Many hydrogeomorphic processes are poorly understood. Botanical evidence studies can improve flood or debris flow prediction for streams with short or no gaging-station records. Improvement of our understanding of the relations among fluvial geomorphology, sedimentation, mass wasting, plant chemistry, and plant ecology will provide insight into such problems as assessment of water quality, wetland loss, long-term effects of climatic variation, and the frequency and magnitude of destructive hydrogeomorphic phenomena. Botanical and geomorphic analyses may provide substantial information about variable source areas of runoff production and ground-water recharge. The general objectives of this project include: 1) the continued development [...]
Summary
Many hydrogeomorphic processes are poorly understood. Botanical evidence studies can improve flood or debris flow prediction for streams with short or no gaging-station records. Improvement of our understanding of the relations among fluvial geomorphology, sedimentation, mass wasting, plant chemistry, and plant ecology will provide insight into such problems as assessment of water quality, wetland loss, long-term effects of climatic variation, and the frequency and magnitude of destructive hydrogeomorphic phenomena. Botanical and geomorphic analyses may provide substantial information about variable source areas of runoff production and ground-water recharge. The general objectives of this project include: 1) the continued development of the combined use of botanical evidence and maximum likelihood estimators in flood-frequency prediction, 2) analysis and interpretation of the role of vegetation in natural and disturbed fluvial systems, including riparian and wetlands systems, 3) research in the hydrogeomorphic-plant ecological aspects of watershed dynamics, including the delineation of variable source areas of runoff production and ground-water recharge, and analyses of non-point source pollution and basic plant-landform relations and 4) use of tree-ring chemistry as an indication of ground and surface water quality.
