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Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on HydroScience and Engineering (ICHE 2006) [ISBN: 0977447405] >
Stream restoration under "natural" conditions: the Oswego River at Martha Furnace
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http://hdl.handle.net/1860/1360
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| Title: | Stream restoration under "natural" conditions: the Oswego River at Martha Furnace |
| Authors: | Epstein, Claude M. |
| Keywords: | Stream restoration
River morphodynamics
Sediment transport
Fluvial hydraulics |
| Issue Date: | 11-Sep-2006 |
| Publisher: | Michael Piasecki and College of Engineering, Drexel University |
| Citation: | Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Hydroscience and Engineering, Philadelphia, PA, September 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1860/732 |
| Abstract: | Over 130 years ago, the Oswego River of the New Jersey Pine Barrens began the process of restoration after a century of use as a vehicle of transportation, commerce, and waste disposal. The town, Martha Furnace, ceased industrial operations in the 1840’s. Martha Pond, the reservoir of mills and furnace, drained in the 1870’s. Subsequently, stream restoration proceeded by “natural” processes.
The initial and restoration landforms were assessed using NCRS aerial photographs, Rosgen analysis, floodplain cross-section construction, stream reach surveys, floodplain transects and sieve analysis of channel and bank materials.
The Oswego River was channelized and dammed in three places resulting in a significant decrease in sinuosity. Stream type changed from C4/5, typical for unimpacted reaches, to E4 where it was channelized. The Martha Pond reach became a DA 4-7. Channel sediment median grain size varied from coarse sand to gravel while its banks were consistently very coarse sand. Sediment accumulated behind the dam, medium sand, contained anomalously high concentrations of fine textured sediment. Slag, disposed of on the floodplain, broke down and was transported downstream as gravel and sand.
Restoration proceeded after Martha Furnace depopulated. Exposed reservoir sediment was either dissected forming new channels or covered by Sphagnum moss. Ecological succession followed covering the floodplain with sedge-dominated savannah and Atlantic white cedar forest. |
| Description: | Paper presented at The Seventh International Conference on HydroScience and Engineering (ICHE)hosted by the College of Engineering at Drexel Univeristy on September 10-13, 2006 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The conference theme was IT in the Field of HydroSciences. It included several mini-symposia that emphasized IT topics in HydroSciences and the yearly meeting of the metadata group of the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange organization. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1860/1360 |
| ISBN: | 0977447405 |
| Appears in Collections: | Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on HydroScience and Engineering (ICHE 2006) [ISBN: 0977447405]
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