Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/9175
Title: Preliminary assessment of sedimentation and erosion in Eagle River Flats, south-central Alaska
Authors: Lawson, Daniel E.
Brockett, Bruce E.
Keywords: Estuary
Sedimentation
Cook Inlet
Fort Richardson (Alaska)
Subarctic
Erosion
Pollution
Tidal flat
Sedimentation
Deposition
Eagle River (Alaska)
United States. Army. Infantry Division. 6th
Publisher: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.)
Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.: CRREL report ; 93-23.
Description: CRREL Report
Abstract: The physical processes of sedimentation and erosion within the tidal mudflats and salt marshes of Eagle River Flats (ERF), an area used as an artillery impact range by the U.S. Army since 1945, must be understood to evaluate potential treatments of a high duck mortality resulting from ingestion of white phosphorus (WP) particles. The WP originates from smoke-producing devices detonated here. A preliminary assessment of erosion and sedimentation during May to September 1992 indicates that the physical system is complex and the intensity of these processes spatially variable. Deposition from suspension sedimentation generally varied with morphology and elevation, increasing inland from levees on the Eagle River (1 to 2 mm) across vegetated (3 to 6 mm) and unvegetated (5 to 12 mm) mudflats, and into ponds (10 to 19 mm) and salt marshes (10 mm). Resedimentation rates in ponds ranged from 8 to 16 mm. Recession rates of eroding gully headwalls were highly variable, ranging from negligible to over 3.9 m. White phosphorus particles may be in suspended transport through gullies during ebb. Further studies are necessary to better define annual sedimentation and erosion rates, with improved sampling techniques used at an expanded number of sites. Basic data on tidal inundation, sediment influx and efflux, and WP particle transport are required to develop appropriate treatment methods.
U.S. Army Environmental Center.
Rights: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11681/9175
Appears in Collections:CRREL Report

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