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Citation Reid, DE and Hickin, EJ. 2008. Flow resistance in steep mountain streams. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 33:2211-2240.
Organization SFU
URL http://www.sfu.ca/~hickin/PDF%20Library/Reid&Hickin2008
Abstract/Description or Keywords Resistance to flow at low to moderate stream discharge was examined in five small (12–
77 km2
drainage area) tributaries of Chilliwack River, British Columbia, more than half of
which exhibit planar bed morphology. The resulting data set is composed of eight to 12
individual estimates of the total resistance to flow at 61 cross sections located in 13 separate
reaches of five tributaries to the main river. This new data set includes 625 individual
estimates of resistance to flow at low to moderate river stage. Resistance to flow in these
conditions is high, highly variable and strongly dependent on stage. The Darcy–Weisbach
resistance factor (ff) varies over six orders of magnitude (0·29–12 700) and Manning’s n
varies over three orders of magnitude (0·047–7·95). Despite this extreme range, both power
equations at the individual cross sections and Keulegan equations for reach-averaged values
describe the hydraulic relations well. Roughness is divided into grain and form (considered
as all non-grain sources) components. Form roughness is the dominant component, accounting
for about 90% of the total roughness of the system (i.e., form roughness is on average
8.6 times as great as grain roughness). Of the various quantitative and qualitative formroughness
indicators observed, only the sorting coefficient (σ = D84/D50) correlates well with
form roughness. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Keywords: flow resistance; mountain streams; grain roughness; form roughness
Information Type article
Regional Watershed Lower Fraser
Sub-watershed if known Chilliwack River
Aquifer #
Comments
Project status
Contact Name Donald Reid
Contact Email [email protected]