Abstract
Paleoflood hydrology includes geomorphic-botanic studies of the effects of ancient floods on the landscape and the study of ancient slack-water deposits. Slack-water deposits consist of sand and silt that accumulated relatively rapidly from suspension during major floods. Useful slack-water sediment accumulations occur along bedrock canyons at the mouths of tributaries and at other protected localities. Where individual flood-sedimentation units can be recognized, various dating techniques are used to assign ages to the responsible flood events. Problems with incomplete flood records at any one slack-water site, the relating of deposit heights to paleoflood stages, and the age relationships of dated materials to flood ages require the analysis and correlation of numerous sites and flood layers along a given river reach. Paleostage determinations and flood ages can be converted to discharge and recurrence-interval estimates for the large, rare floods recorded in a slack-water sequence.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 18-23 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Transportation Research Record |
| State | Published - 1983 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Civil and Structural Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering