ABSTRACT
High-resolution topographic data of the East Fork White River, Indiana reveals the complexity of intermittently flowing floodplain channel networks. In the present work, we analyzed the sediment transport potential of various sizes of sediment at various flows on this channelized floodplain along an example river-floodplain pathway. We applied a two-dimensional numerical model, 2-D HECRAS, with a model domain constructed from lidar data and main-channel river bathymetry. Simulated shear stresses were used to estimate the Shields stress for grain size classes between 4 µm and 64 mm. These results were combined with measured data to investigate the potential transport of a range of grain sizes at various flows. Results show that on the floodplain, flow in floodplain channels is capable of transporting gravel-sized particles as bed load, which is unexpected for floodplains.
