Geog 427/527:  Fluvial Geomorphology
Winter 1999, University of Oregon

Study Guide for Week 9, March 2-4

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Exercise 4, our last exercise, is on the exercise web page.  Read through it and bring questions to class. 

Summer Jobs:  Sometimes I receive announcements for summer student job openings that are related to streams and watersheds.  These are usually with the BLM or Forest Service.  They prefer to hire students with some coursework in geomorphology or hydrology, but they will give you some additional training on the job.   The jobs are usually primarily fieldwork, but may also involve computer data entry.  
The first job announcement for summer 1999 just arrived; deadline is March 31.  I will post these job announcements on my office door as I receive them.  Most of them don't come in until mid spring term or later, but often they have short deadlines, so if you are interested check my door throughout spring term.  Also, many summer student jobs with the Forest Service and BLM are not sent to me but are posted through the offices of individual national forests, BLM districts, or with the State of Oregon Employment Service.  Try these sources too.  The Department of Geography also maintains a job board in the hallway outside Condon 107. 

Some interesting web pages on geomorphology:  click on the link to go to the web page

Flood of 1997 in Fort Collins, CO  from the USGS

Oregon landslide hazard studies  from Oregon Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries

 

Tuesday, March 2: 

We will focus on river behavior over long time scales (>100 yrs). 

Reading assignments:
Knighton p. 279-289, 295-307;
Benda, L., Beechie, T.J., Wissmar, R.C., and Johnson, A., 1992. Morphology and evolution of salmonid habitats in a recently deglaciated river basin, Washington State, USA. Can. Journ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 49: 1246-1256. (in reading packet)

p. 279-289: Philosophies of change
  • Understand the following concepts: gradualism, catastrophism, threshold response, episodic behavior, catastrophe theory, reaction time, relaxation time, characteristic form time.
  • I will also talk about Schumm’s theory of complex response (Fig. 6.4B), and Knox’s theory of biogeomorphic response (ties into response to climate change, below).
  • Important figures: 6.4 A and B, 6.5.
p. 295-302: Effects of floods
  • This is a useful section. Read through it. I will not emphasize this section in lecture.
p. 302-307: Fluvial response to climate change
  • Read this section to get Knighton’s major points. I will go beyond this reading in lecture.
  • Terraces represent major changes in sediment budget and river behavior. I will discuss different types of terraces, and give some examples of terrace form and chronology in different river systems.
Benda et al. reading
  • What caused major terrace development in the S. Fork Stillaguamish R.?
  • How many terraces are present, when did they form, and how were they dated?
  • How do the terraces influence channel gradient, channel morphology, and fish habitat today?

 

Thursday, March 4: 

Today we will start with the Benda article (didn’t get to this on Tuesday). Then we’ll talk about human impacts. Do the reading on human impacts in Knighton, p. 307-329.

 

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last update:  03/25/00 11:06 AM
Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene OR, 97403-1251