Methods for Estimating Sediment Yield and Dam Capacity in the Great Lakes Watershed Jennifer Hui Wayne State University
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Wayne State University Wayne State University Theses 1-1-2014 Methods For Estimating Sediment Yield And Dam Capacity In The Great Lakes Watershed Jennifer Hui Wayne State University, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_theses Part of the Civil Engineering Commons, Environmental Engineering Commons, and the Geomorphology Commons Recommended Citation Hui, Jennifer, "Methods For Estimating Sediment Yield And Dam Capacity In The Great Lakes Watershed" (2014). Wayne State University Theses. Paper 379. This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. METHODS FOR ESTIMATING SEDIMENT YIELD AND DAM CAPACITY IN THE GREAT LAKES WATERSHED by JENNIFER HUI THESIS Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE 2014 MAJOR: CIVIL ENGINEERING Approved By: ________________________________________________ Advisor Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was the synthesis of research conducted by Dr. Carol Miller (PI), Dr. Mark Baskaran, Dr. Anupam Kumar, Dr. James P. Selegean, John Barkach, Eric Andersen, Calvin Creech and Jennifer Hui. This projected was funded by the US Army Corps of Engineers (Detroit Branch). Special thanks to Dr. Carol Miller, my thesis advisor for being a wonderful advisor, mentor and professor – I am very happy to have had the opportunity to research under your guidance! i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................i INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Background ............................................................................................................................................................... 1 Problem Statement .................................................................................................................................................... 2 SITE SELECTION ........................................................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction of Sites .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Lake Rockwell Dam ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Riley Dam ............................................................................................................................................................. 5 Upper Green Lake Dam ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Mio and Alcona Dam ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Brown Bridge Pond Dam ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Goshen Pond Dam ................................................................................................................................................ 6 POTTERS FALLS DAM ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Independence Dam ............................................................................................................................................... 7 Ballville Dam ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Ford Lake Dam ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Webber Dam ......................................................................................................................................................... 8 METHODS .................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Sediment Yield Using Bathymetric Subtraction ....................................................................................................... 8 Sediment Yield Estimation Using United States Geological Survey Sediment Gages ............................................. 9 Sediment Yield Estimation Using Radionuclide Dating of Sediment Core Samples ................................................ 9 Core Length Method ............................................................................................................................................... 10 STUDY RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................... 12 Sediment Yield Using Bathymetric Subtraction ..................................................................................................... 12 Sediment Gage Data – Method 1 to 5 ..................................................................................................................... 13 Sediment Yield Using Various Trendlines .............................................................................................................. 17 United States Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District .................................................................................... 17 Great Lakes Reservoirs From the Subcommittee on Reservoir Sedimentation .................................................. 20 Radionuclide Dating Results ................................................................................................................................... 24 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................... 26 Analysis across Reservoirs ...................................................................................................................................... 26 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................................................. 30 APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................................................................. 33 ii APPENDIX C .............................................................................................................................................................. 52 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................ 59 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................................ 61 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT .................................................................................................................... 62 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: All Dams in Study ........................................................................................................................................... 4 Table 2: Results using Bathymetric Method (tons/yr.) and (tons/yr. /sq. mile) ........................................................... 13 Table 3: Results of Sediment Gage Methods (tons/year) ............................................................................................ 15 Table 4: Results of Sediment Gage Methods (tons/year/square mile) ......................................................................... 16 Table 5: Sediment Yield Estimation Trend Line Summary Table (tons/year) ............................................................ 23 Table 6: Sediment Yield Estimation Trend Line Summary Table (tons/year/sq. mile) ............................................... 23 Table 7: Radionuclide Dating Analysis Summary Table (tons/year) .......................................................................... 24 Table 8: Sediment Yield Estimation Summary Table (tons/year) ............................................................................... 28 Table 9: Sediment Yield (tons/year/sq. mile) .............................................................................................................. 29 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map of All Selected Reservoir Sites .............................................................................................................. 3 Figure 2: United States Army Corps of Engineers Great Lakes Regional Curve ........................................................ 18 Figure 3: Sedimentation Trendline (as compared to USACE Great Lakes Regional Curve) ...................................... 19 Figure 4: RESSED Great Lakes Regional Curve (Creech et al. 2010) ........................................................................ 21 Figure 5: Sedimentation Trendline (as compared to RESSED Trendline equation) ...................................................