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Hydrogeomorphic Units and Catena Linkages for the Upper Mississippi River System
In 2020 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program, began a project to characterize potential hydrogeomorphic change associated with hydrogeomorphic units (HGUs) and their catenae (units linked by their association with sediment sources and flow origins). The objective of the project was to develop a geographic information system (GIS) database of HGUs for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) available to both scientists and river managers working on UMRR studies and Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Project (HREP) planning and design studies. Resulting data products, beginning with a pilot implementation in Navigation Pool 10, are contained in this ScienceBase data release. The HGU characterization was based on a hydrogeomorphic change hierarchical classification developed previously for the UMRS. The mapping products were generated with automated techniques in a GIS, with the use of systemic datasets. Landforms were mapped from the 2015 UMRS topobathymetric dataset with geomorphon (shape-based) tools tailored for the large riverscape, valley bottom environments in the UMRS. The resulting landforms were attributed with characteristics quantifying their hydrologic setting and connectivity, inundation regime, morphometry, proximity to anthropogenic structures, wave erosion potential, proximity to flow and sediment sources, and history of depositional planform change. A clustering analysis was applied to the landforms to identify HGUs associated with zones of perennial low flows, bankfull flows, and overbank floodplains. Catenae were assembled based on least-cost flowpath linkages originating from potential sediment origins within the main channel, side channels, and tributary mouths defined from previously published aquatic areas (USACE, 2018), and terminating at planform change units developed by Rogala, Fitzpatrick, and Henderson (2020).
| Author(s) |
Angus A Vaughan |
| Publication Date | 2025-08-28 |
| Beginning Date of Data | 1996 |
| Ending Date of Data | 2010 |
| Data Contact | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5066/P14BFCUP |
| Citation | Vaughan, A.A., Fitzpatrick, F.A., Strange, J.M., and Appledorn, M.V., 2025, Hydrogeomorphic Units and Catena Linkages for the Upper Mississippi River System: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P14BFCUP. |
| Metadata Contact | |
| Metadata Date | 2025-08-28 |
| Related Publication | There was no related primary publication associated with this data release. |
| Citations of these data | No citations of these data are known at this time. |
| Access | public |
| License | http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/ |
Harvest Date: 2025-09-03T05:06:04.692Z