Quantitative Testing of Model of Bedrock Channel Incision by Plucking and Macroabrasion
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 11
Abstract
River incision can play a role in societally relevant or human timescale, which requires careful engineering planning and design. Physically based incision models can help us perform the engineering computations to prevent erosion damage to engineering structures such as bridges and channel-bank protection works. This paper presents a field application of our previously published work, in which we developed a mechanistically based model of bedrock incision by plucking and macroabrasion (a process of fracturing of the bedrock into pluckable sizes mediated by particle impacts from bedload). The plucking–macroabrasion incision model is tested quantitatively with Unnamed Drainage #1 in Southern Indiana, which showed obvious channel incision over the past 19 years, destroying a highway bridge foundation. The field data of incision rate, hydraulic conditions, rainfall, grain size characteristics, and morphological conditions were collected in the field or obtained from previous studies and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The plucking–macroabrasion incision model successfully creates a concave-upward profile with knickpoints (sudden change in slope) similar to the field condition and quantitatively simulates and explains the recorded distance of knickpoint-migration and incision rates in the past 19 years. The model is input with sensible parameters estimated with some degree of certainty from the field data. Sensitivity analyses were also implemented for some parameters. Appropriate amended versions of the model are anticipated to be able to simulate quantitatively the evolution of other bedrock streams under various input or boundary conditions over human timescale.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics (NCED), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Center, funded under agreement NSFEAR-0120914. This paper is based on research completed in partial fulfillment for the Ph.D. requirements at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis by Phairot Chatanantavet under the supervision of Gary Parker. We thank Jerry Miller for the picture of the bridge in Unnamed Drainage #1 in 1988, valuable discussion, and many important input data from his previous work. Comments by Alex Densmore, Ellen Wohl, and three anonymous reviewers are greatly appreciated. We also thank Kelin Whipple and Colin Stark for their comments and discussions.
References
Chatanantavet, P., and Parker, G. (2008). “Experimental study of bedrock channel alluviation under varied sediment supply and hydraulic conditions.” Water Resour. Res., 44, W12446.
Chatanantavet, P., and Parker, G. (2009). “Physically-based modeling of bedrock incision by abrasion, plucking, and macroabrasion.” J. Geophys. Res., 114, F04018. .
Fernandez Luque, R., and van Beek, R. (1976). “Erosion and transport of bed-load sediment.” J. Hydraul. Res., 14, 127–144.
Hack, J. T. (1957). “Studies of longitudinal stream profiles in Virginia and Maryland.” U.S. Geol. Soc. Prof., Paper 294-B, 45–97.
Howard, A. D., Dietrich, W. E., and Seidl, M. A. (1994). “Modeling fluvial erosion on regional to continental scales.” J. Geophys. Res., 99(13), 971–986.
Kodama, Y. (1994). “Experimental study of abrasion and its role in producing downstream fining in gravel-bed rivers.” J. Sediment. Res., 64(1a), 76–85.
Miller, J. R. (1991). “The influence of bedrock geology on knickpoint development and channel-bed degradation along downcutting streams in south-central Indiana.” J. Geol., 99, 591–605.
NOAA Satellite and Information Service. (2007). “NNDC Climate Data Online.” 〈http://www7.ncdc.noaa.gov/CDO/cdo〉.
Paola, C., Heller, P. L., and Angevine, C. L. (1992). “The large-scale dynamics of grain-size variation in alluvial basins, I: Theory.” Basin Res., 4, 73–90.
Parker, G. (1991). “Selective sorting and abrasion of river gravel I: Theory.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 117(2), 131–149.
Parker, G. (2004). “Chapter 5: Review of 1-D open channel hydraulics.” 〈http://cee.uiuc.edu/people/parkerg/morphodynamics_e-book.htm〉.
Rupp, J. A. (1997). “Tectonic features of Indiana.” Indiana Geological Survey, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 〈http://igs.indiana.edu/geology/structure/tectonicfeatures/index.cfm〉.
Sklar, L. S., and Dietrich, W. E. (2004). “A mechanistic model for river incision into bedrock by saltating bed load.” Water Resour. Res., 40, W06301.
Tinkler, K. J., and Parish, J. (1998). “Recent adjustments to the long profile of Cooksville Creek, an urbanized bedrock channel in Mississauga, Ontario.” River over rock: Fluvial processes in bedrock channels, 107, K. Tinkler and E. E. Wohl, eds., AGU, Washington, DC, 167–187.
Tsujimoto, T. (1999). “Sediment transport processes and channel incision: Mixed size sediment transport, degradation and armoring.” Incised River Channels, Chapter 3, S. E. Darby and A. Simon, eds., Wiley, New York, 37–66.
Whipple, K. X., Hancock, G. S., and Anderson, R. S. (2000a). “River incision into bedrock: Mechanics and relative efficacy of plucking, abrasion, and cavitation.” Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 112(3), 490–503.
Whipple, K. X., Snyder, N. P., and Dollenmayer, K. (2000b). “Rates and processes of bedrock incision by the Upper Ukak River since the 1912 Novarupta ash flow in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Alaska.” Geology, 28(9), 835–838.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 11 • November 2011
Pages: 1311 - 1317
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 8, 2009
Accepted: Mar 8, 2011
Published online: Oct 14, 2011
Published in print: Nov 1, 2011
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.