WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 22, NO.

2, PAGES 191-197, FEBRUARY 1986

Persistence in the Size Distribution of Surficial Bed Material

During an Extreme Snowmelt Flood
E. D. ANDREWS

U..S.GeologicalSurvey,Denver, Colorado

DON C. ERMAN

Departmentof Forestry and ResourceManagement,Universityof California,Berkeley

SagehenCreekis a small,gravelbed streamin the SierraNevadaof California.The reachstudiedhas

a single-thread,meandering channel with alluvial bed and banks. Surficial bed material sampled
throughout a 160-m-long reach has a median diameter of 58 mm. The underlying subsurfacebed
material is appreciablyfiner and has a median diameter of 30 mm. The bank-full dischargeis ~ 2.0 cubic
m3/s,and has beenequaledor exceeded
on an averageof 12.1 daysper year duringthe periodof
continuousgageoperation,water years 1953-1983. Snowmeltrunoff in the springof 1983 was the longest
period of sustained,high flows that has occurred in the past 30 years. Bed load transport rates were
sampled daily at the peak of the snowmelt flood, May 30 to June 12, 1983. Whole-channel bedload
transport rates varied between0.012 and 0.10 kg/s. An estimated5800 kg of material large• than 45 mm
was transportedpast the samplingcrosssectionbetweenMay 30 and June 12, 1983.Thesemeasurements
show that a significantquantity of material involving a majority of the particle sizes present in the
streambedsurfacewas transportedduring the period of sustained,large discharges.The sizedistribution
of surficialbed material immediatelyupstreamof the bedload samplingcrosssectionwas measuredon
June 6 near the flood peak and again on July 12 after the flood had subsided.In spiteof large differences
in dischargeand bedload transport the size distributionsof particle sizesin the surficial bed material
were virtually identical. The relatively coarser layer of surficial bed material that is present in Sagehen
Creek during small dischargesalso was in place and unchangedduring a sustainedperiod of very large
discharges.Bedload sampling and measurementsof tracer-particle movement indicate that only a few
particles,thoughinvolvingnearlyall availablesizes,wereentrainedat any instantby eventhe peak flood
flows.

INTRODUCTION formative processes.Many investigators have assumed that

In gravel bed rivers, surficial bed material commonly con- the relatively coarserbed surfacewill be greatly modified or
tains more relatively coarser particles compared to the un- destroyed when the largest particles in the bed surface are
derlying material. The bed surfaceis thin, extendingto a depth entrained by the flow; for examples, see Bray and Church
approximately equal to one diameter of the largest particle, [1980], Klingemanand Emmett [1982], Carling [1981], and
and involves a much smaller volume of material than the Gomez[1983]. Furthermore,many investigatorshave suggest-
subsurface. Most of what is known about the nature of the ed that the relatively coarserbed surfacere-formswhen dis-
bed surface is the result of laboratory flume studies and field charge decreasesto the point where the hydraulic conditions
observationsat low flow when no sediment is being trans- are sufficientto transport only the smaller bed particles.The
ported.Because the rel•atively coarserbed surfaceoccursin relatively finer particles are then winnowed from the
gravel bed rivers with •widely different hydraulic conditions streambed surface,while the coarser particles are left behind
andsediment transp(•?•.•:ates,
a number offormative processes as a residual layer. Differences in threshold hydraulic con-
havebeenproposed to'b.ccountfor them.Varioustermshave ditions of the various sizesof bed particlesare believedto be
been used to describethe bed surfaces,dependingon the in- important in the formation of the bed surface. Recent investi-
ferred processand its frequencyof occurrence. gations of gravel transport in rivers with naturally sorted bed
Bray and Church [1980] suggestedthat the term "armor" be material by Parker et al. [1982a] and Andrews[1983], how-
applied to a bed surfacewhen particlemotion was a relatively ever, have found that nearly all available sizesof bed particles
frequent occurrenceover a period of years. For gravel bed are entrained at about the same discharge.In such situations,
rivers in which bed particlesare entrained only rarely by the differential entrainment does not appear to be a significant
most extreme floods, the term "pavement" was suggestedto process.

describethe surface bed material. In addition, Carling and Parker et al. [1982b] show that a relatively coarser bed
Reeder [1982] proposed the term "censoredlayer" for bed surfacecould be formedin a laboratory flume when operated
surfacesin which the largest particles are never entrained by with a sedimentfeed and at a constantdischargesufficientto
move all available sizes. Thus variations in flow and differ-
the flow. There is as yet, however, no general agreement on
the exact meaning of these terms, as Parker [1981] noted. ential entrainment of bed particlesmay not be essentialto the
Becauseof the different terminology presently used, the gen- formation of a bed surfacein some gravel bed rivers. These
eric terms "bed surface" and "subsurface" will be used to avoid flume experiments indicate that under certain conditions the
confusionresultingfrom previoususage. bed surfaceof a gravel channelis a mobile bed feature.That
The relative frequency with which particles in the bed sur- is, the bed surface is constructed and maintained at times
face are entrained by the flow is crucial to understanding the when virtually all available sizes of bed material are in
motion.
Copyright 1986 by the American Geophysical Union.
The paper describesthe entrainment and transport of bed
Paper number 5W40i3. material in a gravel bed stream during the longestperiod of
0043-1397/86/005W-4013505.00 sustainedflood dischargethat has occurred in the past 30
191
192 ANDREWS AND ERMAN: SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF SURFICIAL BED MATERIAL
BASIN
BOUNDARY
Fig. 1. SagehenCreek drainage basin showinglocation of gages.
years. During the flood peak, bed particles as large as the
eightieth percentile fraction of the bed surfacewere entrained
by the flow. The relatively coarser bed surface,however, re-
mained in place. Furthermore,the size distributionsof sur-
ficial bed material determined at the flood peak and later at
low flow were nearly identical.Hence the bed surfaceappears
to be a mobile bed feature similar to those observed in flumes
by Parker et al. r1982b].
HYDROLOGY OF SAGEHEN CREEK
Sagehen Creek is a small headwater tributary to the
Truckee River, which drains the east flank of the Sierra
Nevada in California (Figure 1). Streamflow has been record-
ed continuouslysince 1953 at a U.S. Geological Survey gage,
SagehenCreek near Truckee, 10343500. The drainage basin
has not been modified by artificial impoundments or diver-
sions.Except for a few hundred hectaresthe basin lies entirely
within the Tahoe National Forest. Biological research con-
ducted through the facilitiesof a University of California field
station is the principal human activity in the basin. Hillslope
erosion does not appear to have been acceleratedby human
activities.
Most of the SagehenCreek basin upstreamfrom the gage
was glaciated during the Pleistocene.The topography, how-
ever, is relatively subduedcompared to other nearby valleys.
The highest point in the basin is 2670 m, and the gage is
located at an elevation of 1930 m. The region has cool, moist
winters and hot, dry summers.Mean annual precipitation de-
termined from records of a U.S. National Weather Service
gage is 940 mm for 1937-1983. Eighty percent of this precipi-
tation occurs during November to April, primarily as snow.
Except for grassmeadows along SagehenCreek the vegetation
is a forest of pine and fir.
Beginning • 2 river km upstream from the gage, Sagehen
Creek flows more or less continuously through meadows
where the bed and banks consist of alluvial material. The
channel is single-thread and meandering and has a well-
developedsequenceof pools and riffles. In this reach, the flu-
vial characteristicsof SagehenCreek conform to a theoretical
KILOMETERS
model formulated by Parker [1978] to describe mobile-bed
gravel rivers with stable banks. The hydraulicsand geomor-
phic characteristicsof Sagehen Creek, also, are in excellent
agreementwith the resultsof an investigationof 24 gravel bed
rivers in the Rocky Mountains describedby Andrews[1984].
SagehenCreek thus appearsto be typical of the classof gravel
bed rivers with nonbraided channels and mobile bed material.
A study reach • 160 m long was establishedimmediately
upstreamfrom the gagein order to investigatethe hydraulic
and sediment transport characteristicsof Sagehen Creek. A
single-spanfootbridgewas constructedso that the transportof
bedload material could be easily sampled. In addition, 12
crosssectionswere establishedand resurveyedthroughout a
range of water discharges.A floodplain, e.g., the surface cur-
rently being constructedby SagehenCreek, is prominent and
easily identified throughout the study reach. At each cross
section,the elevationof this surfacedefinesthe bank-full stage.
The average bank-full discharge determined for all 12 cross
sections
is 2.0 m3/s.The averagebank-fullwidthis 4.9 m.
The average water surfaceslope through the study reach
decreasesas discharge increases.At the mean annual dis-
chargeof 0.368m3/s,the watersurfaceslopeis 0.014,com-
pared to 0.0115 at the bank-fulldischargeof 2.0 m3/s and
0.0091at a dischargeof 4.11m3/s.
The duration of daily mean dischargesduring the period of
record,water years1953-1983,is summarizedin Figure 2. The
bank-full dischargewas equaled or exceeded3.3% of the time,
or 12.1 days per year, on an average.Dischargesexceeding
twice the bank-full value have a duration of 0.5% of the time,
or 1.83 days per year. Snowmelt runoff during the spring of
1983 was the longestperiod of sustainedhigh flows that has
occurredin the past 30 years.Daily mean dischargeexceeded
the bank-full value for 45 days. Slightly lessthan one half of
the daysin which the dischargehas equaledor exceededtwice
the bank-full dischargeduring the entire period of record oc-
curredduring 1983.
Exceedence probabilitiesof annual peak dischargerecords
betweenwater years1954through1983are shownin Figure 3.
Flood peakshave beenidentifiedas causedby either spring
 ANDREWS AND ERMAN' SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF SURFICIAL BED MATERIAL 193

2O I I I I I I I lOO
I I I I /•1•//"•
I
10 - SurfaceBedMaterial ///
s
ac 80 -
0 _

a. 60 -

O• 40- -

20

1 5 10 50 100 400
PARTICLE DIAMETER, IN MILLIMETERS
Fig. 4. Comparison of surfaceand subsurfacebed material size dis-
tribution.
.02,.0,5• •
1 •0
1 i
,50 I
90 •
99 99.9 •
PERCENT OF TIME DISCHARGE
WAS EQUALED OR EXCEEDED BED MATERIAL SIZE
Fig. 2. Duration of daily mean dischargesat the gage, water years The bed of SagehenCreek is composedof a very wide range
1953-1983.
of particle sizes. Gravel-sized material is abundant, but ap-
preciable quantities of sand, cobbles, and even small boulders
snowmelt or rain on snow. The five highest flood peaks of also occur. Due to extensivelateral and vertical sorting of the
Sagehen Creek during the past 30 years have resulted from available bed material, significant spatial variation exists in
intenserainfall on an existingsnowpackduring November to the bed material size distribution.Lateral sorting of die bed
February. These floods have had a limited duration, lasting surfaceis associatedwith meander bends rBluck, 1971; Bridge,
only 1 to 3 days. In contrast, the spring snowmelt floods have 1976]. Bed material was sampled at four cross sections to
had a much longer duration, though with a smaller peak dis- determine the average size distribution of the streambedsur-
face. At each cross section the channel width was divided into
charge.In 1983the instantaneous
peak dischargeof 7.65 m3/s
that occurred on May 29 was due to snowmelt. three segments.One hundredparticleswere selectedrandomly
from an area of • 5 m2. The compositeparticlesizedistri-
bution determined from 12 samplesof surfacebed material is
shown in Figure 4. The reach median diameter of surface
4O
material is 58 mm. Ten percent of the bed surfaceis coarser
I I I I I I I I I I I I I
than 130 mm or finer than 21 mm.
z
o
Bulk samples of the subsurfacebed material also were col-
lected at each of the four cross sections. The samples were
oSnowmelt
ß Rain on Snow
collected at low flow by scraping away the bed surface to a

100
• 10-
June 6, 1983-4.28 m3/s

a:: 80-
•
z
5

a- 60
July
12,
1983-1.07
m3/s
// _
3/s

o• 40 _

I----
/
"' 1

z
z

0.4 I I I I I I I I I I I I , I I'"'"'•'1/ I I I I
99.5 98 95 90 50 10 5 2 1 1 õ 10 õ0 100 õ00
ANNUAL EXCEEDENCE PROBABILITY, PERCENT PARTICLE DIAMETER, IN MILLIMETERS

Fig. 3. Exceedenceprobability of annual peak discharges,water Fig. 5. Comparison of surface bed material size distribution at the
years 1953-1983. footbridgecrosssectionon June6 and July 12, 1983.
194 ANDREWS AND ERMAN.' SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF SURFICIAL BED MATERIAL

• I i i i i I I i I I I

.065
0.10
-'
I
.081
]'•i0 •.0•"3
.014
I I I ! I I I I I I I

_ ß .055
.015
ß .084 .060 .068
.016 ß ß
.015 .011
ß
.019

o 0.05 .052

z •
.057 .013

.054 .015
ß .o64
.014 •1•
.013
ø8 .067

.012
.055

.077 D MAXIMUM, IN METERS

.016
.017 D IN METERS
50'

.086

.012
0.01 I I I I I I , I I I I I I ,i I
5-30 5-31 6-1 6-5 6-10 6-12
TIME, IN DAYS

Fig. 6. Waterdischarge
andmeasured
bedloadtransportratesfromMay 30 to June12,1983.

depth of 1 median particle diameter, •60 mm, and collecting
• 20 kg of material. The entire sample was dried and sieved.
The composite particle-size distribution of subsurfacebed ma-
terial is shown in Figure 4. Kellerhals and Bray [1971] con-
cluded that the methods used for sampling surfaceand subsur-
face material are equivalent.
Comparison of the surface and subsurfaceparticle-size dis-
tribution in Figure 4 shows that well-developed vertical sort-
ing of bed material existsin Sagehen Creek at low flow. Differ-
ences are greatest between relatively finer fractions. The
median particle diameter of subsurfacebed material is 30 mm.
Ten percent of the subsurfacebed material is finer than 2.5
mm or coarser than 110 mm.
The size distributions of surficial bed material
the bedload sampling(footbridge)crosssectionon June 6 and
July 12, 1983, are comparedin Figure 5. The longestperiod of
sustained high flow recorded at the Sagehen Creek gage
during the past 30 years was from May 30 to June 12, 1983
(seehydrograph plotted in Figure 6). The water dischargewas
4.28 m3/sduringthe pebblecounton June6, and the mean
daily dischargewas 5.04 m3/s.The instantaneous
discharge
was 2.15 times the bank-full value and has been equaled or
exceededonly 0.40% of the time at the Sagehen Creek gage
since 1953.
The pebble count of July 12 was measuredat a dischargeof
0.97 m3/s. This dischargeis lessthan one half the bank-full
value and has a duration of 10%. In spite of the large differ-
ence in discharge,the size distributions of surficial bed materi-
al were virtually identical on June 6 and July 12, 1983 (Figure
5). The median diameter of surface bed material was 50 mm
measured at on June 6 compared to 46 mm on July 12. On both occasions
the median diameter of surfacebed material was significantly
coarser
thantheunderlying
subsurface
bedmaterial,d5o= 30
mm. This comparisonshowsthat the relativelycoarserlayer
 ANDREWS AND ERMAN' SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF SURFICIAL BED MATERIAL 195

of surfacebed material that is presentin SagehenCreek at .20

small discharges also was in placeand.unchangedduring a 1983

sustainedperiod of very largedischarges.

BED MATERIAL TRANSPORT

The transport rate of bed material in Sagehen Creek was

sampleddaily from May 30 to June 12, 1983, at the footbridge <• .o5
crosssection.A handheld Helley-Smith bedload sampler with
a 150-mm square orifice was used to measurethe bed material
transport rate [Helley and Smith, 1971; Emmett, 1980; An- O• .

drews,1981]. Becauseof the large temporal and spatial varia-

Z
bility commonly observedin the bedload transport rate [Eh- 0 _
tenberger, 1931; Hubbell et al., 1981], three traversesof the Z
footbridge crosssectionwere made each day. During a trav-
erse, each of four locations, spaced0.61 m apart, in the cross
section were sampled for 4 min. The samples were dried, i i i i i i i i i 1

weighed,and sievedseparately.The mean transport rate and 0.5 1.0 5 10

size distribution of bed material on a given day were deter-
mined by averaging 12 4-min bedload samples.
dMAX/•50
The efficiencyof the Helley-Smith sampler decreasesas the Fig. 7. Relation between the ratio of threshold particle diameter
diameter of bedload particles approachesthe size of the ori- to the median particle diameter of subsurfacebed material and the
critical dimensionless shear stress.
fice. In SagehenCreek, approximately 30% of the particles in
the streambed surface had an intermediate diameter larger
than one half of the sampier'sorifice. Therefore it is possible
that the sampling efficiency for the largest bedload particles presentin the streambedsurface,weretransportedduringthe
may be lessthan 100%. The error, however, is probably very periodof sustained,largedischarges.
small. The Helley-Smith sampler frame and handle used in Andrews[1983] investigatedthe critical dimensionless
shear
this investigationwas a single,rigid unit. When bedload parti- stress•ci* requiredto entraina givensizeparticle,di, using
cles larger than about 20 mm hit the sampler, the impact extensivebedloadtransport measurementsin three self-formed
could be both felt and heard. On a few occasions,during the rivers with naturally sorted gravel and cobble bed material.
entire flood, a large particle impacted the sampler,but was not The criticaldimensionless
shearstressis definedby
collected.The rigid, one-piececonstructionof the sampler had DS
additional advantages.First, becausethe larger particlescould z•* = (1)
(•/• - • )d,
be heard enteringthe sampler,one could identify and discard
those bedload samples when the sampler disturbed the whereD is the flowdepth,S is the slope,7sis the unit weight
streambedas it was being lowered and raised. Second,it was of sediment,and 7 is the unit weightof water.For bed parti-
possibleto insurethat the samplerwas restingsquarelyon the cles between 0.3 and 4.2 times the median diameter of the
streambedand not on top of a large particle. These attributes subsurface
bedmaterial,d5o,the criticaldimensionless
shear
of the sampler allowed us to eliminate some of the uncer- stress•:c•*is equalto
taintiescommonlyinvolvedin bedloadsampling.
Measured bedload transport rates between May 30 and
%•*= 0.0834(dill50)-0'872 (2)
June 12, 1983, are plotted in Figure 6. Beside each plotted Valuesof %•* anddi/d5ocomputed
for 50 dailycomposited
value the maximum and median particle diametersin the bed- bedloadsamples collected
in Sagehen Creekduring1982and
load sample are shown. Whole-channel bedload transport 1983are plottedin Figure7 and comparedwith (2). Hayashi
rates varied between 0.012 and 0.10 kg/s. Although these et al. [1980] and Parkeret al. [1982a]derivedrelationsvery
transport rates are relatively small, ~ 78,000 kg of bed materi- similarto (2) usingindependentsetsof data.
al were transported through the footbridge cross section be- The SagehenCreek measurements are in excellentagree-
tween May 30 and June 12, 1983. ment with (2). The steep,negativeslopeof the relation shown
The median sizeof daily bedload samplesranged from 11 to in Figure 7 indicatesthat bed material particlesin Sagehen
19 min. The estimated median particle diameter of bedload Creek are entrainedwithin a relativelynarrow range of dis-
transported by SagehenCreek between May 30 and June 12, charge.The relativelysmallerbed particlesare entrainedat a
1983, is 15 mm. This size correspondsto d36 of the bed sub- somewhatsmallerdischargethan the coarserparticles,but the
surfaceand d,• of the bed surface.Thus the averagesize bed- differenceis not large. This effect is due to the increasedex-
load material transport by these relatively rare high flows is posureof the relativelylargeparticlesto the fluid forces,which
appreciably smaller than the material available on the nearly,but not quite,compensates
for theirgreaterweight.
streambed.The maximum particle diameter in daily bedload When the size distribution of the streambed surface was
samplesranged from 52 to 86 mm. Thus the largest bedload sampledon June 6, 1983,the largestbedload particle collected
particlesequaledor exceededthe median particle diameter in was 60 mm. Becausethe transport rate of the relatively large
the streambedsurfaceat the footbridge crosssection.During bedload particles is very small, it is quite possiblethat parti-
May 30 to June 12 an estimated 5800 kg of bed material cles larger than 60 mm were entrained on June 6 but not
larger than 45 mm and 2400 kg of bed material larger than 64 collected in the bedload sampler. According to (2), the hy-
mm were transported through the footbridge cross section. draulic conditions were sufficientto entrain particles as large
These measurementsshow that a significant quantity of bed as 120 mm. Thus particles as large as the ninetieth percentile
material, including particlesas large as the eightieth percentile fraction of the streamed surface probably were in transport.
 196 ANDREWS AND ERMAN: SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF SURFICIAL BED MATERIAL
100 I I I I I I I I
>• 8O
_
o combined evidence of the bedload sampling and tracer parti-
'• 60
u-Zm
o
40-
z
a::• 20 - ...... 1981
1982
I I I I I I I I "1--
0
10 50 100
PARTICLE DIAMETER, IN MILLIMETERS
Fig. 8. Percent of tracer particlesmoved during the 1981 and 1982
snowmeltfloodsfor varioussizeclassesof particles.
When the size distribution of the streambed surface
footbridge crosssectionwas sampled again on July 12, 1983,
the hydraulic conditions were only sufficientto entrain parti-
clesas large as 14 mm.
It was shown in Figure 5 that the size distribution of surface
bed material at the footbridgecrosssectionwas virtually iden-
tical on June 6 and July 12, 1983. The entrainment and trans-
port of particles appreciably larger than the median diameter
of available bed material did not significantly alter the
streambed surface. No evidence exists that the layer of rela-
tively coarser material composingthe streambedsurfacewas
broken or disturbeden massein spite of the fact that nearly
all sizesof bed particles were being transported.The vertically
sorted streambed remained in place, while a few particles of
nearly all available sizeswere entrained and transported.
MOVEMENT OF TRACER PARTICLES
Persistenceof vertical sorting in the bed material appears to
be inconsistent with the entrainment and transport of nearly
all available sizesof bed particles. This apparent contradiction
is explained by the movement of tracer particles. In 1981 and
1982, • 150 painted rocks were placed on a riffle 75 m up-
stream from the footbridge. Each rock was weighed, num-
bered, and placed at a known location on the riffle. After the
spring snowmelt flood, the channel was thoroughly inspected.
Although only one half of the tracer particleswere found both
years, it was always possibleto determine whether a particle
had or had not moved, because the original location was
known exactly.The percentsof particlesin varioussizeclasses
that were moved during the 1981 and 1982 snowmelt floods
are plotted in Figure 8. The 1981 snowmelt flood peak and
duration were substantiallylessthan the average,whereasthe
1982 snowmelt flood peak and duration were much greater
than the average and only slightly less than that which oc-
curred during 1983. As expected,a larger percentageof the
particles in any size classmoved during the longer and larger
flood. During both floods some tracer particles much larger
than the median diameter of the surface bed material moved,
whereas some particles much smaller than surface median di-
ameter did not move. During 1982, 40% of the particles
having a mean diameter of 100 mm moved, whereas 7% of
particles having a mean diameter of 15 mm did not move. The
observations summarized in Figure 8 show that the surficial
bed material was not entrained en masseat any time during
the 1981 or 1982 snowmelt floods. Even though a significant
I
number of particles as large as twice the median diameter of
the surface material were entrained at some time during the
floods, general motion of the streambed did not occur. The
cle movements indicates that relatively few particles, but in-
volving nearly all available sizes of bed particles, were en-
trained by the flow at any instant from May 30 to June 12,
1983. The existence of a relatively coarser bed surface at a
time when nearly all sizesof bed particles were in transport is
possible because so few bed particles were entrained at any
instant.
The relatively small bed material transport rates are a direct
result of the fact that the dimensionless shear stress never
exceedsthe critical value by more than • 25% even at the
largest recorded discharges.Between May 30 and June 12 the
150 largestdimensionlessshearstressrelative to the median parti-
cle diameter in the bed surface,r5o*, was 0.057 and occurred
on June 10 at a dischargeof 6.64 m3/s.Annual peak dis-
chargeslarger than 6.6 m3/s have been recordedjust nine
times in 30 years at the Sagehen Creek gage. Becausethe
at the floodplain through the study reach is relatively wide, flow
depth and thus shearstressin the channelincreaseslowly with
dischargeat stagesgreater than bank-full. The critical dimen-
sionlessshear stress%5o* computedby (2) is 0.047. This con-
ditionis attainedat a discharge
of 1.86m3/s,or somewhat
less
than the bank-full value. Therefore although the critical shear
stressneededto entrain the median bed particlesis equaled or
exceededon an average of 4.0% of the time, dimensionless
shear stress greater than 1.2 times the critical value is ex-
tremely rare.
The range and duration of dimensionlessshear stressesindi-
cate that the transport of bed material occurs relatively fre-
quently over a period of years but that the rate of transport is
always small. The estimated mean annual transport of bed
material coarserthan 11.0 mm is • 10,000kg/yr. Although the
annual load is relatively small, the quantity of bed material
transport over a period of years is sufficient to construct the
bank-full channel and sort the bed material. No evidence
existsto indicate that the nature of SagehenCreek is a relict of
a very large and unrecorded flood more than 30 years ago.
Therefore it is concluded that the existing size distribution of
surfacebed material in SagehenCreek has adjustedto and is
•qummmm with a small but nonzero transport rate, which
includesnearly all sizesof bed material.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
SagehenCreek is a meanderinggravel bed stream with a
bank-full dischargeof 2.0 m3/s. Vertical sorting of the bed
material is well developed.The median diameter of the subsur-
face material averages 30 mm versus 58 mm for the surface
bed material through a study reach of 160 m. Surface bed
materialis slightlyfiner immediatelyupstreamof a footbridge,
where the bedload transport rate was sampleddaily during
periods of high flow. The size distribution of surfacebed ma-
terial at the footbridgemeasuredon June 6, 1983, during a
sustainedperiod of recordhigh flow was virtually identicalto
the size distributionmeasured5 weekslater on July 12 after
the flood had subsided. Therefore it was concluded that the
relatively coarserbed surfacewas in place and unalteredat
very large discharges.
Daily meandischarges of SagehenCreekexceeded 4.56m3/s
or 230% of the bank-fullvalueeveryday betweenMay 30 and
June 12, 1983. Prior to the 1983 snowmelta daily mean dis-
chargeof 4.56m3/shadbeenequaledor exceeded
16 daysin
29 years of record or 0.15% of the time. Measured whole-
 ANDREWSAND ERMAN: SIZE DISTRIBUTIONOF SURFICIALBED MATERIAL
channelbedloadtransportratesbetweenMay 30 and June12,
1983,rangedfrom 0.012 to 0.10 kg/s. An estimated78,000 kg
of bedloadwas transportedduring the 14 days.Approximately
7%, or 5,500 kg, of bedload was coarser than the median
diameter of the surfacebed material. The largestparticle col-
lected in any bedload sample was 86 ram, equivalent to the
eightieth percentilefraction of the bed surface.These bedload
measurementsdemonstrate that a significant volume of ma-
terial composedof most available sizesof bed material was
transportedfrom May 30 to June 12, 1983.
Existence of a vertically sorted streambed while most sizes
of bed material were in transport was physicallypossiblebe-
causeextremely few particles of any size were entrained at a
given time. The displacementof tracer particles placed in Sa-
gehen Creek during the 1981 and 1982 snowmelt floods
showed that general motion of surface bed material did not
occur. Rather, a few of the largest tracer particles were en-
trained, whereassome of the smallesttracer particlesdid not
move. Very few particlesare entrainedby the flow at a given
instant even at the largestdischarges,becausethe dimension-
lessshear stressis only slightly greater than its critical value.
The critical dimensionless shear stress%s0* for the median
particle diameterin the bed surfaceof SagehenCreek is 0.047
and is exceededat dischargessomewhatgreater than bank-
full. The maximum value of •:s0*betweenMay 30 and June 12
was 0.057. Moreover, the largest dimensionlessshear stress
during the 30 years of record is estimated to be no more than
25% larger than the critical value. Therefore general motion
of the bed material in SagehenCreek occurs rarely, if ever.
Over a period of years, however, significantquantities of bed
material including nearly all available sizes are transported
while the bed surface remains unbroken. Hence streambed
surfacecannot be a relict feature formed by an unrecorded
large flood more than 30 years ago. The relatively coarserbed
material surface is constructed by and in equilibrium with
small but nonzero transport rates involving nearly all sizesof
material. The bed surfaceof SagehenCreek is a mobile bed
feature formed by hydraulic conditions only slightly greater
than thoserequired to entrain bed particles.
Acknowledgments.Gary Parker contributed significantlyto this
investigationin many ways.His suggestions
and commentshave been
greatly appreciated.Nancy Erman, Lynn Decker, Michael Yoder-
Williams, and Michael Nolan assisted in fieldwork. The illustrations
were prepared by Judith McHugh. Draft manuscriptswere reviewed
by C. F. Nordin and John Costa. Their suggestionswere especially
helpful.
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(ReceivedJanuary17, 1985;
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