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Effective Discharge for Suspended Sediment Transport in Streams of the Saskatchewan River Basin Peter Ashmore University of Western Ontario

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Effective Discharge for Suspended Sediment Transport in Streams of the Saskatchewan River Basin Peter Ashmore University of Western Ontario Western University Scholarship@Western Geography Publications Geography Department 6-1988 Effective Discharge for Suspended Sediment Transport in Streams of the Saskatchewan River Basin Peter Ashmore University of Western Ontario T J. Day Sediment Survey Section, Water Survey of Canada Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/geographypub Part of the Geography Commons Citation of this paper: Ashmore, Peter and Day, T J., "Effective Discharge for Suspended Sediment Transport in Streams of the Saskatchewan River Basin" (1988). Geography Publications. 294. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/geographypub/294 WATER RESOURCESRESEARCH, VOL. 24, NO. 6, PAGES864-870, JUNE 1988 EffectiveDischarge for SuspendedSediment Transport in Streams of the Saskatchewan River Basin P. E. ASaMO• DepartmentofGeography, University ofSaskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada T. J. D^Y SedimentSurvey Section, Water Resources Branch, Inland Waters/Lands Directorate, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario Effectivedischarge for suspended sediment load was determined for 21 sites in theSaskatchewan River basinat whichsediment records range from 5 to 29years in length.The drainage areas for these streams rangesfrom 10 to over 300,000 km•. Thesediment discharge histograms havea varietyofforms ranging fromthe classic unimodal form in whichthe peak occurs at dischargeswith a durationof 1-3%to those in whichthe effective discharge isthe extreme event of recordand cases in whicha singleeffective dischargeis difficult to define.The percentage duration of the effective. discharge ranges from less than 0.I % toover 15%, a greaterrange than previously hasbeen reported. There is an obvious tendency for thepercentage duration of theeffective discharge to increase with drainage area and hence downstream throughthe drainagesystem. INTRODUCTION menttype is likelyto be manifestedin theeffective discharge One of the tenetsof fluvial geomorphologyis that while for bed load being a higher magnitudeevent than that for sedimenttransport occurs over a widerange of discharges,the suspendedload, becausethe threshold of motion is much flowswhich, over the longterm, accomplish the most work are higherfor coarserbed load particles than for finersuspended thoseof moderatemagnitude, close to bank-full,typically re- sediment[Baker, 1977; Richards, 1982, p. 145]. curringonce or twice/year[Wolman and Miller, 1960].The Therehave been few attempts to confirmthe validity of the notionof "workdone" (sediment transported) by eventsof a effectivedischarge concept for fluvialsediment transport and givenmagnitude and frequency is distinctfrom, but related to, to establishthe magnitude of variation in its duration. Benson the effectivenessof these events in controllingchannel form. and Thomas[1966] showedthat histogramsof total load Wolmanand Miller [1960]suggested that in humidtemperate transportedby incrementsof the dischargerange couldbe environmentsthe effectivedischarge for sedimenttransport used to identify the effectivedischarge. Their data indicate wouldbe very similar in magnitudeto thedominant discharge that the average percentage duration of theeffective discharge controllingchannel morphology. for streamswith drainageareas ranging from 584 to 357,000 Wolmanand Miller [1960'1proposed that the amount of km2 is approximately!2%. Theseare morefrequent dis- sedimenttransported by flowsof a givenmagnitude depends chargesthan thosesuggested by Wolmanand Miller [1960]. on the form of the relationshipbetween discharge and sedi- The fact that similarquantities of sedimentwere transported mentload and on thefrequency distribution of thedischarge by a wide rangeof dischargesalso lead Bensonand Thomas events.The productof transportrate and frequency gives the to questionthe validity and applicabilityof the effectivedis- cumulativesediment load transportedby a givendischarge. charge concept. In particular,they pointed out that the ef- Given a lognormaldischarge frequency distribution and a fectivedischarge for suspendedsediment transport was a powerrelationship between discharge and sedimentload, the smallermagnitude event than the "dominant"discharge to curve relating dischargeto cumulative sedimentload has a which the channelform responds.Contrary to Bensonand singlemaximum at somefairly highmagnitude, but not ex- Thomas's[1966] results,more recentanalyses by Andrews treme,discharge referred to asthe effective discharge [Pickup [1980] for the total load, Pickupand Warner[1976'1 for bed andWarner, 1976; Andrews, 1980]. load and Webband Walling[1982] for suspendedsediment The durationof the effectivedischarge varies with the form haveshown that the effectivedischarge is a relativelyfrequent of the frequencydistribution of dischargeand thereforewith event exceededbetween 1 and 10 days/year(0.35-3% of the factorssuch as drainage area, drainage basin topography, and time).Nolan et al. [1987] reporteffective discharges with fre- geologyand the temporal pattern of precipitationinputs, and quenciestoward the lowerend of thisrange (2-4 days/year). is also influencedby the nature of the sedimentload. Thus The relationshipbetween the effectivedischarge for sedi- Wolmanand Miller [1960]demonstrated that the significance ment transport and the dominant dischargefor channelfor- of highmagnitude events was greater in smallerdrainage mation appearsto vary. Andrews'[1980] samplesof streams basinsand in ephemeralstreams, while Andrews [1980'1 in the YampaRiver basin have an effectivedischarge for total showedthat theeffective discharge for totalsediment load was sedimentload of almostidentical magnitude to the bank-full less frequent in smaller drainage basinswhich have more discharge.However, Pickup and Warner [1976] foundthat the skeweddaily dischargeduration curves. The influenceof sedi- effectivedischarge for bed load transporthad a lower return periodthan the bank-full discharge,and Bensonand Thomas Copyright1988 by the AmericanGeophysical Union. [1966] clearlydemonstrate that the effectivedischarge for sus- Paper number 7W5038. pended sediment load is well below bank-full. Recent data 0043-1397/88/007W-5038505.00 from northernCalifornia [Nolan et al., 1987] also showthat 864 AS•MORE^•n D^¾:StJs•,œ•r>•D S•m•,tEN'r TRANSPORT 865 theeffective discharge is considerablybelow bank-full. It is the year, althoughoccasionally a large summerrain storm nowapparent that the dominantdischarge for channelmor- may dominate. phologyis alsosubject to considerablevariation controlled in partby environmental conditions, the recovery time for large DATA floods[Wolman and Getson, 1978], and the threshold for sedi- The Water Surveyof Canada (WSC) began a program of menttransport [Baker, 1977]. Thus it appearslikely that not sediment data collection in the Saskatchewan River basin in onlyis the effectivedischarge for suspendedsediment trans- 1962.As of 1983(the last year usedin this analysis),there were portmore variable in relativemagnitude than Wolinartand 27 stationswith more than 4 yearsof data and 18 with records Miller[1960] suggested but alsothe effectivedischarge for 10 yearsor more in length,up to a maximumof 29 years.Of sedimenttransport may not alwaysbe similar in magnitudeto these,21 were chosenfor effectivedischarge analysis. These thedominant discharge for channelmorphology. stations are listed in Table 1, and their location is shown in Thepurpose of thispaper is to addto the existinginfor- Figure 1. mation on the magnitude and duration of the effectivedis- Data are collectedaccording to standardWater Surveyof chargefor suspendedsediment transport and in particularto Canada practice.A single depth-integratedsuspended sedi- presentevidence from a large drainagebasin in western ment sample is collected at a cross section which normally Canadathat theduration of theeffective discharge may vary coincideswith the dischargerated section.Usually, data are morewidely than has previouslybeen reported, as a resultof collectedonly during open water season(March or April to differencesin basin area, streamflow regime, and perhaps the October)but in somecases (particularly during the 1960sand natureof the sedimentload. The drainageareas of manyof early 1970s)sampling has been carried out year-round. The thesestreams are comparablewith thoseused by Bensonand suspendedsediment load carried during winter averagesless Thomas[1966] and considerablygreater than those used in than 5% of the annualload on theserivers lAshmore, 1986]. mostother previousinvestigations. Samplesare collectedevery few days on averagebut more frequentlyduring high discharges. The concentrationin the singlevertical is adjustedto give a SASKATCHEWAN RIVER BASIN crosssection average using an adjustmentfactor that is calcu- The Saskatchewan River upstream of The Pas, Manitoba lated from occasionalsampling at severalverticals in the cross drains a total area of 347,000 km2 east of the continental section.The measuredsuspended sediment concentrationis divide including much of the Alberta and Saskatchewan plotted alongsidethe continuousstage record and a continu- Plains(Figure 1). The drainage systemconsists of two main ous record of concentrationis interpolatedbetween the sam- branches, the North and South Saskatchewan River which pies. Daily mean concentration is calculated from this curve join in central Saskatchewanabout 300 km upstreamof The and multipliedby the daily mean dischargeto give the daily Pas. The river empties into Cedar Lake and from there into suspendedsediment load. This method differs from the dura- Lake Winnipeg. tion curve-sedimentrating
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