Fluvial Geomorphology

Catchment-Scale Controls in Logan River Watershed

Module 3 Homework: Catchment-Scale Controls on River Geomorphology

See Corresponding Learning Module

The Assignment

You will be performing a variety of morphometrics analyses of the Logan River Watershed.

On your website, please make a web-page for module 3 (this is what you’ll turn in for Canvas. For the Logan River Watershed (a 10 digit HUC - 1601020303. Your page should have a heading for each of the assignment tasks listed below. I describe the bare minimum you need to include in each task on your page, but you may want to provide additional context. Briefly explain your methods as well, including how you calculated each of your metrics/values. Make sure all questions are answered.

Assignment Tasks

1 - Map of Logan River Watershed

  1. Make a Location Map (where in Utah is the Logan River Watershed; can skip if you make an interactive embedded map in step 2).
  2. Make a map of the Logan River Watershed

2 - Longitudinal Profile

  1. Produce a longitudinal profile graph (distance (meters) vs. elevation (meters) by pulling a elevation profile of the Logan River from Franklin basin (around 42.0353,-111.599127 down to mouth (around 41.741216, -111.938460).
  2. What is the base-level control of Logan River today (the feature and its elevation)?
  3. What was the base-level control of the Logan River about 18,000 years ago (feature and elevation)?
  4. What is the mainstem length of the Logan River in kilometers?
  5. What is the concavity (show calculation)?
  6. Label any knickpoints (if present) and pose a working hypothesis about the controls?

3 - Catchment Morphometrics

For the Logan River Watershed:

  1. What is its catchment length in meters?
  2. What is its catchment area in square meters and in square kilometers?
  3. What is the the catchment perimeter length in meters and kilometers?
  4. Calculate the circularity ratio.
  5. Calculate the elongation ratio.
  6. Calculate the form factor of the Logan River Watershed.
  7. What is the catchment relief of the Logan River Watershed?
  8. What is the relief ratio of the Logan River Watershed?
  9. What is the drainage density of the Logan River perennial drainage network?
  10. What is the drainage pattern of the Logan River drainage network?

4 - Stream Order

For the perennial drainage network of the Logan River:

  1. What is the stream order of the Logan River at its mouth?
  2. What is the stream order of Temple Fork at its mouth?
  3. What is the stream order of Beaver Creek?
  4. Does the Logan River appear to obey the Hortonian laws of stream network composition?

Tips

You can get carried away with this assignment. I wouldn’t recommend starting there. What’s the minimum reasonable method you could use to make the above measurements and calculations? Some of you are experienced GIS users, others are not. So the answer will be different for each of you.

  • Yes, learning how to do all this in GIS is helpful. However, there are a ton of tricks to get everything in the right units and make sure you are getting exactly what you want. The precision is nice, but not necessary here. If you need a refresher on GIS, see here.
  • You can do this entire assignment from the USGS National Map Viewer or a paper or PDF Topo Quad
  • You can do some of this assignment from Google Earth

Resources

Riverscapes Context

A Riverscapes Context Project for HUC 1601020303 (Logan River) from the Riverscapes Consortium. - Riverscapes Project viewable in ArcGIS 10.x (sorry no ArcPro yet) or QGIS with Viewer. This project has the watershed boundary, DEM and drainage network lines (you can also go find them on other USGS and USDA websites), as well as a ton of additional context. You do not need this project to do the homework, but if you plan to do it in ArcGIS 10.6 or later (not ArcGIS Pro), or QGIS this will help. You can also use the data in ArcPro, but the symbology will not come in automatically.

If you are interested in other Riverscapes Projects for the Logan River, see here.

Shapefiles Prepped

There are three files in this LoganShapefiles+KMZ.zip file:

  • LoganRiver_Only.shp - From the NHD in the context file, this has been clipped to just the mainstem for which you need to extract a profile.
  • Logan_PerrenialNetwork.shp- From the NHD in the context file, this has been clipped to just the perrinal portion of the network you’ll need for drainage density.
  • LoganWatershed_1601020303.shp - From the HUC 8 Watershed, just the HUC 10 for the Logan.

Google Earth Files

If you want to work in Google Earth Pro, here are the three prepped shapefiles from above in one KMZ:

How to:

Open Riverscapes Project in GIS with RAVE


< 20 minutes (first 7 all you actually need)

Open KMZs in Google Earth Pro and view Profile

< 4 minutes

Open Riverscapes Project in QGIS with Riverscapes Viewer


3 minutes

Create a profile in QGIS

3 minutes