Difference between revisions of "GCDAMP Sediment"

When the discharge of the Colorado River was lower than about 9,000 ft3/s, sand accumulated in the reach in Marble and upper Grand Canyons. At discharges higher than about 9,000 ft3/s, however, sand-transport rates at the Grand Canyon gaging station generally equaled those at the Lees Ferry gaging station, and at discharges higher than about 16,000 ft3/s, sand-transport rates at the Grand Canyon gaging station generally either equaled or exceeded those at the Lees Ferry gaging station. Thus, at discharges greater than about 9,000 ft3/s, sand was either conveyed through or eroded from the reach in Marble and upper Grand Canyons.

As discharges less than 9,000 ft3/s became less common, the discharge of the river became progressively more conducive to the conveyance of sand through or the erosion of sand from Marble and upper Grand Canyons.

• Computation and analysis of the instantaneous-discharge for the Colorado River at Lees Ferry, Arizona: May 8, 1921, through September 30, 2000 by David J. Topping, John C. Schmidt, and L.E. Vierra, Jr. U.S. Geological Survey professional paper

• GCMRC Grand Canyon Sandbar Monitoring
• The High Flow Experiment (HFE) Page
• Recreation Page
• Aeolian Sand Transport Page

• Sandbar Monitoring
• Campsite Monitoring
• Suspended Sediment Transport
• Automated Substrate Classification Using Swath Mapping Systems
• Sediment Storage
• Underwater Photography to Measure Bed Grain Size

• Paria River at Lees Ferry
• Colorado River at Lees Ferry
• Colorado River at 30 mile
• Colorado River above LCR
• Bright Angel Creek
• Shinumo Creek
• Colorado River abv Lava Canyon rm66
• Colorado River bl rm127
• Kanab Creek
• Havasu Creek
• Colorado River abv National Canyon
• Colorado River bl Diamond Creek
• Colorado River abv Spencer rm246

• Upper Marble Canyon
• Lower Marble Canyon
• Eastern Grand Canyon
• East Central Grand Canyon
• West Central Grand Canyon
• Western Grand Canyon and the Lake Mead Delta

2018

• Key drivers of sand transport and storage in the Colorado River Ecosystem PPT
• Voichick, N. et al., 2018, Technical note--False low turbidity readings during high suspended-sediment concentrations: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
• Grams et al., 2018, Automated remote cameras for monitoring alluvial sandbars on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, Arizona: Open-File Report

2017

• Chapman, K., 2017, Determining the tributary sediment contribution to experimental flood deposits on the Colorado River in Marble Canyon, Grand Canyon, Arizona: Flagstaff, Northern Arizona University, MS thesis
• Hamill, D., 2017, Quantifying riverbed sediment using recreational-grade side scan sonar: Logan, Utah State University, MS thesis
• Buscombe et al., 2017, Compositional signatures in acoustic backscatter over vegetated and unvegetated mixed sand-gravel riverbeds: Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
• Griffiths and Topping, 2017, Importance of measuring discharge and sediment transport in lesser tributaries when closing sediment budgets: Geomorphology
• Kaplinski et al. 2017. Channel mapping river miles 29–62 of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, May 2009: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1030
• Project 1: Streamflow, Water Quality, Sediment Transport, and Sand Budgets in the Colorado River Ecosystem
• Project 2: Hydrologic Change and the Geomorphic Transformation of the Little Colorado River: Implications for Sediment Delivery to the Grand Canyon
• Sandbars and Sediment Storage in Marble and Grand Canyons: Response to Recent High-flow Experiments and Long-term Trends

2016

• Topping et al. 2016. Long-term continuous acoustical suspended-sediment measurements in rivers — Theory, application, bias, and error: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1823
• Voichick et al. 2016. Water clarity of the Colorado River—Implications for food webs and fish communities: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2016–3053
• Sandbar Modeling Project Update
• Status of Sediment Resources – August 2016
• Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center Science Updates and PPT (BO Compliance, Trout Updates, Green Sunfish, Fisheries PEP, Partners in Science)
• Observations of sand dune migration on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon using high-resolution multibeam bathymetry
• Project 2: Streamflow, Water Quality, Sediment Transport, and Sand Budgets in the Colorado River Ecosystem
• Sandbars and Sediment Storage in Marble and Grand Canyons: Response to Recent high-flow Experiments and Long-Term Trends

2015

• Grams et al. 2015. Building Sandbars in the Grand Canyon, EOS, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union
• Alvarez. 2015. Turbulence, Sediment Transport, Erosion, and Sandbar Beach Failure Processes in Grand Canyon. Ph.D. Dissertation, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
• GCMRC Science Update - Sediment
• GCMRC Science Update - Sediment
• Updates on 2014 HFE, Paria sediment inputs, and sediment mass balance
• Glen Canyon Tailwater Fishery “Integrating Fish and Channel Mapping
• GCMRC’s Online Mapping and GIS Resources
• Streamflow, Water Quality, and Sediment Transport in the Colorado River Ecosystem
• Sandbars and Sediment Storage in Marble and Grand Canyons: Response to Recent High-flow Experiments and Long-term Trends
• Glen Canyon Tailwater Fishery “Integrating Fish and Channel Mapping
• GCMRC’s Online Mapping and GIS Resources

2014

• Science Updates - Recent Research on Sand, Bugs, and Fish
• Measuring Bed Sediments to Improve Sediment Budgets and Physical Habitat Assessment
• Status of Sediment Resources
• Sandbars and Sand Storage in Marble and Grand Canyons (Grams)
• Processing fine sediment transport data: procedures, processing, and bottlenecks (Griffiths)

2013

• Alvarez and Schmeeckle. 2013. Erosion of river sandbars by diurnal stage fluctuations in the Colorado river in the Marble and Grand Canyons: Full-scale laboratory experiments
• GCMRC Update - Status of Resources and Sediment Conditions
• Present Status of Sediment Resources-August 2013
• Science Updates - Overflights, Riparian Vegetation, and Sediment
• 2013 Overflight Wrap up
• GCMRC Science Update on Sediment and Fisheries
• Sediment Monitoring Program: Sediment Delivery from Tributaries and Sediment Transport by Colorado River
• Sandbar Monitoring for November 2012 Controlled Flood

2012

• GCMRC Updates and Sediment Update
• E-mail to TWG with Sediment Model Link
• GCMRC Updates and PPT
• Sandbars and In-Channel Sand Storage: Short-Term Dynamics and Long-Term Trends
• Physical controls on sediment deposition, erosion, and transport
• Geomorphic Framework & Role of Debris Flows Suspended-Sediment Transport and Sandbars Glen Canyon Dam Operations -Post-EIS Summary
• A Conversation about Rivers and Dams
• Modeling 101

2011

• GCMRC update on Chub, Temperature, and Sediment
• GCMRC Updates
• Update on Sand Mass Balance with Modeling
• Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center Updates

2010

• Update on Water Quality and 2010 Sand Input
• Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Updates and the Following Open File Reports: 1) Evaluation of Water Year 2011 Glen Canyon Dam Flow Release Scenarios on Downstream Sand Storage Along the Colorado River in Arizona, and 2) An Approach to Modeling Sediment Budgets in Supply-limited Rivers
• Report on Sediment Modeling to Support Development of 2011 Hydrograph
• Update on 2010 Sediment Inputs
• Temperature Control Device and Sediment Augmentation Report
• TWG Chair Temperature Control Device/Sediment Augmentation
• Minutes from June 21, 2010, TWG Webinar/Conference Call with Memo from John Hamill to Shane Capron dated May 17, 2010, Subject: TWG and stakeholder requests for GCMRC to evaluate the effects of various dam operation scenarios on sediment storage and loss in the Grand Canyon with Open File Report 2010-1133
• Mechanics and Modeling of Flow, Sediment Transport and Morphologic Change in Riverine Lateral Separation Zones
• Sediment and Temperature Modeling Update PPT as presented at January 2010 Annual Reporting Meeting
• AIF: Temperature Control Device and Sediment Augmentation and PPT

2009

• Selective Withdrawal and Sediment Augmentation Update PPT
• Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center Updates
• Sandbar Evolution: Extending the Historical Perspective PPT
• AIF: Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) Update
• Water Quality and Sediment, 2008 High Flow Experiment, and Integrated Flow, Temperature, and Sediment Modeling PPT

2003

• Topping et al. 2003. Computation and analysis of the instantaneous-discharge record for the Colorado River at Lees Ferry, Arizona, May 8, 1921 through September 30, 2000: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1677

1999

• Floods and Sandbars in the Grand Canyon, a publication of the Geological Society of America (published in GSA Today, April 1999)

1988

• Schmidt and Graf, 1988, Aggradation and degradation of alluvial sand deposits, 1965 to 1986, OFR 87-561

Measuring turbidity

Question: What is the difference between the turbidity units NTU, FNU, FTU, and FAU? What is a JTU?

Summary: Turbidity units NTU, FNU, FTU, FAU, and JTU

Answer:

• NTU stands for Nephelometric Turbidity Unit and signifies that the instrument is measuring scattered light from the sample at a 90-degree angle from the incident light.
• FNU stands for Formazin Nephelometric Units and also signifies that the instrument is measuring scattered light from the sample at a 90-degree angle from the incident light. FNU is most often used when referencing the ISO 7027 (European) turbidity method.
• NTU is most often used when referencing the USEPA Method 180.1 or Standard Methods For the Examination of Water and Wastewater.
• When formazin was initially adopted as the primary reference standard for turbidity, units of FTU or Formazin Turbidity Units were used. These units, however, do not specify how the instrument measures the sample.

FAU or Formazin Attenuation Units signify that the instrument is measuring the decrease in transmitted light through the sample at an angle of 180 degrees to the incident light. This type of measurement is often made in a spectrophotometer or colorimeter and is not considered a valid turbidity measurement by most regulatory agencies.

A JTU or Jackson Turbidity Unit is a historical unit used when measurements were made visually using a Jackson Candle Turbidimeter. Water was poured into a tube until a flame underneath the tube could no longer be distinguished.

The turbidity units NTU, FNU, FTU, AND FAU are all based on calibrations using the same formazin primary standards. Therefore when a formazin standard is measured, the value for each of these units will be the same, however the value on samples may differ significantly.

• Eddies occur adjacent to rapids and the flow in the eddy is related to the flow characteristics in the rapid. Sand bars were typically larger before the dam.(Science Background for HFE Planning- Jack Schmidt, GCMRC_KA 2013)
• Sediment Presentation- AMWG Jan 2002
• Sediment White Paper- AMWG Jan 2002
• The United States Geological Survey estimates that the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam only has 6 percent of the sediment that it received before the Glen Canyon Dam was built in the 1960s.

Flash Flood videos

• Paria River Flash Flood 8/3/16
• Buckskin Gulch Flash Flood 8/4/16
• Buckskin Wash Flash Flood / Debris Flow 2013
• Paria River Flash Flood / Debris Flow 8/19/12
• Glen Canyon and Page Arizona Flooding May 22 2009