Description and development of a database for bedload trap measurements in Rocky Mountain streams

Abstract

This publication describes a large collection of gravel bedload transport measurements taken in numerous small Rocky Mountain streams (the database is available at https://www.fs.fed.us/biology/nsaec/projects-bedloadtraps.html). The database was developed for gravel bedload data collected between 1998 and 2015 during 14 campaigns at 12 field sites in 9 Rocky Mountain streams in Colorado and Wyoming and 1 stream in the Cascade Mountains in eastern Oregon. The data were collected with bedload traps - large, unflared samplers that had been specially developed to obtain representative samples of gravel bedload in mountain streams. The database contains about 1,700 estimates of cross-sectionally averaged transport rates derived from almost 8,500 individual samples collected. At most study sites, bedload was also collected using a Helley-Smith sampler, and those data are included in the database as well. The bedload measurements, which form the centerpiece of the database, are complemented by a wide range of ancillary data that provide a watershed-scale and channel reach-scale context to the bedload data collected. Ancillary data include surface and subsurface bed-material size distributions, discharge measurements, seasonal hydrographs, peak-flow recurrence intervals, site maps, surveyed longitudinal profiles and channel cross sections, annotated site photographs, and site study reports. Numerical information for each stream site, i.e., bedload transport and ancillary data, is presented in Excel spreadsheets with a separate file for each topic. The spreadsheets are extensively annotated. Each spreadsheet starts with a navigation section that guides the user through the various worksheets, while a methods section explains how field data were collected and analyzed. Text boxes on the individual worksheets offer site-specific information and additional explanation. References to relevant reports and other publications are provided.

Citation

Bunte, Kristin; Swingle, Kurt W. 2021. Description and development of a database for bedload trap measurements in Rocky Mountain streams. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-420. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 24 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/RMRS-GTR-420