Suspended sediment transport effectiveness of three large impounded rivers, U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain

Hudson, Paul F.; Mossa, Joann

doi:10.1007/s002540050216

Cited by 24 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Sediment yield records are generally inadequate to directly determine whether a decline in sediment transport is associated with impoundment due to a paucity of pre-impoundment data. Dams do not appear to have reduced mean discharges on the Brazos and Rio Grande, but Hudson and Mossa (1997) state that peak discharges, which are inordinantly important in sediment transport, have likely been reduced.…”

Section: Dam Effects In East Texasmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…These data therefore do not clearly imply whether impoundments significantly reduce downstream sediment loads. Hudson and Mossa (1997) examined sediment discharge records for the lowermost stations on four large rivers draining to the Gulf of Mexico. Sediment yield records are generally inadequate to directly determine whether a decline in sediment transport is associated with impoundment due to a paucity of pre-impoundment data.…”

Section: Dam Effects In East Texasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Toledo Bend reservoir and geomorphic response in the lower Sabine River

Phillips

2003

River Research & Apps

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Downstream geomorphic responses of stream channels to dams are complex, variable, and difficult to predict, apparently because the effects of local geological, hydrological, and operational details confound and complicate efforts to apply models and generalizations to individual streams. This sort of complex geomorphic response characterizes the Sabine River, along the Texas and Louisiana border, downstream of the Toledo Bend dam and reservoir. Toledo Bend controls the flow of water and essentially prevents the flux of sediment from three-quarters of the drainage basin to the lower Sabine River. Although the channel is scoured immediately downstream of the dam, further downstream there is little evidence of major changes in sediment transport or deposition, sand supply, or channel morphology attributable to the impoundment. Channels are actively shifting, banks are eroding, and sandbars are migrating, but not in any discernibly different way than before the dam was constructed. The Sabine River continues to transport sand downstream, and alluvial floodplains continue to accrete. The relatively small geomorphic response can be attributed to several factors. While dam releases are unnaturally flashy and abrupt on a day-to-day basis, the long-term pattern of releases combined with some downstream smoothing creates a flow regime in the lower basin which mimics the pre-dam regime, at least at monthly and annual time scales. Sediment production within the lower Sabine basin is sufficient to satisfy the river's sediment transport capacity and maintain pre-dam alluvial sedimentation regimes. Toledo Bend reservoir has a capacity: annual inflow ratio of 1.2 and impounds 74% of the Sabine drainage basin, yet there has been minimal geomorphic response in the lower river, which may seem counterintuitive. However, the complex linked geomorphic processes of discharge, sediment transport and loads, tributary inputs, and channel erosion include interactions which might increase as well as decrease sediment loads. Furthermore, if a stream is transport-limited before impoundment, the reduced sediment supply after damming may have limited impact.

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Section: Dam Effects In East Texasmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Dam Effects In East Texasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toledo Bend reservoir and geomorphic response in the lower Sabine River

Phillips

2003

River Research & Apps

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“…Mainstem reservoirs on the other study rivers are for water supply or hydroelectric power, and do not appear to have changed the general flow regime (Hudson and Mossa, 1997;Phillips, 2003;Wellmeyer et al, 2005). Sam Rayburn, however, is a flood control impoundment.…”

Section: Regional Patterns Of Avulsionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Avulsion regimes in southeast Texas rivers

Phillips

2008

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Avulsions -relatively sudden changes in course, or establishment of new anabranches -are an important process in alluvial rivers. Their key role in floodplain construction and alluvial architecture, and the general conditions favouring avulsions, are well known. However, avulsion processes and evolution, and the factors controlling avulsion regimes, are poorly understood. In the southeast Texas coastal plain, where avulsions are common features of the river valleys, avulsions were studied on the lower Brazos, Navasota, Trinity, Neches and Sabine rivers using a combination of aerial imagery, digital elevation models and field surveys. Avulsions have important influences on the surface morphology and contemporary processes in all five rivers. Features associated with avulsions are active and distinct throughout the study area, and all the rivers have experienced geologically (if not historically) recent avulsions. However, no two of the study rivers have the same contemporary avulsion regime. First-order differences in avulsion style are controlled by the stage of valley filling, and within the three rivers characterized by an unfilled incised valley, antecedent morphology associated with late Quaternary and Holocene coastal and fluvial-deltaic processes accounts for the major differences. In the Navasota (27 avulsions in 185 km) and Neches (21 in 340 km) rivers, subchannels associated with avulsions exist in all stages of development from active to infilled, and some have occurred in recent decades. The other rivers have fewer avulsions, but both the Sabine and Trinity have experienced historic channel shifts. Only the Brazos River has experienced no avulsions within the past c. 300 years. Results show that even within a region of similar environmental controls and geological history local variations in inherited morphology can result in different avulsion regimes.

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“…Numerous studies have documented the evolution of coastal plain rivers within Texas through the Holocene (Blum and Price, 1998;Rodriguez et al, 1998Rodriguez et al, , 2000aRodriguez et al, ,b, 2001Anderson and Rodriguez, 2000;Rodriguez and Anderson, 2000), with contemporary studies focusing on sedimentation rates White et al, 2002), fluvial-coastal systems (Giardino et al, 1995), and sediment transport/residence time (Hudson and Mossa, 1997;Phillips, 2001Phillips, , 2003aPhillips and Marion, 2001;Yeager et al, 2002). Previous work on the modern Trinity River system includes sedimentological studies that focused on wetland land loss and sediment delivery to the Trinity Bay/ Galveston Bay estuary (Morton and Paine, 1990;White and Calnan, 1991;Solis et al, 1994;Rodriguez and Anderson, 2000;White et al, 2002).…”

Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 96%

The localized role of base level lowering on channel adjustment of tributary streams in the Trinity River basin downstream of Livingston Dam, Texas, USA

Musselman

2011

Geomorphology

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Suspended sediment transport effectiveness of three large impounded rivers, U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain

Cited by 24 publications

References 29 publications

Toledo Bend reservoir and geomorphic response in the lower Sabine River

Toledo Bend reservoir and geomorphic response in the lower Sabine River

Avulsion regimes in southeast Texas rivers

The localized role of base level lowering on channel adjustment of tributary streams in the Trinity River basin downstream of Livingston Dam, Texas, USA

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