Paleo-discharge of the Maumee floods Research Paper

Paleo-discharge of the Maumee floods - Research Paper Example The results positively indicate the extent of the damage and predicts the next step in solving the problem. Introduction The problem is finding ways of restoring the watershed to a state that would be useful to the inhabitants living in the surrounding. This study is aimed at identifying opportunities and issues in the process of establishing the viability of the study. The main subject of the study is the deposits that were formed by the glacial activities. They include the Fort Wayne Moraine, and the Wabash. The Wabash was formed as a result of the activities that followed the melt water that into the St. Joseph and St. Mary’s Rivers. The two streams converged at the western edge of Fort Wayne Moraine. They drained a bigger discharge that created a valley that was called the Wabash Erie Channel. On a personal observation of the site there is feasibly in the thickness of disjointed deposits that are in the southern and the northern sides of the Maumee River watershed. The hei ghts go from 50 to 100 feet above the ground. This evidence of the occurrence of glacial activity in the northern part of the Maumee River. The bedrock holding these features is controlled by the Cincinnati Arch on the southern part and the Michigan Basin the northern area. The study tries to measure the magnitude of the water discharge that has been impacted by the Maumee River. Methods A task in the lab is to figure out the flood elevation from topographic maps and imagery near Lafayette, Indiana. In order to do this, I make 5 cross sections (Battleground, Americus, upstream of Delphi, Purdue and Lafayette, and Independence) from the topographic maps, with a vertical exaggeration of 10X. The scale of my cross section is, horizontally 1cm = 800ft, and vertically 1 cm = 80ft. There are two different ways I used to estimate discharge to complete this project. The first one is using Manning’s equation, and the second one is using the equation in dam breakout floods. In this par t, I am going to give detailed explanations for each of the equations, and explanation of flood reconstruction. Method1: Discharge estimations, whether of modern floods or ancient floods, requires that you determine both the average velocity of the water as well as the cross sectional area. The overall equation is: Q = u * A Where Q is the estimated discharge, u is the average velocity of the flow, and A is the cross sectional area. The average velocity can be estimated using Manning’s equation: u = RH2/3 * S1/2 * n-1 Where the RH is the hydraulic radius, S is the water surface slope, and n is the channel roughness coefficient. The cross-sectional area (A) is the area of flowing water as measured from bank to bank. Requires both a channel cross section, which I constructed, and an estimate of water depth (d) for calculation. The hydraulic radius (RH) is a physical characteristic of a streambed. It is the cross-sectional area (A) of the channel divided by the wetted perimeter. The wetted perimeters the length of the wetted edge of a channel cross section containing flowing water (i.e. the total perimeter minus the water surface). The water surface slope is the angle of the water surface relative to the horizontal. This angle can be found by measuring the change in water surface elevation between two points along the stream. Roughness coefficien