Using ArcGIS to Identify Major Sediment-Contributing Tributaries in the Fraser River Basin, BC

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GEOB 448A - Research Project For my directed studies, supervised by Dr. Marwan Hassan (UBC Geography), I was tasked with identifying major tributaries in the Fraser Basin which are contributing sediment to the Fraser River main stem. I used ArcGIS to delineate the Fraser stream network and associated watershed boundaries, then identified tributaries that flow into large water bodies (i.e. lakes, reservoirs) which are acting as sediment sinks.

Project Summary Report: GEOB448A_ProjectSummary_SimonCampbell

This research project was inspired by a study by Dr. Marwan Hassan and Dr. Kai Tsuruta, which was focused on developing a large-scale, physically-based, distributed suspended sediment transport model on the Fraser River Basin: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2017JF004578

We wanted to see if glaciated basins such as the Fraser, organize in such a way where only the main stem (first-order stream) contributes sediment to the outlet, and if we could identify major tributaries in the Fraser Basin that are not contributing sediment (i.e. disconnected) to the main stem. 14 watersheds were delineated and 24 first-order tributaries were identified using ArcMap 10.6. 20 of these tributaries were found to have no lake inflow, and therefore may be able to contribute sediment to the main stem of the Fraser River.

Figure 2. Major Tributaries of the Fraser River Basin. Map shows tributaries identified using the flow accumulation tool in ArcMap 10.6. Highlighted sections of the stream network are those which do not have any lake inflow.

 

 

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