What is the longitudinal profile of a stream long profile of a stream?
The longitudinal profile characterizes average stream slopes and depths of riffles, pools, runs, glides, rapids and step/pools. The average water surface slope is required for delineating stream types and is used as a normalization parameter for dimensionless ratios (Figure A-12).
What is the slope of a stream called?
Stream gradient
Stream gradient is the grade measured by the ratio of drop in elevation of a stream per unit horizontal distance, usually expressed as meters per kilometer or feet per mile.
How is longitudinal profile measured?
Longitudinal profiles are measured in the downstream direction. Typically, a 300-foot tape is laid along the centerline of the channel (not Thalweg) to obtain stream length stationing.
How does slope affect stream formation?
The volume of water effects the size and shape of a stream. The slope of a stream effects the size and shape of the stream. Fine sand is moved more easily than coarse sand by streams. Deposits are formed as a result of the streams flow.
What is longitudinal profile of a river?
Longitudinal profile Rivers are linear systems which show a gradient of characters along their length. Ideally the longitudinal profile of a river is concave with a steep upper portion near the source, giving way to reaches of progressively less gradient as the mouth is approached.
Is the general term for unconsolidated clay silt sand gravel?
Alluvium is a general term for clay, silt, sand and gravel. It is the unconsolidated detrital material deposited by a river, stream or other body of running water as a sorted or semi-sorted sediment in the bed of the stream or on its floodplain or delta, or as a cone or fan at the base of a mountain slope.
What is longitudinal slope of road?
It is the slope provided to the surface of the road in the longitudinal direction for the vertical alignment of the road. In other words, Gradient is the rise or fall along the length of road with respect to horizontal. Minimum gradient for cement concrete drain is 1 in 500.
How is the slope of a stream related to sinuosity?
At the watershed scale, channel slope generally decreases in the downstream direction. The size of the bed material also decreases in the downstream direction. Channel slope is inversely related to sinuosity. This means that steep streams have low sinuosities and flat streams have high sinuosities.
How is sediment size related to stream stability?
A generalized relationship of stream stability is shown as a schematic drawing in Figure 3. The drawing shows that the product of sediment load and sediment size is proportional to the product of stream slope and discharge or stream power. A change in any one of these variables causes a rapid physical adjustment in the stream channel.
How to describe changes in the size of a stream bed?
DOWNSTREAM CHANGES IN MEAN GRAIN SIZE A decrease in size of bed material (D) with distance downstream (L) is a common feature of many alluvial streams and can be expressed by (KNIGHTON “1980) D = Doe'(kl + k~)L (3) where Do is grain size at L = 0, kl is a coefficient of abrasion and k2 is a coefficient of sorting.
What causes the width of streams in North Carolina?
Stream width is a function of discharge (occurrence and magnitude), sediment transport (size and type), and the stream bed and bank materials. North Carolina has a humid subtropical climate with an abundance of vegetation and rainfall throughout the year.
