Effects Of Thinning And A Wildfire On Sediment Production Rates Channel Morphology And Water Quality In The Upper South Platte River Watershed

Author : Telemak Olsen
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (142 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Quantifying Channel Change Following Post-fire Debris Flows in a Steep, Coastal Stream, Big Sur, California written by Telemak Olsen and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debris flows commonly occur following wildfire in steep landscapes, introducing large volumes of sediment to downstream fluvial systems. Fire-related sediment supply perturbations impact channel morphology, and importantly, fragile aquatic and riparian ecosystems downstream of disturbance. The Big Creek watershed drains 57 km2 of steep chaparral and coast redwood forest along California's Central Coast. Streams in the Big Creek watershed typically exhibit step-pool/cascade morphology and serve as vital spawning habitat for anadromous Steelhead Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). In 2020, 97% of the Big Creek watershed burned in the Dolan Wildfire. In January 2021, an atmospheric river event triggered a series of post-fire debris flows and floods in Big Creek which drastically altered channel morphology. Here, I characterize morphologic change following post-fire disturbance in Big Creek using pre- and post-fire structure from motion (SfM) and airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) datasets. I use topographic differencing to quantify post-fire topographic change within channels in the Big Creek watershed. I quantify grain size change using pre- and post-fire SfM datasets and couple these data with hydraulic and hydrologic modeling to estimate changes in sediment transport capacity and channel stability following post-fire disturbance in Big Creek. I also perform these analyses for Devil's Creek: a tributary of Big Creek which burned but did not experience post-fire debris flows within the main channel. Post-fire debris flows initiated in Cathedral Creek and Brunette Creek, two steep tributaries of Big Creek, which delivered roughly 30,000 m3 of material to Upper Big Creek. By October 2022, approximately 72% of debris flow material exported from Cathedral and Brunette Creek had been evacuated from the channel. Over 90% of the material remaining in Big Creek by 2022 was stored upstream of a valley-spanning log jam emplaced near the confluence of Upper Big Creek and Brunette Creek during post-fire debris flows. Upper Big Creek's initial response to post-fire disturbance is characterized by substantial fining of the D16 and D50, followed by re-coarsening 2-years post-fire. Conversely, Devil's Creek exhibits marginal fining 1-year post-fire, followed by little change 2-years post-fire. Changes in grain size distribution are responsible for considerable change in sediment transport capacity and channel stability. In Big Creek, sediment transport capacity increased 1-year post-fire, while channel stability decreased; 2-years post-fire, both sediment transport capacity and channel stability exhibit signs of recovery towards pre-fire conditions. In Devil's Creek, sediment transport capacity exhibited a substantial increase 1-year post-fire, followed by little change 2-years post-fire; changes in channel stability mirror trends in sediment transport capacity. My findings indicate that post-fire geomorphic recovery occurs remarkably quickly in Upper Big Creek. Topographic differencing, sediment transport capacity, and channel stability analyses suggest that debris flows play an integral role in reconfiguring the vertical structure of steep, step-pool channels. Post-fire morphologic change has several potential implications for aquatic habitat; the quantitative data presented in this thesis may be valuable for biologists monitoring fish population dynamics in the Big Creek watershed.