Low-flow hydraulic geometry of small, steep mountain streams in southwest British Columbia

摘要

This investigation explores the at-a-station hydraulic geometry (AHG) of small, steep mountain streams at low discharge. Thirteen reaches in five tributaries of Chilliwack River, British Columbia, ranging in size from 12 to 77 km~2 are examined. The resulting data set is composed of eight to twelve measurements of water-surface width, mean depth, and mean velocity at each of 61 cross sections or 625 unique combinations of the three variables. Mean velocity in a given cross section responds most rapidly to changing discharge, and 31 of the 61 cross sections have velocity exponents that are greater than the water-surface width and mean-depth exponents combined. The velocity exponent (m) averages 0.51, while the mean water-surface width exponent (fa) and mean-depth exponent (f) average 0.20 and 0.29, respectively. Somewhat surprisingly, the AHG of steep mountain streams can be reasonably predicted from just a few measurements of the primary flow variables and stream discharge. While conditions at the cross section appear predictable from a few measurements, extrapolating the results from one cross section to another in the same reach involves large errors. The section-to-section variability of the exponents and coefficients, even when they are located in similar channel units such as riffles, prevents accurate extrapolation to unmeasured cross sections.