Channel planform and land cover changes on a mined river floodplain: Amite River, Louisiana, USA (original) (raw)

The Amite River in southeastern Louisiana, USA, is a disturbed floodplain and channel, where combined gravel and sand extraction has exceeded 10 million tons per year. To examine relationships between mining and channel change along this river, land cover data from a %-km floodplain reach with variable mining intensity were compiled from photographic, map and documentary sources for two different time periods. These data were manipulated using a geographic information system and analysed using nonparametric statistics, producing statistically robust, moderate correlations between the degree of floodplain mining and change in channel position. The approach and results have application in research, planning and management concerning floodplain disturbances and channel instability. Copyright 0 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd Keywords: channel planform change, floodplain land cover, fluvial geomorphology, geographic information systems, gravel and sand mining