Geomorphological Channel and Bank Assessment of the Missouri River - Fort Peck Dam to Ponca State Park

摘要

The PI, co-PI and a team from WES spent a five-day period reconnoitering the four study reaches in order to become familiar with the banks and the in-channel morphology of the river. As a result of this, a short report recommending an approach to the study was written by the PI and sent to staff at WES. It was recommended that geomorphologically distinct subreaches be identified within each of the four main reaches, based on their geology, planform sinuosity and degree of stability or instability, be this natural or artificial. The Brice channel classification system for categorising the degree of channel sinuosity was advocated for this purpose. Identification of these subreaches was recommended in order to supply the basis for determination of channel response to any future stabilisation works. Another product of this reconnaissance trip was a series of thoroughly annotated aerial photographs showing the heights and extent of eroding areas of bank line, the types of terrace deposits that were being eroded and the dominant types of failure mechanisms causing the erosion. These notes were later used in a preliminary assessment of bank stability.