Fluvial Instability and Channel Degradation of Amite River and its Tributaries, Southwest Mississippi and Southeast Louisiana
Abstract
Abstract: The Amite River is a Gulf Coastal Plain stream in southwestern Mississippi and eastern Louisiana. Since the early 1970s, riparian sand and gravel mining has been conducted on a 48-km reach of the river centered on Grangeville, LA. Riparian mining has been considered responsible for instability and changes in the hydraulic and geomorphic regime of the river and local extirpation of the inflated heelsplitter mussel. Field and rotary-wing aerial studies were conducted along the main stem of the river and along the principal tributaries including Beaver Creek, Darling Creek, and the Comite River. These studies indicated that the greatest erosion was occurring along the mined reach; however, erosion was also occurring upstream of the mined reach and along tributaries along and upstream of the mined reach. Erosion was less prevalent downstream of the mined reach; however, erosion was present on the Comite River which enters the Amite River downstream of the mined reach. Bridge survey data for the Amite River showed that the channel width upstream, along and downstream of the mined reach had, respectively, increased by as much as 25, 50 and 60 percent. Historical, rectified panchromatic aerial photography revealed that stream length upstream and downstream of the mined reach, between 1953 and 1998, had decreased, respectively, by as much as 5 and 29 percent. During the same period, the reach downstream of the mined reach had increased by as much as 7 percent.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA471731
Entities
People
- David M. Patrick
- Maureen K. Corcoran
- Ryan Hood
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center