Water movement

& Floods

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Oncewaterhitstheground,wheredoeswatergo?
Evaporatesintotheatmosphere
Absorbedbyplants
Soaksintotheground(intogroundwater
aquifer)
Succumbstogravityandflowsdownhill

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Onland stepoftheHydrologicalCycle
Duringperiodsofnormalpercipitation,wateris
soakedintothegroundandflowsintorivers/streams
Waterfollowsagradient toabaselevel (oceanor
lake)
ConcernedaboutSurfaceRunoff
Duringintenserainfall
Waterflowsonsurfacetothestreams

Occursoveranentireareathatastreamdrains

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Watershed akadrainagebasin Theupstreamarea

fromwherewaterwillflowintoachannel
Exist as
fractals

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Rivershave afunctionoftransportingnotjustwater,
butsolidsaswell boulders,sands,silts,muds
Thisisawaytodifferentiate theenergyofariver
LargeBoulders
=
Highenergy,
highvelocity
Fine Muds
=
LowEnergy,
Lowvelocity

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Duetovariationsinflowvelocity,riversformnatural
levees viadepositionofsedimentduringfloods

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Whenwateramountincreasesbeyondthenatural
capacityofachannel,theriverhasenteredafloodstage
Floodsoccurasacrestmovingdownadrainagearea
Apulseofwater
movingthrougha
system

http://water.weather.gov/ahps/

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Duetowatershedarrangement,floodwatersfroma
similarareamayarrivetoariveratdifferenttimes

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Riseinfloodwaterscanoccuroveralongtimespan

dependantonwaterinputrate
Hourstoweeks(canassistwithpreparation)
Discussion:
Urbanization
hasheightened
floodintensity
Why?

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Flash Flood Occurssuddenlywithlittlewarningdue

toasuddeninfluxofalargeamountofwaterintoa
drainagearea
Oftenoccurindry,desertareas(butnotlimitedto!)
Havevarioussources/ causes(allresponsible for
suddenmassive
amountsofwater)
Meltwater
Dam(naturalor
manmade)failure
Thunderstorm

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Recurrenceinterval Theaveragetimebetweenfloods
ofsimilarsize
Variesbyregionandriverdue toclimate,
geography,andgeology
Thelarger theflood,thelongertherecurrence
interval
A50yearfloodhasa
discharge ofacertain
amountandisestimated
tohappenevery50years

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Casestudy
Greatfloodof1862 WestCoast, U.S.A.
IntenseRainNov61
February 62(nonstop
rainDec23Jan 22)
Coldstormsfollowed
byintensewarmstorm
fromthesouthinlate
JanuaryFebruary
Largeamountofwater
Strongstorm
Snow melt

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1860CAstatepopulation 380,000(now38million+)

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Casestudy
Created inlandseas
Orangecountyunder 4ft
ofwater
InlandEmpirecutin
halfbythousandsof
acresofwatermileswide
Killed2040peoplein
thisareaalone.True
numberwillneverbe
known
ReroutedtheL.A.,San
Gabriel,andSantaAna
Rivers
Estimatedtobe500
1,000yrflood

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Casestudy
Sacramentounder10ftofwater(newgovernortookboatto
inauguration)
200,000cattlekilled.ForcedCaliforniatoshiftfromranching
tofarmingeconomy
Overoftaxablepropertydestroyed.Beingrelianton
propertytaxes,thisbankruptedthestate

Changed
California
History

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Yourvideodiscussionsheetsareduenext
Tuesday(10/8)at thebeginningofclass!
Plate
Tectonics