Estimating effective discharge at Lehman Creek, Great Basin National Park, Nevada

Effective discharge is defined as the streamflow that transports the most sediment over time and is therefore the flow that controls channel shape. Effective discharge was estimated for two sites along Lehman Creek, an alpine fluvial system. Site one (WL-1, 2951 m elevation) has an effective discharge of 0.083 m3/s and site two (WL-2, 2019 m elevation) has an effective discharge of 0.400 m3/s. Calculated bankfull discharges are 2.52 m3/s for WL-1 and 1.48 m3/s for WL-2. Bankfull/effective discharge ratios (b/e ratio) are 30.49 for WL-1 and 3.71 for WL-2. The b/e ratio difference may be due to the steeper gradient (WL-1: 0.14, WL-2: 0.062) at WL-1, which may indicate active downcutting as a response to tectonic uplift in the Basin and Range province. WL-1 also sits on resistant glacial debris (quartzite), which may cause Lehman Creek difficulty in shaping and maintaining its stream channel.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geoscience

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

2001

Author dc:creator

• Glonek, Lisa A

Contributors dc:contributor

• Richard L. Orndorff

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1321

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2320