Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Bedform Movement Recorded By Sequential Single-Beam Surveys In Tidal Rivers, R. L. Dinehart

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

A portable system for bedform-mapping was evaluated in the delta of the lower Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, California, from 1998 to 2000. Bedform profiles were surveyed with a two-person crew using an array of four single-beam transducers on boats about 6 m in length. Methods for processing the bedform profiles into maps with geographic coordinates were developed for spreadsheet programs and surface-contouring software. Straight reaches were surveyed every few days or weeks to determine locations of sand deposition, net transport directions, flow thresholds for bedform regimes, and bedform transport rates. In one channel of unidirectional flow, the portable system …