Geomorphic characterization of the Middle Fork Saline River: Garland, Perry, and Saline Counties, Arkansas

Regional curves relate drainage area to the bankfull channel characteristics discharge, cross‐sectional area, width, and mean depth. These curves are used for a variety of purposes, including aiding in the field identification of bankfull elevation and in the natural channel design process. When developing regional curves, the degree to which landform, geology, climate, and vegetation influence stream systems within a single physiographic province may not be fully considered. This study examined the use of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hydrologic Landscape Regions (HLR), as well as data from 2,856 independent sites throughout the contiguous United States (U.S.), to develop a set of regional curves (bankfull discharge, cross‐sectional area, width, and mean depth) for (1) the contiguous U.S., (2) each of the 20 HLRs, (3) each of the eight physiographic divisions, (4) 22 of the 25 physiographic provinces, and (5) individual HLRs within the physiographic provinces. These regional curves were then compared to each other, as well as those from the literature. Regional curves developed for individual HLRs, physiographic divisions, and physiographic provinces tended to outperform the contiguous U.S. indicating increased stratification was beneficial. Further stratifying physiographic provinces by HLR markedly improved regional curve reliability. Use of HLR as a basis of regional curve development, rather than physiographic region alone, may allow for the development of more robust regional curves.

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Development of Regional Curves for Hydrologic Landscape Regions (HLR) in the Contiguous United States

Blackburn-Lynch

Agouridis

Barton

2017

J American Water Resour Assoc

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Development and Evaluation of Bankfull Hydraulic Geometry Relationships for the Physiographic Regions of the United States

Bieger

Rathjens

Allen

et al. 2015

J American Water Resour Assoc

150

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Bankfull hydraulic geometry relationships are used to estimate channel dimensions for streamflow simulation models, which require channel geometry data as input parameters. Often, one nationwide curve is used across the entire United States (U.S.) (e.g., in Soil and Water Assessment Tool), even though studies have shown that the use of regional curves can improve the reliability of predictions considerably. In this study, regional regression equations predicting bankfull width, depth, and cross-sectional area as a function of drainage area are developed for the Physiographic Divisions and Provinces of the U.S. and compared to a nationwide equation. Results show that the regional curves at division level are more reliable than the nationwide curve. Reliability of the curves depends largely on the number of observations per region and how well the sample represents the population. Regional regression equations at province level yield even better results than the division-level models, but because of small sample sizes, the development of meaningful regression models is not possible in some provinces. Results also show that drainage area is a less reliable predictor of bankfull channel dimensions than bankfull discharge. It is likely that the regional curves can be improved using multiple regression models to incorporate additional explanatory variables.(KEY TERMS: streams; fluvial geomorphology; bankfull discharge; nationwide and regional regression equations; hydrologic modeling.)

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Geomorphic characterization of the Middle Fork Saline River: Garland, Perry, and Saline Counties, Arkansas

Abstract: kilogram force per square meter (kgf/m 2) Specific Weight pound per cubic foot (lb/ft 3) 157.10919 newton per cubic meter (N/m 3) Altitude, as used in this report, refers to distance above the vertical datum, and is referenced to the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD of 1929).

Cited by 2 publications

References 5 publications

Development of Regional Curves for Hydrologic Landscape Regions (HLR) in the Contiguous United States

Development of Regional Curves for Hydrologic Landscape Regions (HLR) in the Contiguous United States

Development and Evaluation of Bankfull Hydraulic Geometry Relationships for the Physiographic Regions of the United States

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