I completed my doctorate in Geosciences, specializing in fluvial geomorphology, at Colorado State University in May 2009. My dissertation entitled, “Substrate controlled interactions among hydraulics, sediment transport and erosional forms in a bedrock river,” was conducted in the Blue Ride province in the southern Appalachian mountains. Key Findings 1) Feedbacks between substrate, channel morphology and hydraulics reflect balance between hydraulic driving forces and substrate erodibility. 2) Lithologically controlled bed forms in bedrock streams (bedrock ribs) influence sediment transport at potentially smaller scales than bed forms in alluvial channels. The strong influence of bedforms on coarse sediment transport suggested that coarse sediment transport processes are controlled by different factors in bedrock channels when bedrock ribs cross the channel at a high angle to the flow. 3) The tools versus cover effect represents intra-reach variation and can be used to quantify how flow and sediment transport interact with bed topography to maximize pothole formation. Constraining thresholds governing pothole formation will improve understanding […]

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Sediment delivery and transport through mountain rivers affects aquatic habitat and water resource infrastructure. This research synthesized existing data from central Idaho to explore (1) how sediment yields are likely to respond to climate change in semi-arid basins influenced by wildfire, (2) the potential consequences for aquatic habitat and water resource infrastructure, and (3) prospects for mitigating sediment yields in forest basins. In the northern Rocky Mountains, sediment yield is expected to increase in a warming climate primarily through climate-driven changes in temperature and hydrology that promote vegetation disturbances (i.e., wildfire, insect/pathogen outbreak, drought-related die off). Goode, J. R., C. H. Luce, and J. M. Buffington. 2012. Enhanced sediment delivery in a changing climate in semi-arid mountain basins: Implications for water resource management and aquatic habitat in the northern Rocky Mountains. Geomorphology 139-140: 1-15.

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In this research we investigate how climate-driven changes in streamflow will alter the physical habitat for salmonids in mountain basins of different regions and hydroclimates. We explore the potential consequences for the incubation period of different salmonid species. Watersheds in northern latitudes provide critical habitat for salmon and trout, and many species are adapted to the streamflow frequency, magnitude and timing of flows that can scour incubating embryos. Therefore, climate-related shifts in the flow regime are expected to influence the the early life stages of these species.

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