Nature-Directed Approach to Hydrology and Hydraulics of Extreme Floods and Megafloods
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Nature-Directed Approach to Hydrology and Hydraulics of Extreme Floods and Megafloods Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Liu, Tao Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 01/10/2021 17:03:45 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/632582 NATURE-DIRECTED APPROACH TO HYDROLOGY AND HYDRAULICS OF EXTREME FLOODS AND MEGAFLOODS by Tao Liu __________________________ Copyright © Tao Liu 2019 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HYDROLOGY AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WITH A MAJOR IN HYDROLOGY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2019 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE Tao Liu, Nature-Directed Approach to Hydrology and Hydraulics of As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation Extreme Floods and Megajloods prepared by titled and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement fo ec of Doctor of Philosophy. a� (04/08/2019) Date: (04/08/2019) Date: (04/08/2019) Date: (04/08/2019) Date: Final approva"-- �-�-�--��� of the final co 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is the time to say “thank you” to all people who have made a great contribution to this work and my time in the hydrology program. Dr. Vic Baker is the most important person for me to pursue the “Ph. D.” in my title. His continual encouragement and inspiration provide immense support to overcome the difficulties through my Ph.D. research and improve my understanding about “listen to what nature is saying”. Pauline Baker also provided emotional support in my Ph.D. by her thoughtful and kind words. Dr. Juan Valdes, Dr. Peter Troch, and Dr. Phillip Guertin provided essential intellectual support, important comments, and invaluable advice in my Ph.D. study. Dr. Valdes’ comments and suggestions greatly improved this dissertation. Working with Peter in a class project gave me catchment hydrological thinking, encouraged me developing new research skills, and added a new item in my publication list. Phil helped to develop my interests in geospatial information and expanded my understanding of GIS, which greatly accelerated the whole process. I also wish to thank Dr. Noam Greenbaum, Dr. Jill Onken, Dr. Naomi Porat, Dr. Tammy Rittenour, Dr. Tessa Harden, Dr. Michael Cline, Dr. J. A. P. Rodriguez, Dr. Hui Tang, Dr. W. Richard Peltier, Dr. Jim O’Connor, John Weisheit, Dr. Christopher Magirl, Dr. Joanna Redwine, Dr. Bruce Bjornstad, Dr. Helen Robers, Dr. Nick Pearce, Dr. Jeanne Godaire, and Dr. Yong Lai who helped with fieldworks, numerical simulations, and all valuable inputs in this work. I would like to thank the USBR, NASA, and CSC for providing financial support for my Ph.D. research. I would also like to thank PAGES (Past Global Changes) for the Early Career Grant and Graduate and Professional Student Council for the travel grants. In the past four years I took and audited 23 courses in hydrology, hydraulics, geomorphology, geology, climatology, meteorology, civil engineering, GIS, and remote sensing. I would like to thank all instructors: Prof. Victor Baker, Prof. Hoshin Gupta, Prof. Juan Valdes, Prof. Peter Troch, Prof. Guo-Yue Niu, Prof. Larry Winter, Prof. Thomas Meixner, Prof. Jennifer Duan, Prof. Ty Ferré, Prof. Xiquan Dong, Prof. Katie Hirschboeck, Prof. Phillip Guertin, Prof. Kevin Lansey, Prof. Joellen Russell, Prof. Luke McGuire, Prof. Willem van Leeuwen, Prof. Gary Christopherson, and Prof. Bo Guo. I’d also like to expand my gratitude to my master’s advisor, Dr. Chun Chuang Huang (SNNU Xi’an, China) for his help to start my academic career. 4 Many thanks to Olivia, Erma, Thomas, Terrie, Lupe, Tim, Tom, and Sarah for the great work they do for students in the department. Deepest respect for Prof. Larry Winter and Prof. Eric Betterton for their excellent leadership as the department head during my four-year stay, and Prof. Martha Whitaker for her selfless care for students. I very much appreciate studying with so many students in the department. Thank Roy, Tim, Rodrigo, Antonio, Ravindra, Victoria, Nicole, Yu-li, Sidian, Xian, Sean, Erin, Yuanheng, Shaoyue, Jing, Jack, Andrew, Joel, Lejon, Daile, and more. Finally, I want to thank my family and friends for their unwavering support. Lin, my love, who gave me thoughtful understanding and strong support for my pursuit of a Ph.D., even at the price of living on different sides of the planet. In the third year of my Ph.D., the other love of my life, my son, William, was born. His puppy-fat face and smiles immediately resolved all the difficulties I met. My parents have been supported in every aspect of my life with their sincere love. My in-laws also provided extremely support. I can have more time to concentrate on my research largely because of their time and selfless help. I want to thank numerous friends, Ni, Yuanhao, Xiaobo, Lili, Ying, Victoria, Roy, Tim, Hui, Hongli, Huiying, Patt, and more, who accompanied with me enjoying the sunshine in beautiful Tucson. 5 DEDICATION To my love List of Tables 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... 8 List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ 12 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 13 Chapter 1: Overview ............................................................................................................ 14 1 Background ............................................................................................................... 14 2 Dissertation Structure .............................................................................................. 16 References .................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: A Review of Paleo- and Historical Flood Hydrology ...................................... 20 Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 20 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 21 2 Historical flood hydrology ....................................................................................... 22 3 The scientific and engineering development of paleoflood hydrology ................ 25 4 SWD-PSI Paleoflood hydrology ............................................................................... 29 5 Applied paleoflood hydrology ................................................................................. 31 6 Worldwide paleoflood studies ................................................................................. 34 7 Paleoflood hydrology and climate change .............................................................. 35 8 Paleoflood hydrology and the communication of flood risks ............................... 36 9 Discussion and conclusions ..................................................................................... 37 References .................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 3: Paleoflood Hydrology on the lower Green River, upper Colorado River Basin, USA: An Example of a Naturalist Approach to Flood-Risk Analysis ..................... 56 Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 57 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 58 2 Study area .................................................................................................................. 62 3 Methodologies ........................................................................................................... 65 4 Results ....................................................................................................................... 69 5 Discussion and Conclusions ..................................................................................... 73 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 81 References .................................................................................................................... 81 List of Tables 7 Chapter 4: Holocene Paleofloods and Their Climatological Context, Upper Colorado River Basin, USA ................................................................................................................. 109 Abstract ...................................................................................................................... 110 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 111 2. Study area ............................................................................................................... 113 3. Paleoflood chronology and meta-analysis ..........................................................