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The effect of the size and orientation of large wood on pool volume in two Oregon Coast Range streams

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Title The effect of the size and orientation of large wood on pool volume in two Oregon Coast Range streams
Names Lombard, Pamela (creator)
Skaugset III, Arne E. (advisor)
Beschta, Robert L. (advisor)
Date Issued 1997-05-12 (iso8601)
Note Graduation date: 1997
Abstract This study was conducted to determine how the size and orientation of large
wood placed in streams in combination with peak flows, substrate and channel gradient
affect pool volume, surface area and maximum depth in two coastal Oregon streams.
Eighteen Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) logs were placed in each of two streams,
J-Line Creek and Preacher Creek, in the summer of 1989. Surveys were conducted
annually from 1989-1996 at summer low flow using a total station electronic
theodolite. The orientation of the introduced wood and the parameters of residual
pools associated with the wood were determined from high resolution topographic
maps made from the surveys. Residual pool volume associated with the introduced wood increased 2,500
percent over the seven years for J-Line Creek and 30 percent for Preacher Creek.
Large spanners, logs placed perpendicular to the stream flow and flush with the stream
bottom, had the greatest pool volume associated with them, however horizontal
orientations shifted downstream over time. Large ramps, logs placed at a downstream
orientation and angled up onto the bank, were the most stable treatment.
Differences between the two watersheds and an interaction variable between the
diameter of the introduced wood and the horizontal orientation of the introduced wood
were the significant variables which entered the multiple linear regression model for
residual pool volume. These variables, as well as the vertical orientation of the
introduced wood, were significantly correlated to both residual pool surface area and
maximum depth. The recurrence interval of the annual maximum instantaneous peak
flow was not significantly associated with residual pool volume, surface area nor
maximum depth. Multiple regression models explained, at most, twenty-eight percent
of the variability in residual pool volume, maximum depth and surface area.
Estimates of pool volume obtained with aquatic habitat inventories (Bisson et
al., 1982) were compared with residual pool calculations determined from the
topographic maps. Pool volume in a reach determined by aquatic habitat inventories
explained 96 percent of the variability of residual pool volume in a reach, however
estimates of individual pool volume explained only 40 percent of the variability in
residual pool volume.
Genre Thesis
Topic River channels -- Oregon -- J-Line Creek
Identifier http://hdl.handle.net/1957/9554

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