Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to Carl F. Nordin.
Research activities in erosion and sedimentation processes have expanded broadly during the past several years and have kept pace with generally accelerated developments in all phases of hydrology and water resources investigations.
During March 1982, a reconnaissance study was carried out along a reach of the Rio Orinoco between Puerto Ayacucho and Ciudad Bolivar. This was the low-flow season. Samples of bed material and suspended sediments were collected, sonic records of the bed were obtained at several locations, and the exposed bars and sand waves were studied at four locations. Sounding records were obtained at two of these locations during June and November when flow covered the bars, and additional studies were made on the ground at some of these same sites during March 1983. The bed of the river is mostly sand with small quantities, about 5 percent by weight on average, of gravel. Suspended- sediment concentrations were low, ranging between 20 milligrams per liter above Rio Apure to almost 40 milligrams per liter below its confluence with the Rio Orinoco. The annual sediment load is estimated to be 240x10 6 megagrams per year. During the dry season, 35 percent or more of the bed is exposed in the form of large bars composed of many sand waves. Trade winds blow upriver and there is substantial upriver transport of river sediments by the wind. If the bars contain very coarse sands and fine gravel, deflation forms a lag deposit that armors the bar surface and prevents further erosion. Theoretical calculations show that the lower limit for the fraction of the bed that needs to be covered with nonmoving particles to prevent further erosion and the smallest size of the armor particles depend only on wind speed. Calculations of bed-material transport were made for a typical wide and narrow section of the river; the annual load, excluding the wash load, is about 30 x 10 6 megagrams per year. A new definition for wash load is proposed; it is material that can be suspended as soon as its motion is initiated. For the Rio Orinoco, this is material finer than 0.1 millimeters.
Water and suspended-sediment discharges were measured and bed-material samples were collected during August, 1982, at 9 cross sections along a 800-kilometer reach of the Rio Orinoco. Flows varied from approximately 31,000 to 72,000 cubic meters per second, and sediment discharge varied from approximately 1,600 to 8,000 kilograms per second. The bed material is mostly fine to medium sand and almost one-third of the suspended sediment is sand.
One-hundred-eight samples of bed material were collected from the Amazon River and its major tributaries between Belem, Brazil , and Iquitos, Peru. Samples were taken with a standard BM-54 sampler or with pipe dredges from May 18 to June 5, 1977. Most of the samples have median diameters in the size range of fine to medium sand and contain small percentages of fine gravel. Complete size distributions are tabulated. (Woodard-USGS)
Sixty-five samples of bed material were collected from the Amazon River and its major tributaries between Belem, Brazil, and Iquitos, Peru. Samples were taken with a standard BM-54 sampler, a pipe dredge, or a Helley-Smith bedload sampler. Most of the samples have median diameters in the size range of fine to medium sand and contain small percentages of fine gravel. Complete size distributions are tabulated.
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In 1975, data to calibrate a one-dimensional unsteady-flow and sediment-transport routing model were collected on a reach of the East Fork River of western Wyoming. The reach, 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) in length, wan immediately upstream from a previously established bedload sampling station. Nineteen channel cross sections were sounded at regular intervals during the spring-runoff period. Four stage recorders provided continuous records of water-surface elevations. Samples of bed material at most of the cross sections were obtained prior to high water. Streamflow and sediment-discharge measurements were collected at four of the sections. The physiography and hydrology of the contributing watershed, the study reach, and the equipment and techniques used in data collection are described briefly. The bulk of the report is a presentation of data for the several-week period of late May to early June 1975, for which concurrent water discharge data, bedload transport and size data, and cross-section depth measurements were collected. In addition, some data collected in 1973 and 1974 and before and after the calibration period in 1975 are included for completeness.
This report presents a summary of hydraulic and sediment-transport data for two series of laboratory studies in a recirculating flume. Sands with median diameters of 0.25 and 1.1 millimeters were used in the studies. Velocities and depths were controlled, and the slopes, bed configurations and sediment-transport rates adjusted to the imposed independent variables. Mean depths were varied from about 0.2 to 0.9 meter and mean velocities ranged from about 0.4 to 2.0 meters per second. (Woodard-USGS)
Various stochastic models have been proposed to describe the movement of sediment particles on the riverbed. Here it is attempted to summarize in an integrated form and to generalize the most important theoretical results in this field. The approach adopted in this paper is based on the fact that most of the stochastic models are only special cases of a particular kind of random walk on the straight line.
Empirical data on longitudinal dispersion process in rivers are compiled from published and unpublished sources. Fifty-one sets of data, covering flows from about 30 cubic feet per second to 241,000 cubic feet per second (0.85 to 6,820 cubic meters per second), are analyzed graphically.
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