Oatley, J.A., 2002, Ice, bedload transport, and channel morphology of the upper Kuparuk River, Alaska: University of Alaska Fairbanks, M.S. thesis, 92 p.
The objective of this study was to quantify the impact of bottom ice on sedimentation processes at a study site on the Upper Kuparuk River, in Northern Alaska. The approach taken was to use the Meyer-Peter and Mueller (1948) and Parker (1990) equations to determine bedload rating curves at four cross sections within the study reach, and to apply these rating curves to the ten year flow history of the study site to determine the total potential bedload transport that was suppressed during snowmelt runoff. In conjunction with this analysis, a tracer rock study was performed at the study site. During the first two years of the project, the field study yielded little bedload transport information, as there were no competent flows during this time. However, the storm of record occurred in August 02 2002, which provided an opportunity to observe the geomorphic response to a major event, to estimate an average bedload transport rate based on the virtual velocity of the recovered tracer rocks, and to compare the predictive methods to the tracer data based calculations. The results suggest that the potential bedload transport (500 m3) over the ten-year flow history is comparable to the amount of transport that occorred during the extreme event of August 2002 (870 m3), and that the suppression of bedload transport, due to an ice covered bed surfaces, likely affects the morphology and sediment supply of the river. --Leaf iii.
Theses and Dissertations
