Geomorphology and Sediment Studies

By Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center

Pavement alters delivery of sediment to urban streams

particulate material on parking lots and streets washing off into urban streams according to new regional stream quality assessment

Geomorphology is the study of the formation and evolution of landforms on Earth's surface. In the MD-DE-DC region, rain, snow, wind, vegetation, animals, and people all shape the landscape at different scales of time and space. Of particular interest in the region is the form and processes of rivers, a branch of the science termed fluvial geomorphology.

Geomorphology is classified as the study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near the Earth's surface. Adding water creates a whole new dynamic known as Fluvial Morphology. Rivers and streams act as conduits of water along with sediment. As water flows over the channel bed, it is able to mobilize sediment and transport it downstream. The rate of sediment transport depends on the availability of sediment itself on the riverbed as well as its discharge.

Related Content

March 31, 2015

Sources of fine-grained sediment in the Linganore Creek watershed, Frederick and Carroll Counties, Maryland, 2008-10

Sediment fingerprinting quantifies the delivery of fine-grained sediment from a watershed and sediment-budget measurements quantify the erosion and deposition of fine-grained sediment. Both approaches were used in the agricultural and forested 147-square-kilometer (km2) Linganore Creek watershed in Maryland from August 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010, to determine the sources of fine-grained (le

Authors

Allen C. Gellis, Gregory B. Noe, John W. Clune, Michael K. Myers, Cliff R. Hupp, Edward R. Schenk, Gregory E. Schwarz

Water Resources Mission Area, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center

February 17, 2010

Suspended-sediment sources in an urban watershed, Northeast Branch Anacostia River, Maryland

Fine sediment sources were characterized by chemical composition in an urban watershed, the Northeast Branch Anacostia River, which drains to the Chesapeake Bay. Concentrations of 63 elements and two radionuclides were measured in possible land-based sediment sources and suspended sediment collected from the water column at the watershed outlet during storm events. These tracer concentrations were

Authors

Olivia H. Devereux, Karen L. Prestegaard, Brian A. Needelman, Allen C. Gellis

Water Resources Mission Area, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center

January 1, 1987

Shore erosion as a sediment source to the tidal Potomac River, Maryland and Virginia

The shoreline of the tidal Potomac River attained its present form as a result of the Holocene episode of sea-level rise; the drowned margins of the system are modified by wave activity in the shore zone and by slope processes on banks steepened by basal-wave erosion. Shore erosion leaves residual sand and gravel in shallow water and transports silt and clay offshore to form a measurable component

Authors

Andrew J. Miller

Chesapeake Bay Activities

Geomorphology and Sediment Studies

Pavement alters delivery of sediment to urban streams

particulate material on parking lots and streets washing off into urban streams according to new regional stream quality assessment

Allen C Gellis, Ph.D.

Research Hydrologist

Matthew J Cashman, Ph.D.

Physical Scientist

Marina Metes

Physical Scientist

Jonathan Dillow (Former Employee)

Supervisory Hydrologist

U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Department of the Interior