267-2 Survey of Sediment Transport at the Transition from Braided to Managed Reaches of the Arkansas River

Session: Advances in Fluvial Processes and Sediment Transport (Posters)

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Abstract:

The Arkansas River has been used as a major shipping route since the late 1950’s. The ability to ship goods on the Arkansas River was a major engineering feat through the construction of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS). Through the construction of the MKARNS canal, the Arkansas River transitions from a “natural” riverbed to an engineered riverbed. The goal of this study is to quantify the sediment transport within this transition of a “natural” to an engineered channel. This transition occurs outside of Muskogee, Ok and is the point where the MKARNS splits from the Arkansas River and continues on the Verdigris River. The research area for this study is located 5 km upstream in the Arkansas River from this confluence and is the transition point from the “naturally” braided Arkansas River into the deep canal of the MKARNS. To quantify the sediment transport within the study area, two bathymetric studies were compared. A drone boat equipped with a GPS and single-beam sounding device was used for the bathymetric surveys. These studies were conducted in February and September of 2025. The studies captured around 1.5 km of the Arkansas River and showed the amount of sediment transported from the area over a seven month period. From the data, a hydrologic model was made to show the amount of sediment that is being transported directly into the MKARNS canal. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are tasked with maintaining the MKARNS canal. They do this through the use of bathymetric surveys and dredging campaigns. The data gathered from the surveys was compared to the last 13 USACE surveys to deduce if all the sediment transport from the Arkansas River is being pulled out of the MKARNS canal.This data does not match, therefore this leads to the hypothesis that the sediment is deposited further downstream in the Arkansas River creating a massive lump of sediment that is slowly making its way into the MKARNS canal.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-10637

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