Lower Ohio River Research Articles

: Archaeology of the Lower Ohio River Valley . Jon Muller.

: Archaeology of the Lower Ohio River Valley . Jon Muller.

Growth and Survival of Recent Recruits to a Population of Fusconaia ebena (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in the Lower Ohio River

-Demographically complete sampling of a large population of Fusconaia ebena (Lea) in a mainstream shoal in the lower Ohio River from 1983 through 1987 revealed extensive annual variation in recruitment. Survival and early growth rate were assessed by monitoring size increase and relative abundance of an exceptionally abundant, and therefore distinct, cohort of recent recruits. Individuals recruited to the population in 1981 comprised approximately 70% of the entire population throughout the study period, indicating both negligible mortality of this successfully settled cohort as well as lack of subsequent strong recruitment. Shell length of F. ebena increased at a linear rate throughout the 1st 6 years of life. The annual growth increment was approximately 8 mm. Biomass increased exponentially over the same age range. Longevity of F. ebena at this location was estimated to range from 11 to 18 years. First reproduction was estimated to occur at an age of 6 years and at a tissue mass equal to only 14% of that of the oldest adults in the population. A long reproductive lifespan is required to maintain this population, which is characterized by extensive annual variation in recruitment success.

Power Development and Water Allocation in Ohio River Basin

Widespread adoption of evaporative cooling towers will significantly increase water consumption by power plants over the coming decades. The analysis presented includes consideration of allocation issues associated with other growing competitive uses: (1) municipal; (2) industrial; (3) irrigation; and (4) in stream uses. Given hypothetical plant siting strategies suggested by the initial work of the Ohio River Basin Energy Study, consumption will represent high percentages of flows in the tributary basins of the lower Ohio River Basin, especially during 7-day, 10-yr low-flow conditions. Consumption levels are shown for tributary river basins in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Alternatives to high levels of consumption are suggested. In addition to presenting an analysis of water allocation in the Ohio Basin, the paper suggests a useful framework for analyzing water allocation in other regions.

Multistation, multiyear synthesis of hydrologic time series by disaggregation

A model is presented which is designed for multivariate (multistation, multiyear) data syntheses such as the simulation of several rainfall series over a region, of tributaries and mainstream runoff series, and of rainfall and concurrent runoff series in watersheds. The model is an application of the disaggregation scheme proposed by Valencia and Schaake. If a time series of higher‐level (e.g., annual) events for each station has been generated by some scheme which preserves the long‐term properties, then the disaggregation model can be used to generate parallel time series of lower‐level (e.g., monthly, weekly) events for each corresponding station. The aggregation of the generated lower‐level sequences can preserve the long‐term properties of the original higher‐level series. The seasonal variations, the means, the variances, the autocovariances, and the cross‐covariances, properties of the original lower‐level time series, are also conserved. The lower‐level generated series also preserves the correlations between stations. The generation of multivariate normal random numbers makes use of either the Crout factorization or the principal component analysis depending on whether the covariance matrix of the lower‐level series is positive definite or positive semidefinite, respectively. A technique for modeling nonnormal residual components is discussed. The model has been applied to 36 rainfall, runoff, and rainfall‐runoff sequences in the lower Ohio and upper Mississippi River basins located in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. The properties of the generated data series show excellent agreement with those of the historical observed data series.

Environmental History of Hovey Lake, Southwestern Indiana

Studies of pollen stratigraphy in conjunction with avail- able information on floodplain sedimentation and rates of channel migra- tion indicate that Hovey Lake is a recent feature, having originated between 600 and 700 years ago. Land-use practices in the region have had a significant effect on rates of sedimentation in the lake. The pre- 1830 rate was 0.74 crm/year; the post-1830 rate is 2.45 cm/year. Dur- ing the history of the lake the regional forests have been constant in com- position, while shoreline vegetation has changed appreciably. Cypress became abundant on the lakeshore about 150 years ago. in the unglaciated Midwest, cores were taken from Hovey Lake, an oxbow of the Ohio River located in southwestern Indiana. Although subsequent palynological studies have shown that the lake is much too young to provide data on the early postglacial vegetational history of the area, the study has provided information concerning the age of the lake and the environmental changes which have taken place during its developmental history. Hovey Lake is of particular interest because it is an area in which one of the northernmost extensions of floodplain species occurs. The lower Wabash and Ohio River valleys have been included by Kiuchler (1964) as part of the southern floodplain forest because of the presence of bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), pecan (Carya illinoensis), water hickory (C. aquatica) and tupelo gum (Nyssa aquatica). The northernmost occurrence of bald cypress and tupelo gum in the Midwest is 70 km N of Hovey Lake, while the northern limit of water hickory is 5 km N of the lake. Cain (1935) and Lindsey et al. (1961) found that Taxodium distichum was abundant on the lakeshore with Acer saccharinum, Betula nigra, Ulmus fulva and Carya illinoensis on slightly drier ground. Cephalanthus occidentalis, Rhus radicans and Vitis aestivalis were among the common shrubs and vines. The presence of southern floodplain species at or very near their present-day northern limit made Hovey Lake a potentially valuable site for delineating postglacial migrations into the lower Ohio and Wabash River valleys.

CHANNEL STABILITY ON THE LOWER OHIO RIVER∗

The meander loop pattern of the lower Ohio River has changed very little over the last thousand years. Point bar complexes are deposited and destroyed quite rapidly in comparison.

Similarities of Two Major Haplaquepts Mapped Along Tributaries of the Ohio River in Northwestern Kentucky

AbstractSoils identified as belonging to the Alligator and Sharkey series are of wide distribution and importance on portions of the Lower Ohio River Valley Flood Plain. Previous morphological and chemical studies indicated a close similarity of these soils. Further studies of physical properties, including particle size distribution, aggregate stability, bulk density, plastic limits, pore space, available moisture, percolation rates, along with sand, silt, and clay mineralogy, indicate that in most characteristics there are greater ranges between profiles within a series than between series. These data strongly support the hypothesis that these soils should be included in the same classification and mapping category in the Lower Ohio River Valley; namely, Vertic Haplaquepts: fine montmorillonitic, nonacid, mesic. The suggested classification is in the Karnak series.

Holocene sedimentation rates in overbank deposits in the Black Bottom of the lower Ohio River, southern Illinois

Holocene sedimentation rates in overbank deposits in the Black Bottom of the lower Ohio River, southern Illinois

Comparative Morphometry of Freshwater Drum from Two Midwestern Localities

Abstract A comparison of meristic and morphological characteristics in series of freshwater drum from the lower Ohio River, Kentucky, and Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, indicates that there are statistically significant differences in some measurements along the long axis of the body. However, there is a remarkable stability among meristic characteristics within the species that has persisted essentially in its present form since early postglacial times.

Channel‐storage and discharge‐relations in the lower Ohio River Valley

Recent studies made in the Ohio River Division Office of the United States Engineer Department have involved the analysis of storage‐ and discharge‐relations and have resulted in development of approximate flood‐routing procedure for the Lower Ohio River Valley where the situation is complicated by the confluence of the Ohio River with the Mississippi, Tennessee, Cumberland, and Wabash rivers, in this paper are presented the results obtained from study of the following reaches:(1) Reach terminating at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers at Cairo, Illinois and extending from Thebes, Illinois, on the Mississippi River, 44 miles above Cairo Point, and from Golconda, Illinois, on the Ohio River, 78 miles above Cairo Point.(2) Reach terminating at Shawneetown, Illinois, on the Ohio River and extending from Mt. Carmel, Illinois, on the Wabash River, 95 miles from Shawneetown, and from Evansville, Indiana, on the Ohio River, 66 miles from Shawneetown.(3) Reach of the Cumberland River from Dover, Tennessee, to its mouth, a distance of 88 miles.

The Ohio River Pollution Survey in Relation to Pollution Problems in the Lower Ohio River Basin

PUBLIC health and stream sanitation are profoundly influenced by the strenuous times in which we are living today. The entire world is shrinking in reference to time and place locations. At the dedication of the National Institute of Health at Bethesda, Md., on October 31, 1940, President Roosevelt graphically told how the jungle yellow fever of Africa was only two days away from the United States by reason of modern transportation by airplane. Likewise our concepts of large drainage basins like that of the Ohio River are changing. It is as though we were taken to a high altitude in an airplane and, looking down, could see the entire basin in