maintain debris fans and rapids <br />on the Colorado River (Powell, 1895; Hamblin and <br />Rigby, 1968; Dolan and others, 1974; Howard and <br />Dolan, 1981; Kieffer, 1985). These tributaries <br />transmit large boulders in debris flows (Cooley and <br />others, 1977; Webb and others, 1989), and <br />reworking of debris fans creates a pool-rapid <br />configuration that stores fine-grained sediment <br />along the Colorado River (Howard and Dolan, <br />1981; Schmidt and Graf, 1990; Schmidt and Rubin, <br />1995; Webb, 1996). <br />Debris flows occur in 736 tributaries of the <br />Colorado River in Grand Canyon between Lee's <br />Ferry and Diamond Creek, Arizona, By supplying <br />boulders that exceed the competence of regulated <br />discharges in the river, debris flows also directly <br />control the navigability of the Colorado River, <br />affecting the more than 20,000 whitewater <br />enthusiasts who use the Colorado River for <br />recreation each year (Stevens, 1990), Under- <br />standing the sediment contribution of debris flows <br />over long and short periods of time is important to <br />future adaptive management of the riparian <br />ecosystems and recreational resources of Grand <br />Canyon, Debris flows periodically contribute <br />relatively large volumes of sediment to the river. <br />The hundreds of debris fans that have accumulated <br />along the Colorado River directly control the <br />formation and stability of most sand bars (Schnudt, <br />1990; Schmidt and Graf, 1990; Schmidt and Rubin, <br />1995). Therefore, a better understanding of debns <br />flows and the amount of sediment yield from <br />ungaged tributaries is useful to understand trends in <br /> <br />the highly regulated sediment budget of Grand <br /> <br />Canyon. <br />Development of a sediment budget for the <br />Colorado River through Grand Canyon requires an <br />estimate of long-tenn sediment yields for both <br />coarse and fine particles from hundreds ofungaged <br />tributaries. Estimating these sediment yields <br />depends on estimates of debris-flow frequency and <br />magnitude for as many tributaries as possible. <br />Because the river removes only the finer particles <br />from debris-flow deposits, sediment-yield esti- <br />mates also require knowledge of the particle-size <br />distributions of those debris flows that reach the <br />river. Increased knowledge of debris flow and <br />main stem processes in Grand Canyon will contri- <br />bute to future efforts to operate Glen Canyon Dam <br />in ways that minimize downstream impacts, This <br />report presents the total sediment yield and sand <br />delivery rates for the ungaged tributaries, which <br />previously have been unknown or assumed parts of <br />the sediment budget for the Colorado River, <br /> <br />Purpose and Scope <br /> <br />The purpose of this report is to estimate the <br />total sediment yield and sand delivery from <br />ungaged tributaries in each of six reaches between <br />Glen Canyon Dam and upper Lake Mead reservoir <br />at the Grand Wash Cliffs (fig, I), This includes the <br />entire drainage area between Glen Canyon Dam <br />and upper Lake Mead reservoir except for the four <br />largest tributaries, These estimates are based on an <br />evaluation of both the debris-flow and streamflow <br />components of sediment yield by multiple <br />techniques. As a secondary objective, we evaluate <br />the potential influence of climatic variability on <br />sediment input in the light of historical climatic <br />fluctuations. This study was funded in cooperation <br />with the Bureau of Reclamation, as part of the Glen <br />Canyon Environmental Studies Program, and the <br />Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center. <br /> <br />Acknowledgments <br /> <br />The authors thank many individuals who <br />helped with the field and office work that led to this <br />report. These individuals have been cited in other <br />publications, including Melis and others (1994), <br /> <br />2 Sediment Delivery by Ungaged Trlbutarlas of the Colorado River In Grand Canyon <br />
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