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Klamath River Mouth
4 dams on the river are pending removal: USGS is studying coastal watershed response
This project characterizes and measures sediment-related effects of landscape disturbances (such as major storms, drought, or wildfire) and river management. We focus primarily on the U.S. west coast, and our work relates to natural hazards and resource management.
Climate models project that in the future the western U.S. will experience more extreme rain events, greater wildfire activity, and more pronounced swings between extreme drought and extreme wet conditions. These changes could result in landscapes shedding more sediment from hillslopes and transporting it along rivers to the coast. At the same time, removal of aging dams is becoming common in the U.S.; dam removal (and some other human activities) releases sediment downstream, changing the river and coastal environments. Our research is guided by the questions: How does the scale of landscape response (such as the amount of sediment generated) correspond to the scale of disturbance (the amount of storm rainfall)? What controls lag times in landscape response signals—how long after a disturbance do its effects appear downstream, and how long do they last? How do superimposed disturbances, such as fire and subsequent storms, or a dam removal followed by extreme rain, combine to drive landscape evolution? How will variations in landscape sediment output affect the amount of sediment reaching the coast, and how might that affect the shape and evolution of beaches?
Currently active tasks:
1. Dam removal. Our team studies river and coastal response to sediment released by large dam removals, in collaboration with other federal, state, tribal, and academic researchers. Research efforts include long-term studies of the Elwha River, Washington (largest dam removal worldwide), the Carmel River (largest dam removal in California), and Klamath estuary (four pending dam removals in California and Oregon).
2. Landscape response to extreme rainfall. Extreme rain can cause major landslides and flooding, greatly increasing the amount of sediment moving along rivers to the coast. We study effects of extreme rain in, for example, the San Lorenzo and Tuolumne Rivers (California), collaborating with the Coastal Change Hazards program, USGS Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, and others.
3. Post-fire sediment mobilization. Hillslopes commonly shed large quantities of sediment in the aftermath of a wildfire, with potential hazards for downstream communities, infrastructure and water supply. The size and duration of these effects vary widely among landscapes, and have not been measured in detail for many regions. We are collaborating with the National Park Service and other partners to investigate post-fire landscape evolution after the 2018 Carr Fire, northern California, a federally declared disaster. Our efforts focus on Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, evaluating sediment movement that affects Whiskeytown Lake and surrounding watersheds.
This project characterizes and measures sediment-related effects of landscape disturbances (such as major storms, drought, or wildfire) and river management. We focus primarily on the U.S. west coast, and our work relates to natural hazards and resource management.
Climate models project that in the future the western U.S. will experience more extreme rain events, greater wildfire activity, and more pronounced swings between extreme drought and extreme wet conditions. These changes could result in landscapes shedding more sediment from hillslopes and transporting it along rivers to the coast. At the same time, removal of aging dams is becoming common in the U.S.; dam removal (and some other human activities) releases sediment downstream, changing the river and coastal environments. Our research is guided by the questions: How does the scale of landscape response (such as the amount of sediment generated) correspond to the scale of disturbance (the amount of storm rainfall)? What controls lag times in landscape response signals—how long after a disturbance do its effects appear downstream, and how long do they last? How do superimposed disturbances, such as fire and subsequent storms, or a dam removal followed by extreme rain, combine to drive landscape evolution? How will variations in landscape sediment output affect the amount of sediment reaching the coast, and how might that affect the shape and evolution of beaches?
Currently active tasks:
1. Dam removal. Our team studies river and coastal response to sediment released by large dam removals, in collaboration with other federal, state, tribal, and academic researchers. Research efforts include long-term studies of the Elwha River, Washington (largest dam removal worldwide), the Carmel River (largest dam removal in California), and Klamath estuary (four pending dam removals in California and Oregon).
2. Landscape response to extreme rainfall. Extreme rain can cause major landslides and flooding, greatly increasing the amount of sediment moving along rivers to the coast. We study effects of extreme rain in, for example, the San Lorenzo and Tuolumne Rivers (California), collaborating with the Coastal Change Hazards program, USGS Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, and others.
3. Post-fire sediment mobilization. Hillslopes commonly shed large quantities of sediment in the aftermath of a wildfire, with potential hazards for downstream communities, infrastructure and water supply. The size and duration of these effects vary widely among landscapes, and have not been measured in detail for many regions. We are collaborating with the National Park Service and other partners to investigate post-fire landscape evolution after the 2018 Carr Fire, northern California, a federally declared disaster. Our efforts focus on Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, evaluating sediment movement that affects Whiskeytown Lake and surrounding watersheds.