Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Predictive Models Of Post-Wildfire Debris Flow Volume And Grain Size Distribution In The Intermountain West, Sara Wall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Post-fire debris flows represent the most erosive and potentially hazardous consequence associated with increasing wildfire severity. While an abundance of research has explored where they are likely to occur and their potential magnitude, investigations into understanding how they impact downstream resources are limited. Recent advancements are seeking to link predictive models together to be able to predict how erosion after wildfire may impact reservoirs and aquatic habitat downstream. However, there are two key missing pieces into our ability to examine watershed-scale impacts of post-fire erosion. These include having accurate predictions of how much sediment is likely to be deposited by …

Valley Bottom Inundation Patterns In Beaver-Modified Streams: A Potential Proxy For Hydrologic Inefficiency, Karen Bartelt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For centuries river management and land use actions in North America have caused widespread stream degradation where water now flows downstream with artificially high efficiency. When present, beaver dams slow the flow of water and decrease the efficiency of water conveyance through the landscape. These effects are often to the benefit of the function of natural physical processes and ecology of the stream. The benefits provided by beaver dams have been well studied at small scales, but the methods that these studies rely on are often expensive and time consuming and consequently not feasible to deploy at larger spatial scales …

Essays Related To Water Transfer And Water Sharing: The Past And The Present, Arpita Nehra

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation explores the impacts of resource procurement on economic growth and urbanization in a county through a historical case study, moving on to discuss the welfare impacts of resource-sharing in two regions. The first two essays explore the impact of the Owens Valley water transfer in the 1900s on the urban sprawl and the economic growth of Los Angeles. The main contribution that the first two essays make is to present an empirical analysis on the impact of procurement of resources on the economy. The third essay examines the welfare impacts of a proposed water sharing and development project. …

Managing Water Stored For The Environment During Drought, Sarah Null, Jeffrey Mount, Brian Gray, Michael Dettinger, Kristen Dybala, Gokce Sencan, Anna Sturrock, Barton Thompson, Harrison Zeff

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Storing water in reservoirs is important for maintaining freshwater ecosystem health and protecting native species. Stored water also is essential for adapting to the changing climate, especially warming and drought intensification. Yet, reservoir operators often treat environmental objectives as a constraint, rather than as a priority akin to water deliveries for cities and farms. Reservoir management becomes especially challenging during severe droughts when surface water supplies are scarce, and urban and agricultural demands conflict with water supplies needed to maintain healthy waterways and wetlands. In times of drought, most freshwater ecosystems suffer.

This blog post examines 2021 water year actions …

Predicting Flow Through The Causeway Of The Great Salt Lake Using Hydrodynamic Simulations And Artificial Neural Networks, Som Dutta, Brian Mark Crookston, Michael Rasmussen, Eric Larsen

Reports

At the Great Salt Lake, the northern and southern portions of the lake are divided by an east-to-west causeway that disrupts natural lake currents and significantly increases salt concentrations in the norther portion. To support management efforts to address rising environmental and economic concerns, the causeway was recently modified to include a new breach that typically exhibits a strong density-driven bidirectional flow pattern. To obtain much needed insights into the hydraulic performance of this hydraulic structure and the exchange between the two sections of the lake, a field campaign coupled with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling and an artificial neural …

Spatial And Long-Term Temporal Changes In Water Quality Dynamics Of The Tonle Sap Ecosystem, Savoeurn Soum, Peng Bun Ngor, Thomas E. Dilts, Sapana Lohani, Suzanne Kelson, Sarah E. Null, Flavia Tramboni, Zeb S. Hogan, Bunyeth Chan, Sudeep Chandra

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Tonle Sap lake-river floodplain ecosystem (TSE) is one of the world’s most productive freshwater systems. Changes in hydrology, climate, population density, and land use influence water quality in this system. We investigated long term water quality dynamics (22 years) in space and time and identified potential changes in nutrient limitation based on nutrient ratios of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus. Water quality was assessed at five sites highlighting the dynamics in wet and dry seasons. Predictors of water quality included watershed land use, climate, population, and water level. Most water quality parameters varied across TSE, except pH and nitrate that remained …

Revegetation Of Native Plant Communities In Great Salt Lake Wetlands: The Effects Of Native Seed Mix Composition And Sowing Density, Laura Beck

Student Research Symposium

One of the threats currently facing Great Salt Lake wetlands is Phragmites australis. Its rapid expansion since 1987 has displaced native vegetation and changed the composition of plant communities. Removal is very costly and takes multiple years of different treatments like herbicide, mowing, and flooding. To ensure Phragmites australis does not return, native seeds will need to be sown. This experiment is to determine the best seed composition and sowing density. In the USU greenhouse, I will sow four different native seed mixes: 100% desirable perennial natives, 75% perennial natives and 25% fast growing natives, 50% perennial natives and 50% …