Interpolation of bottom bathymetry and potential erosion in a large Tennessee reservoir system using GRASS

摘要

A regularized spline with tension was used to interpolate a bathymetric bottom surface for the Watts Bar reservoir just south of Oak Ridge, TN as part of an effort to predict the spatial distribution of radionuclide contaminants. Cesium is strongly adsorbed onto clay and silt particles in the water column, and tends to settle to the bottom. The Waterways Experiment Station (WES) of the US Army Corps of Engineers conducted a hydro-acoustic study of the Clinch River arm of Watts Bar Reservoir to determine the distribution, thickness, and type of bottom sediments that had accumulated since completion of Watts Bar Dam in 1942. Acoustic impedance values determined from seismic reflection data are directly related to the density and material type of the subbottom sediments. The objective was to quantify with depth the density and type of bottom and subbottom sediments up to depths of 15 ft below the bottom surface along the Clinch River and Poplar Creek, TN.