The Relationships of Streambank Angles and Shapes to Streambank Erosion Rates in the Little ...

108 Pages·2016·1.28 MB·English

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Masters Theses Graduate School
8-2010
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William Ryan Foster
University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes
Part of the Other Earth Sciences Commons
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Foster, William Ryan, "The Relationships of Streambank Angles and Shapes to Streambank Erosion Rates
in the Little River Watershed, TN. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2010.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/707
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and
Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE:
Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected].
To the Graduate Council:
I am submitting herewith a thesis written by William Ryan Foster entitled "The Relationships of
Streambank Angles and Shapes to Streambank Erosion Rates in the Little River Watershed, TN."
I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend
that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science,
with a major in Geography.
Carol P. Harden, Major Professor
We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance:
Liem Tran, Henri Grissino-Mayer
Accepted for the Council:
Carolyn R. Hodges
Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
(Original signatures are on file with official student records.)
To the Graduate Council:

I am submitting herewith a thesis written by William Ryan Foster entitled “The Relationships of
Streambank Angles and Shapes to Streambank Erosion Rates in the Little River Watershed, TN.”
I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that
it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, with
a major in Geography.

Carol P. Harden , Major Professor

We have read this thesis
and recommend its acceptance:

Liem Tran

Henri Grissino-Mayer

Accepted for the Council:

Carolyn R. Hodges
Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School

(Original signatures are on file with official student records.)
The Relationships of Streambank Angles and Shapes to
Streambank Erosion Rates in the
Little River Watershed, TN

A Thesis Presented for the Master of Science Degree
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

William Ryan Foster
August 2010
Copyright © 2010 by William Ryan Foster.
All rights reserved.

ii
Dedication

To my parents, R.D. and Donna Foster, for instilling in me an ethical code that will
always guide me through life.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Carol Harden, for sharing a bit of her wisdom over
the last few years and for leading many enjoyable trips into the Little River watershed. I
also thank my committee members, Dr. Liem Tran and Dr. John Schwartz for additional
guidance. I thank Christopher Morris for his help in the field and Tim Green for making
the maps of the Little River Watershed. Lastly, I want to extend my gratitude to Monica
Rother for her tremendous support and her warm smile. Thank you.

The erosion-pin portion of this study was funded by the Blount County Soil and
Conservation District through an EPA Targeted Watershed Grant. The rest of the
research was funded in part by The Stewart K. McCroskey Memorial Fund.

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Abstract
Sediment is a leading cause of water quality impairment throughout the United
States. In the Little River watershed in eastern Tennessee, several tributaries have been
classified as impaired due primarily to sedimentation. Researchers at The University of
Tennessee, in collaboration with a group of local and state organizations, began
monitoring Little River tributaries to better understand their sources of pollution. To
investigate the rates and processes of streambank erosion, erosion-pin monitoring sites
were established on 32 banks in the watershed. This thesis complements the erosion-pin
monitoring efforts by determining morphological bank characteristics and examining the
relationships of streambank angles and shapes to observed erosion rates. The specific
objectives of this study were to: (1) characterize streambank angles, (2) describe the
relationships between streambank angles and bank erosion rates, (3) characterize bank
shape, and (4) determine if bank shapes at erosion-pin monitoring sites are representative
of their immediate stream reaches.
Streambank angles were measured at erosion pins. Bank angles averaged
approximately 55° and varied significantly between tributaries and individual monitoring
sites. Bank angle measurements were compared to erosion-pin exposure using correlation
analysis. Data were then sorted into subgroups by pin position, soil texture, and bank
shape, and further analyses were conducted. Results indicated streambank erosion was
significantly, positively associated with bank angle for angles ! 30°. Significant, positive
relationships were also found low on banks, where soil texture was clay, and where banks
were classified as undercut.
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Bank profiles were documented to classify the bank shapes of erosion-pin
monitoring sites and assess how well the banks at those sites represented the immediate
reach. In the Little River watershed, bank profile shapes vary, but nearly three-fourths of
all documented bank profiles were steeply sloping or undercut. The majority of
monitoring sites (78%) were representative of the immediate stream reach with regard to
bank shape. However, other factors, including surrounding land use and soil type, may
differ within the immediate reach. Thus, data extrapolation from erosion pins to the reach
scale should be done cautiously and take into consideration variability of individual site
characteristics.

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Table of Contents

Chapter One..................................................................................................1!
1. Introduction...............................................................................................1!
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Chapter Two..................................................................................................9!
2. Study Area.................................................................................................9!
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Chapter Three.............................................................................................23!
3. Methods ...................................................................................................23!
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Chapter Four...............................................................................................33!
4. Results......................................................................................................33!
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