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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Historical Channel Evolution And Human Modifications Of Blue River Near Kansas City Missouri, Katie Ann Grong Jan 2023

Historical Channel Evolution And Human Modifications Of Blue River Near Kansas City Missouri, Katie Ann Grong

MSU Graduate Theses

Channel form can respond to changes in flood regime and sediment load caused by land use and climate disturbances. In the eastern United States, widespread soil and vegetation disturbances in the 1800s during agricultural expansion increased runoff rates, flood magnitude and frequency, and sediment loads often causing major changes in channel activity and floodplain sedimentation in local streams. Investigating the historical evolution of a stream channel system including its floodplains can help to advance geomorphological theory and benefit environmental managers. This study documents human impacts on historical changes in channel and floodplain widths since the early to middle 1800s in …


Recent Climate Change Influence On Flood Magnitude And Frequency, Channel Widening, And Bar Deposition In Big River, Missouri Ozarks, Patrick Saulys Jan 2023

Recent Climate Change Influence On Flood Magnitude And Frequency, Channel Widening, And Bar Deposition In Big River, Missouri Ozarks, Patrick Saulys

MSU Graduate Theses

Climate and land use can control the flood regime of a river and regulate channel form and size over periods of decades to centuries. Recent climate change has increased rainfall intensity and flood magnitude/frequency in many watersheds in the midwestern United States. Thus, river channels affected by more frequent and larger floods are expected to respond by increasing width (or depth) by fluvial erosion to accommodate larger peak discharges. This hypothesis was evaluated along 186 km of the Big River in southeast Missouri by analysis of historical aerial photography, precipitation studies, and United States Geological Survey (USGS) flow gage records. …