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Estimating Bulk Density in Vertically Exposed Stoney Alluvium Using a Modified Excavation Method
Author(s) -
Brye K. R.,
Morris T. L.,
Miller D. M.,
Formica S. J.,
Van Eps M. A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2004.1937
Subject(s) - alluvium , sediment , erosion , excavation , bulk density , bank , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , geology , streams , turbidity , geotechnical engineering , soil science , soil water , geomorphology , computer network , oceanography , computer science
Despite many decades of education and refining land‐use practices, accelerated stream bank erosion is still prevalent in the United States. Eroding stream banks produce a sediment load to the riverine system and can cause reduced water quality as a result of increased suspended sediment. As total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for water bodies impaired by turbidity or suspended sediments become more numerous, a simple, in situ field technique will be needed to estimate the bulk density of readily erodible stream bank material so that reasonably accurate sediment loading rates can be estimated. In this study, the excavation/polyurethane‐foam technique for estimating total bulk density was applied to vertically exposed alluvium with high coarse‐fragment content. Though not previously attempted in vertically exposed alluvium with high coarse‐fragment content, the excavation/polyurethane‐foam technique appears to provide a reasonably accurate estimate of the total and soil (<2‐mm size fraction) bulk density from vertically exposed, alluvial deposits with high coarse‐fragment content (i.e., >70%) along eroding stream banks. Obtaining bulk density estimates using this method would facilitate calculation of sediment loading rates to riverine systems with actual field data.