The hydraulic geometry of some Alaskan streams south of the Yukon River

Channel geometry surveys were conducted to determine bankfull stage, discharge, and other hydraulic parameters at 22 locations along the proposed route of the trans-Alaska pipeline corridor south of the Yukon River. Combined with the records from gaging stations located at some of the sites, the data are sufficient to describe some of the channel and flow characteristics typical of each of two major hydrologic areas, the Yukon River Region and the South-Central Region. Although each region follows general hydrologic trends, least squares relations indicate each exhibits its own particular deviations.

Average values of the hydraulic and geometric properties of rivers were used to illustrate their application to practical engineering problems, namely the computation of depth of channel scour and of bedload discharge. For design purposes, caution is recommended when making computations based on average values. In the absence of other data, however, the average data become useful predictive tools.