watershed science - the upper grand river

Watershed Management Short Course

David P. Lusch, Ph.D., GISP RS&GISGEOG and IWR, MSU 1/ 78

WATERSHED SCIENCE WATERSHED SCIENCE • David P. Lusch, Ph.D., GISP

Senior Research Specialist

• Michigan State University Remote Sensing & GIS, GEOGRAPHY

Institute of Water Research

• http://www.rsgis.msu.edu/datadocs.htm

Watersheds • A watershed is a geographic area in which water (surface runoff, lakes and streams) drains to a common outlet. Because of the integrated nature of natural drainage systems (i.e., smaller tributaries joining to form larger streams), watersheds form a nested hierarchy of areas (i.e., smaller watersheds subdivide larger watersheds).

Watersheds • The watershed of any hydrographic feature (lake, stream or wetland) is the surface area that contributes overland flow (runoff) to the feature. In most landscapes, the surface watershed corresponds with the subsurface watershed which contributes interflow and groundwater discharge.

Watersheds

Watersheds Grand River watershed within the Lake Michigan watershed

The Upper Grand River watershed extends farther east than any other component

of the Lake Michigan watershed

Watersheds Grand River watershed

Watersheds

1140 ft

830 ft

640 ft

Topographic Elevation

Watersheds Bedrock Surface Elevation

Watersheds Grand River headwaters

Sections 19 & 20, Sumerset Twp, Hillsdale County

(downvalley view)

Watersheds Grand River – SW Ingham Co.

Watersheds Grand River – SW Clinton Co.

Watersheds Mouth of the Upper Grand River

Watersheds • To appreciate the diverse valley forms of the Grand River and to explain why it winds across southcentral Michigan with several large meander bends, we need a quick review of the recent earth history of the area. Let’s pick up the story as the last ice age comes to a close, about 15,500 C 14 yrs ago.

Watersheds 15,500 C 14 years ago WestC

entral W

isconsin

entral W

isconsin

Cass St. Joseph Branch

Calhoun

Watersheds 14,800 C 14 years ago WestC

entral W

isconsin

entral W

isconsin

Cass St. Joseph Branch

Calhoun Jackson

Watersheds

Watersheds 14,700 C 14 years ago

Watersheds

Ice margin 14,700 C 14 years ago Ice margin 14,700 C 14 years ago

SE Michigan Interlobate Crease

Watersheds SE Michigan Interlobate Zone

Ice margin 14,700 C 14 years ago Ice margin 14,700 C 14 years ago

Watersheds Interlobate drainage 14,700 C 14 years ago

Early Kalamazoo R.

Major headwaters of the Jackson Co. reach of the

Grand R. is the Portage River

Early Kalamazoo R.

Early Huron R.

Early Kalamazoo R.

Early Huron R.

Ann Arbor – Pinkney segment of the Huron R. is flowing opposite of its

modern course

Ann Arbor – Pinkney segment of the Huron R. is flowing opposite of its

modern course

Early Kalamazoo R.

Early Huron R.

Early Red Cedar R.

Ann Arbor – Pinkney segment of the Huron R. is now flowing toward

Ann Arbor, as it does today

Ann Arbor – Pinkney segment of the Huron R. is now flowing toward

Ann Arbor, as it does today

Early Kalamazoo R.

Early Huron R.

Early Red Cedar R.

At Ann Arbor, this stage of the Huron R. flows SW

along the ice margin, spilling into Glacial Lake Maumee

At Ann Arbor, this stage of the Huron R. flows SW

along the ice margin, spilling into Glacial Lake Maumee

Early Kalamazoo R.

Early Thornapple R.

The Upper Grand R. flows as it does today The Upper Grand R. flows as it does today

The major flow is along the ice margin from

the Flint area

The major flow is along the ice margin from

the Flint area

Early Kalamazoo R.

Early Thornapple R.

The Looking Glass and Red Cedar rivers flow

as they do today

The Looking Glass and Red Cedar rivers flow

as they do today

The Huron R. flows as it does today past Ann Arbor

Hydrologic Cycle

• Precipitation • Evapotranspiration • Surface depression storage • Runoff • Infiltration (recharge) • Groundwater storage and flow

Hydrologic Cycle

Hydrologic Cycle • Infiltration

Infiltration capacity decreases with the duration of the storm

Runoff ONLY occurs when rainfall intensity exceeds the infiltration capacity

Hydrologic Cycle

Recharge = Rain – Evaporation – Runoff

Hydrologic Cycle • Precipitation: 32”– 34” • Evapotranspiration: 20” 26” • Runoff: 3” • Recharge (Infiltration): 5” – 9”

Hydrologic Cycle Annual Precipitation

33” 30”

39” 36”

In southern Lower Michigan, annual precipitation declines along a NEtrending gradient.

Hydrologic Cycle Recharge to the

watertable aquifer

No recharge estimates due to lack of data

http://gwmap.rsgis.msu.edu/

Hydrologic Cycle Recharge to the

watertable aquifer

http://gwmap.rsgis.msu.edu/

Hydrologic Cycle Baseflow

• The baseflow of a river is the amount of groundwater discharged from an aquifer into the watercourse. − This discharge occurs yearround, but fluctuates seasonally depending on the level of the water in the aquifer.

− The baseflow of a river is supplemented by direct runoff during and immediately after precipitation or snowmelt events.

Hydrologic Cycle Baseflow

cfs = cubic feet per second

Hydrologic Cycle Baseflow Grand R. @ Goose lake 1.2 cfs

Grand R. @ Grand Lake 12 cfs

Grand R. @ Vandercook Lake 43 cfs

Grand R. @ Jackson 116 cfs

Grand R. @ (below Portage R.) 249 cfs

Grand R. @ Eaton Rapids 435 cfs

Grand R. @ Lansing (above Red Cedar R.) 496 cfs

Grand R. @ Lansing (below Red Cedar R.) 763 cfs

Grand R. @ Grand Ledge 800 cfs

Grand R. @ Portland (above Looking Glass R.) 866 cfs

Sources of Water in Streams

• Overland Flow • Interflow • Baseflow (groundwater discharge) • Direct precipitation in channel

Sources of Water in Streams Precipitation ET

Groundwater

Groundwater flow

Soil Moisture

Infiltration

Overland Flow (runoff)

Interflow

Water table

Channel Flow • Perennial, Intermittent & Ephemeral

Streams Ephemeral

Intermittent

Perennial

Ephemeral stream

Intermittent stream

Perennial stream

Ephemeral flow zone

Intermittent flow zone

Perennial flow zone

Wet season water table

Dry season water table

Channel Flow

Perennial Stream

Intermittent Stream

Ephemeral Streams

Stream Hydrographs • Stream discharge (volume/time) at a single location as a function of time

• Annual Hydrograph note baseflow recession

• Storm Hydrograph Lag time Peak discharge Rising/Falling limb; Recession

Stream Hydrographs

Influence of Development • Produces greater volume of runoff

-increases the coefficient of runoff -decreases infiltration

(limiting groundwater recharge)

• Increases delivery rate of runoff increases the drainage density faster channel flow in ditches and storm sewers (compared to natural channels)

Influence of Development

Influence of Development • Polluted runoff is now widely recognized by environmental scientists and regulators as the single largest threat to water quality in the United States (non point source pollution).

• Urban stormwater management is a critical component of watershed management.

12% 15%

From: Wyckoff, Manning, Olsson & Riggs. 2003. How Much Development is Too Much? Huron River Watershed Council. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 71p.

Influence of Development The Guidebook may be

downloaded from: http://www.hrwc.org/text/

research.htm#imp

Copies of a CDROM of appendices (sample

ordinances and Master Plan language) are available from the

HRWC. Shipping and handling charges

apply. Contact HRWC at 734 / 7695123 for

details.

Influence of Development http://nemo.uconn.edu

Channel Pattern • Meandering • Length of straightchannel reaches rarely exceed 10 times channel width e.g., for a 40 ft.wide stream, straight reaches will usually be less than 400 ft. long.

• Thalweg

-line of maximum depth & velocity

-as the thalweg becomes sinuous, a PoolRiffle sequence develops

Channel Pattern • Thalweg – “the fastflow tube”

Pool and Riffle Sequence

Thalweg

Riffle

Bar Bar

Pool and Riffle Sequence • Pools

Deeper water Finetextured bed sediments

Low watersurface slope At apex of thalweg curvature

Scoured at high discharges Pool to pool spacing is 5 7 times

the channel width

• Riffles Shallower water Coarsetextured bed sediments Higher watersurface slope At inflection point of sinuous thalweg Scoured at low flows

Flow Components in Meanders • Superelevation of water on outside

of meander • Velocity increases toward outside

of meander • Increased shear stress on bed at outside of meander due to increased depth

• Helical flow pattern (down at outside; up at inside of meander)

Flow Components in Meanders

Superelevation of water on outside of meander

Helical flow pattern (down at outside;

up at inside of meander)

(Thalweg)

Stream Sediment Movement • Function of

sediment particle size stream bed velocity

• Graphically depicted by the Hjulstrom diagram

Stream Sediment Movement

vfs fs

Silt Clay

ms cs vcs granule pebble

Sand Gravel

Stream Sediment Movement USGS Field Measurements – Grand River at Jackson, MI

Velocity (cm/sec)

Mean 36.8 Median 36.1 Mode 36.3 Stnd. Deviation 13.7 Range 65.5 Minimum 11.6 Maximum 77.1

+/ σ = 23.1 – 50.5 cm/sec 68.2 % of the time

Stream Sediment Movement

vfs fs

Silt Clay

ms cs vcs granule pebble

Sand Gravel

36.8 50.5

Floodplains

Crosssection of a river valley showing the floodplain

Floodplain

Floodplain of the river

Floodplains

Terrace of the Glacial St. Joseph River

Crosssection of a river valley showing the floodplain

Floodplain

Terrace

WATERSHED HYDROLOGY

David P. Lusch, Ph.D., GISP

Senior Research Specialist

lusch@msu.edu

Michigan State University Remote Sensing and GIS Research and Outreach Services,

Dept. of Geography

Institute of Water Research

The End

watershed science - the upper grand river

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