GEO 582 Geomorphology of Forests and Streams

Syllabus, Winter, 2008

 

Lectures:

Wilkinson 207, MWF, 2:00-2:50 PM

Instructor:

Dr. Stephen Lancaster, Wlkn. 142, 737-9258, lancasts@geo.oregonstate.edu

Office hrs:

Mon., 3-3:50 PM; Fri., 1-1:50 PM; or by appointment or drop-in

Readings:

Selected articles (online at http://www.geo.oregonstate.edu/classes/geo582/)

 

Course description:

Physical processes (erosion, transport, deposition, hydraulics, morphology) and biotic interactions on hillslopes, riparian zones, and fluvial systems at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Offered alternate years. PREREQ: 9 graduate credits of sciences or engineering

 

Course objectives and expected learning outcomes:

The objective of GEO 582 is to provide students with a state-of-the-art knowledge of current research on the geomorphology of forested landscapes and their stream networks such that the students achieve the following learning outcomes:

1.      Knowledge of the major concepts in hillslope and fluvial geomorphology of forested landscapes.

2.      Knowledge of key literature on geomorphology of forests and streams.

3.      Understanding of the key approaches and techniques for research projects in geomorphology of forests and streams.

 

Assessment/evaluation of student performance:

Summary of course requirements and credit:

Item

Pct. grade

Leading discussion of primary articles

20.00%

Presentations on secondary articles

25.00%

Participation (including field trip)

15.00%

Ten sets of weekly notes

20.00%

Final paper and presentation

20.00%

Total:

100.00%

 

Course Format:

Each meeting will consist of a short introduction by the instructor, discussion of the primary article led by a student, and brief synopsis-type presentations on secondary articles.  Each student will

1.      read the primary paper for each class meeting;

2.      participate actively in discussions;

3.      facilitate discussion for 3 articles (or a number to be determined, based on class size);

4.      give brief presentations on 3 articles (or a number to be determined, based on class size);

5.      hand in one page of 12-pt single-spaced typed notes each week summarizing highlights of the previous week's discussions;

6.      attend the field trip;

7.      present proposal of topic and methodology for future research in geomorphology of forests and streams; and

8.      turn in a final paper proposing a topic and methodology for future research in geomorphology of forests and streams.

Each student may

9.      propose articles for the class to read, and give pdfs of these to Stephen;

 

Class topics, readings, and schedule:

Week

Date

Topic, Readings

Student in Charge

1

Monday, 1/7

Introduction

Context of class, key concepts of processes and scales

 

1

Wednesday, 1/9

Geomorphic effectiveness

1.      Wolman, M. G., & Miller, J. P. (1960). Magnitude and frequency of forces in geomorphic processes. Journal of Geology, 68, 54-74.

2.      Jones, J. A., & Grant, G. E. 1996. Peak flow responses to clearcutting and roads in small and large basins, western Cascades, Oregon. Water Resources Research 32:959-974. PUBLISHED CORRECTION

 

1.      Curtis

2.      Terry

1

Friday, 1/11

Sediment budgets

1.      Dietrich, W.E., and T. Dunne, Sediment budget for a small catchment in mountainous terrain, Z. Geomorph., 29, 191-206, 1978.

2.      Dietrich, W.E., Dunne, T., Humphrey, N.F., Reid, L.M., 1982. Construction of sediment budgets for drainage basins. In Swanson, F.J., Janda, R.J., Dunne, T., Swanston, D.N. (eds.), Sedi­ment Budgets and Routing in Forested Drainage Basins, Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-141, pp. 5-23. U.S.D.A. Forest Service, Corvallis, OR.

 

1.      Matt

2.      Jeremy

2

Monday, 1/14

Weathering and soil production

1.      Heimsath, A.M., W.E. Dietrich, K. Nishiizumi, and R.C. Finkel, Cosmogenic nuclides, topogra­phy, and the spatial variation of soil depth, Geomorphology, 27(1-2), 151-172, 1999.

2.      Heimsath, A.M., W.E. Dietrich, K. Nishiizumi, and R.C. Finkel, Stochastic processes of soil production and transport: erosion rates, topographic variation, and cosmogenic nuclides in the Oregon Coast Range, Earth Surf. Processes Landforms, 26, 531-552, 2001.

 

1.      Joshua

2.      Chris

2

Wednesday, 1/16

Weathering and erosion

1.      Anderson, S.P., W.E. Dietrich, and G.H. Brimhall Jr., Weathering profiles, mass-balance analysis, and rates of solute loss: Linkages between weathering and erosion in a small, steep catch­ment, Geo. Soc. Am. Bull., 114(9), 1143-1158, 2002.

2.      Anderson, S.P., and W.E. Dietrich, Chemical weathering and runoff chemistry in a steep headwa­ter catchment, Hydrological Processes, 15(10), 1791-1815, 2001.

 

1.      Josh

2.      Matt

2

Friday, 1/18

Hillslope transport

1.      Roering, J.J., J.W. Kirchner, and W.E. Dietrich, Evidence for nonlinear, diffusive sediment transport on hillslopes and implications for landscape morphology, Water Resour. Res., 35(3), 853-870, 1999.

2.      Roering, J.J., J.W. Kirchner, and W.E. Dietrich, Hillslope evolution by nonlinear, slope-dependent transport: Steady state morphology and equilibrium adjustment timescales, J. Geophys. Res., 106(B8), 16,499-16,513, 2001.

 

1.      Jeremy

2.      Curtis

3

Monday, 1/21

Martin Luther King, Jr., Day—no class

 

3

Wednesday, 1/23

Hillslope transport and vegetation

1.      Roering, J.J. and M. Gerber, (2005), Fire and the evolution of steep, soil-mantled landscapes, Geology, v. 33, p. 349-352.

2.      Roering, J.J., P. Almond, P. Tonkin, and J. McKean, Soil transport driven by biological processes over millenial timescales, Geology, 30, 1115-1118, 2002.

 

1.      Curtis

2.      Joshua

3

Friday, 1/25

Landscape denudation

1.      Reneau, S.L., and W.E. Dietrich, Erosion rates in the southern Oregon Coast Range: Evidence for an equilibrium between hillslope erosion and sediment yield, Earth Surf. Processes Landforms, 16, 307-322, 1991.

2.      McKean, J.A., W.E. Dietrich, R.C. Finled, J.R. Southon, and M.W. Caffee, Quantifications of soil production and downslope creep rates from cosmogenic 10Be accumulations on a hillslope profile, Geology, 21, 343-346, 1993.

 

1.      Matt

2.      Terry

4

Monday, 1/28

Landslide initiation

1.      Iverson, R.M., Landslide triggering by rain infiltration, Water Resour. Res., 36(7), 1897-1910, 2000.

2.      Iverson, R.M., M.E. Reid, N.R. Iverson, R.G. LaHusen, M. Logan, J.E. Mann, and D.L. Brien, Acute sensitivity of landslide rates to initial soil porosity, Science, 290(5491), 513-516, 2000.

 

1.      Josh

2.      Matt

4

Wednesday, 1/30

Landslide susceptibility

1.      Montgomery, D.R., and W.E. Dietrich, A physically based model for the topographic control on shallow landsliding, Water Resour. Res., 30(4), 1153-1171, 1994.

2.      Dietrich, W.E., R. Reiss, M.-L. Hsu, and D.R. Montgomery, A process-based model for colluvial soil depth and shallow landsliding using digital elevation data, Hydrol. Proc., 9, 383-400, 1995.

 

1.      Jeremy

2.      Terry

4

Friday, 2/1

Landslides and vegetation

1.      Schmidt, K.M., J.R. Roering, J.D. Stock, W.E. Dietrich, D.R. Montgomery, and T. Schaub, The variability of root cohesion as an influence on shallow landslide susceptibility in the Oregon Coast Range, Can. Geotech. J., 38, 995-1024, 2001.

2.      Montgomery, D.R., K.M. Schmidt, H.M. Greenberg, and W.E. Dietrich, Forest clearing and regional landsliding, Geology, 28(4), 311-314, 2000.

 

1.      Josh

2.      Curtis

5

Monday, 2/4

Debris flow mechanics

1.      Iverson, R.M., The physics of debris flows, Rev. Geophys., 35(3), 245-296, 1997.

2.      Iverson, R.M., and R.P. Denlinger, 2001. Flow of variably fluidized granular masses across three-dimensional terrain: 1. Coulomb mixture theory. J. Geophys. Res., 106(B1), 537-552.

 

1.      Curtis

2.      Joshua

5

Wednesday, 2/6

Debris flows and vegetation

1.      Lancaster, S.T., S.K. Hayes, and G.E. Grant, Effects of wood on debris flow runout in small mountain watersheds, Water Resour. Res., 39(6), 1168, doi: 10.1029/2001WR001227, 2003.

2.      May, C.L., Debris flows through different forest age classes in the central Oregon Coast Range, J. Am. Wat. Resourc. Assoc., 38(4), 1097-1113, 2002.

 

1.      Jeremy

2.      Matt

5

Friday, 2/8

Debris flow-fluvial transition: Sediment storage and transit

1.      Lancaster, S.T., and Casebeer, N.E., 2007. Sediment storage and evacuation in headwater valleys at the transition between debris-flow and fluvial processes. Geology, 35, 1027-1030, doi: 10.1130/G239365A.1. (plus supplementary material)

2.      Bolin, B., and Rodhe, H., 1973, A note on the concepts of age distribution and transit times in nat­ural reservoirs: Tellus, v. 25, p. 58-62.

 

1.      Terry

2.      Terry

6

Monday, 2/11

Debris flow scour

1.      Stock, J., and W. E. Dietrich, Valley incision by debris flows: Evidence of a topographic signa­ture, Water Resour. Res., 39(4), 1089, doi:10.1029/2001WR001057, 2003.

2.      Stock, J.D., and W.E. Dietrich, 2006. Erosion of steepland valleys by debris flows. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 118, 1125-1148, doi:10.1130/B25902.1.

 

1.      Terry

2.      Curtis

6

Wednesday, 2/13

Stream channel morphology

1.      Knighton, D. 1984. The adjustment of channel form, pp. 85-115 in Fluvial forms and processes. Baltimore, MD: Edward Arnold.

 

Lancaster

6

Friday, 2/15

Debris flow-fluvial transition: Deposit evolution

1.      Sutherland, D.G., M.H. Ball, S.J. Hilton, and T.E. Lisle, 2002. Evolution of a landslide-induced sediment wave in the Navarro River, California. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 114(8), 1036-1048.

2.      Hogan, D.L., S.A. Bird, and M.A. Hassan, Spatial and temporal evolution of small coastal gravel-bed streams: Influence of forest management on channel morphology and fish habitats, in Gravel-Bed Rivers in the Environment, ed. by P.C., Klingeman, R.L. Beschta, P.D. Komar, and J.B. Bradley, pp. 365-392, Water Resources Publications, Highlands Ranch, CO, 1998.

 

1.      Terry

2.      Terry

7

Monday, 2/18

Wood and sediment storage

1.      Montgomery, D.R., T.M. Massong, and S.C.S. Hawley, Influence of debris flows and log jams on the location of pools and alluvial channel reaches, Oregon Coast Range, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 115(1), 78-88, 2003.

2.      Nakamura, F., and F.J. Swanson, Effects of coarse woody debris on morphology and sediment storage of a mountain stream system in western Oregon, Earth Surf. Processes Landforms, 18, 43-61, 1993.

 

1.      Curtis

2.      Jeremy

7

Wednesday, 2/20

Wood in streams

1.      Buffington, J.M., T.E. Lisle, R.D. Woodsmith, and S. Hilton, Controls on the size and occurrence of pools in coarse-grained forest rivers, River Res. Appl., 18(6), 507-531, 2002.

2.      Montgomery, D.R., J.M. Buffington, R.D. Smith, K.M. Schmidt, and G. Pess, Pool spacing in forest channels, Water Resour. Res., 31(4), 1097-1105, 1995.

 

1.      _____

2.      Joshua

7

Friday, 2/22

Wood and channel profile evolution

1.      Lancaster, S.T., and G.E. Grant, 2006. Debris dams and the relief of headwater streams, Geomor­phology, 82, 84-97, doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2005.08.020.

2.      Whipple, K.X, and G.E. Tucker, Dynamics of the stream-power river incision model: Implications for height limits of mountain ranges, landscape response timescales, and research needs, J. Geophys. Res., 104(B8), 17,661-17,674, 1999.

 

1.      Curtis

2.      Curtis

8

Monday, 2/25

Sediment routing in channel networks

1.      Benda, L., and T. Dunne, Stochastic forcing of sediment routing and storage in channel networks, Water Resour. Res., 33(12), 2865-2880, 1997b.

2.      Madej, M.A, and V. Ozaki, Channel response to sediment wave propagation and movement, Redwood Creek, California, USA, Earth Surf. Processes Landform, 21(10), 911-927, 1996.

 

1.      Terry

2.      Jeremy

8

Wednesday, 2/27

Sediment routing and vegetation

1.      Lancaster, S.T., S.K. Hayes, and G.E. Grant, Modeling sediment and wood storage and dynamics in small mountainous watersheds, in Geomorphic Processes and Riverine Habitat, Water Sci. Appl., vol. 4, edited by J.M. Dorava, D.R. Montgomery, B.B. Palcsak, and F.A. Fitzpatrick, pp. 85-102, AGU, Washington, D.C., 2001.

2.      Lisle, T.E., Y. Cui, G. Parker, J.E. Pizzuto, and A.M. Dodd, The dominance of dispersion in the evolution of bed material waves in gravel bed rivers, Earth Surf. Processes Landforms, 26(13), 1409-1420, 2001.

 

1.      ______

2.      Jeremy

8

Friday, 2/29

Landscape evolution

1.      Tucker, G.E., and R.L. Bras, Hillslope processes, drainage density, and landscape morphology, Water Resour. Res., 34, 2751-2764, 1998.

2.      Tucker, G.E., and R.L. Bras, A stochastic approach to modeling the role of rainfall variability in drainage basin evolution, Water Resour. Res., 36(7), 1953-1964, 2000.

 

1.      Curtis

2.      Josh

9

Monday, 3/3

Landscape evolution in the Oregon Coast Range

1.      Almond, P., J.J. Roering, and T. C. Hales, (2007), Using soil residence time to delineate spatial and temporal patterns of transient landscape response, Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface, v. 112, F03S17, doi:10.1029/2006JF000568.

2.      Personius, S.F., H.M. Kelsey, and P.C. Grabau, Evidence for regional stream aggradation in the central Oregon Coast Range during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, Quat. Res., 40, 297-308, 1993.

 

1.      Jeremy

2.      Josh

9

Wednesday, 3/5

Sediment storage and fish

1.      May, Christine L. and D. Lee. 2004. The relationships among In-Channel Sediment Storage, Pool Depth, and Summer Survival of Juvenile Salmonds in Oregon Coast Range Streams. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 24:761-774.

2.      Montgomery, D.R., J.M Buffington, N.P. Peterson, D. Schuett-Hames, and T.P. Quinn.  1995.  Stream-bed scour, egg burial depths, and the influence of salmonid spawning on bed surface mobility and embryo survival.  Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 53: 1061-1070.

 

1.      Joshua

2.      Matt

9

Friday, 3/7

Riparian zones and fluvial geomorphology

1.      Hession, W.C., J.E. Pizzuto, T.E. Johnson, and R.J. Horwitz. 2003. Influence of bank vegetation on channel morphology in rural and urban watersheds. Geology 31(2):147-150.

2.      Micheli, E.R., J.W. Kirchner, and E.W. Larsen, Quantifying the effect of riparian forest versus agricultural vegetation on river meander migration rates, Central Sacramento River, California, U.S.A., River Research and Applications, 20, 537-548, 2004.

 

1.      Matt

2.      Curtis

9

Saturday, 3/8

Field trip

8 am – 6 pm, to sites in Oregon Coast Range

 

10

Monday, 3/10

Student presentations

 

10

Wednesday, 3/12

Student presentations

 

10

Friday, 3/14

Student presentations

 

11

Monday, 3/17

Turn in final papers before 5 PM

 

 

Guidelines for conduct on written assignments:

You will be strictly held to the University’s policy on academic dishonesty. Be sure that you are familiar with that policy (see http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/regs.htm). Enrollment in this class means that you are responsible for your conduct with respect to the University’s policy and my guidelines written here. Please note that both copying another person’s work and allowing another person to copy your own work are considered academic dishonesty.