River Channel Restoration
The mid-Atlantic region is currently a focus of intensive efforts to restore river channels. Most of the methods now used in restoration, however, are geomorphically naive.
To provide a more sound basis for river restoration, I am developing new methods to understand how river channels adjust their morphology through time in response to changes in discharge, sediment supply, bank vegetation, and other factors.
To achieve this goal, I am working with an interdisciplinary team composed of hydrologists, biologists, and ecologists from the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and the Stroud Water Research Center.
We are collaborating on two interrelated projects: a riparian reforestation study, and an urban stream assessment and restoration.
I am also working on a restoration project for a suburban watershed outside Washington, D.C.
The two goals of this study are to develop:
To accomplish these goals, we are developing a general model that will enable us to evaluate rates and patterns of river channel evolution in response to changes in discharge, sediment supply, and bank vegetation.
The goal of this project is to select some reaches of streams in Fairmont Park (the largest urban park in the world) that can benefit from river restoration. We will then design and implement a restoration strategy.
In part, we view this project as a practical test of the more theoretical tools developed in the riparian reforestaton study.
Here, we are also developing new methods to understand how rivers change through time. Our approach combines historical analyses (based on sediment budgets, stratigraphic analysis, and dendrochronology), statistical methods, and numerical modeling.
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My Research Interests |
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Geology Department
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University of Delaware
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