Document Type

Dataset

Publication Title

Water Resources Research (in review)

Publication Date

2018

Abstract

The dataset includes an Excel file (use the Download button) and a collection of photos (in the PDF file below).

Article abstract: The 2011 removal of 38-m-tall Condit Dam on the White Salmon River (WSR) in Washington is one of the largest dam removals to date, releasing 1.3 million m3 of reservoir sediment in the first 9 months after breaching. We examined a 6-year geomorphic response of the downstream channel to the large, rapid influx of primarily sand and silt eroded from the reservoir, including within a bedrock-confined canyon and in a wide, backwater-influenced pool reach near the river’s mouth. In the canyon reach, aggraded sediments eroded rapidly from riffles. Though pool aggradation persisted, riffles returned toward pre-breach bed elevations. The wider downstream reach transformed from a deep pool to a pool-riffle morphology with alternate bars owing to extensive post-breach sediment deposition; multiyear observations show this new and distinct morphology persists and has likely changed the reach’s fundamental geomorphic regime. Downstream variations in transport capacity imposed by canyon and valley bottom geometry, rather than post-breach hydrology, drove geomorphic response and evolution of the WSR.

Keywords

Condit Dam, geomorphic response, sediment transport, dam removal, sediment pulse, fluvial geomorphology

Additional Files
Wilcox etal Condit paper2 photos.pdf (3288 kB)
Appendix: Field Photography
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