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Colgate University

The Condit Dam breach on the White Salmon River (WSR) in Washington provided a unique opportunity to study how a bedrock-confined, gravel-bed river responds to a large influx of fine reservoir sediment. On October 26, 2011, a dynamite explosion breached a hole in the base of the 38 m tall dam, causing rapid reservoir erosion and downstream transport of fine sediment through the 5,300 m of channel separating the reservoir from the mouth of the WSR, where it flows into the Columbia River. In my research, I combined field data, aerial photographs, and LiDAR surveys to measure pre-breach and post-breach geomorphic conditions, up to 9 months after the breach, to assess downstream geomorphic response through a confined...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
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Background Acidification of lotic and lentic environments has been found to adversely affect the integrity of resident biological assemblages. These effects have been particularly severe in poorly buffered regions like the Western Adirondacks. Although the Clean Air Act and its amendments have greatly reduced levels of atmospheric deposition, many streams in this region are still chronically or episodically acidified. In-stream and watershed-wide liming are two directed-mitigation techniques which could be used to accelerate ecosystem recovery and help restore the condition of biological assemblages. The costs and abilities (as well as effective duration) of these techniques to improve water and soil chemistry,...
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