Perturbations of stage hydrographs caused by channelization and incision
Fifty-five years of daily stage records were examined for two gages located on adjacent streams in northwestern Mississippi. The two streams have similar watersheds, but differ in management history: the upstream drainage network for one has been channelized, but the other has not. Stage hydrographs for the two gages are radically different. Initially, large storm-events took nearly three times as long to pass the gage on the sinuous stream as on the channelized stream. After the sinuous stream incised in response to downstream channelization, hydrographs for the two gages became more similar. We conclude that sinuous streams with frequent overbank flow offer significant benefits in terms of downstream flood peak attenuation. Results indicate that channel incision and channelization have similar effects on stage hydrographs.
