Lower Wabash River Research Articles

Improving an Unworthy River: The Army Corps and the Wabash River, 1820-1935

How does a heavily engineered river become free-flowing? Indiana's Wabash River reportedly contains the longest free-flowing stretch of water east of the Mississippi. But water in the Wabash wasn't always free-flowing. For more than one hundred years, local, state, and federal actors attempted to engineer the sandy and serpentine Wabash into a water highway that would connect the Ohio River with the Great Lakes. Among the actors attempting to engineer the Wabash into a navigable stream, the Army Corps of Engineers were most active. Their efforts included the construction of dams and dikes, and the dredging of the river bottom to increase its depth for steamers. But for each of these interventions, the Wabash pushed back. Dams were destroyed by ice, snags were redeposited, and upstream sediment filled prior excavations. This article analyzes the lower Wabash River as an envirotechnical system, examining the feedbacks that occurred between technology and hydrology between 1820 and 1935.

An Assessment of Nighttime Electrofishing in the Lower Wabash River

AbstractLarge rivers are highly important systems that require close monitoring of the ecological consequences of factors like commercial and recreational exploitation, channel alterations, and climate change. The Long‐Term Survey and Assessment of Large River Fishes in Illinois (LTEF) monitors the fish communities of the Illinois, Mississippi, Wabash, and Ohio rivers using daytime, pulsed‐DC electrofishing between June and October each year. Previous research has documented diel differences in the catch and composition of fish communities. Therefore, the addition of nighttime electrofishing may be beneficial to the overarching goals of long‐term monitoring. This study sought to determine whether there are significant diel differences in fish catch and composition in the Wabash River and whether these potential differences warrant the addition of nighttime sampling to the current protocol. We used nighttime, pulsed‐DC electrofishing at fixed sites corresponding to LTEF sites in the lower Wabash River from June 7 to November 7, 2017. We compared catch per unit effort (CPUE), length distributions, family, and species composition between our nighttime electrofishing data and LTEF daytime electrofishing data. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling showed that the differences between nighttime and daytime electrofishing samples were driven by higher catches of catostomids, centrarchids, and lepisosteids. Nighttime electrofishing had significantly higher mean CPUE than daytime electrofishing, and the four families with significant differences were Catostomidae, Cyprinidae, Lepisosteidae, and Sciaenidae. Of the families for which we compared length data, only Sciaenidae had a significantly different length distribution, with a higher proportional catch of smaller individuals (<100 mm) at night. Despite these differences, compositional shifts were minor, with overlap between daytime and nighttime sampling. Due to the compositional similarities between night and day, the costs of adding nighttime electrofishing to long‐term monitoring would not be necessary. We would recommend nighttime electrofishing for targeting specific taxa and age‐classes that are underrepresented in daytime samples.

Comparison of Four Hard Structures Including Otoliths for Estimating Age in Blue Suckers

AbstractThe Blue Sucker Cycleptus elongatus is an imperiled North American catostomid in need of management and protection. No hard structures are validated for aging this species, but past studies focused on somatic structures such as fin rays and scales. Calculated parameters (mortality, recruitment, growth) that inform management decisions are directly influenced by the accuracy and precision of the hard structure used to estimate age. We identify the most precise and credible structure with which to age Blue Suckers while also completing the first in‐depth investigation of their otoliths. We collected Blue Suckers (n = 168) from the lower Wabash River and compared ages estimated from scales, opercles, pectoral fin rays, and lapillus otoliths but were unsuccessful in estimating ages from cleithra. We identified structure bias between all structures and found scales (n = 67; maximum = 11 years, mean = 8.2 years) and opercles (n = 65; maximum = 15 years, mean = 8.3 years) to be substantially less precise than pectoral fin rays and lapillus otoliths. We found that otoliths (n = 128; maximum = 42 years, mean = 13.5 years) were more precise than fin rays (n = 167; maximum = 20 years, mean = 9.6 years) and yielded a much higher range of ages. We could not identify any range of ages or total lengths in which (nonlethal) fin ray age could be accurately corrected to (lethal) otolith age. Thin‐sectioned otoliths are the gold standard for aging most fishes, including numerous age‐validated catostomids, and the credibility of Blue Sucker otolith age estimates was additionally supported by a strong correlation between whole lapillus mass and estimated age (R2 = 0.89). Overall, evidence indicates that Blue Sucker lapillus otoliths yield more precise and credible age estimates than other hard structures.

Retracing Rivers and drawing swamps: Using a drawing tablet to reconstruct an historical hydroscape from army corps survey maps

This article presents a novel geospatial approach to reconstructing and analyzing environmental change over extensive spatial and temporal scales, even in systems such as rivers and streams that are comparatively difficult to digitize. We used a drawing tablet and stylus to digitize features found on historical Army Corps maps across the spatially extensive landscape of the Lower Wabash River’s riparian zone, in Indiana and Illinois, USA. The methodology allows for an efficient reconstruction of sinuous and irregular environmental features, such as sloughs, and demonstrates the utility of digitizing historical maps to understand the evolution of surface water quantity and location across a landscape. We then compared these historical data to contemporary environmental datasets for the same study area to understand what changes have occurred over a 100 year period. This reveals that the hydroscape of the Lower Wabash River has been significantly altered by past human activity, notably through the reduction of swamps, wetlands, and sandbars, and the increase in drainage ditches and overall stream area. Notably, many of these historical alterations are not captured within current environmental datasets.

Sampling the Central Channel Provides Additional Information on Fish Assemblages in a Large Boatable River in the U.S. Midwest

Abstract It is a challenge to adequately characterize the fish assemblages of large rivers because of their sizes and high spatial–temporal habitat heterogeneity. Multiple sampling methods are often needed, but their uses increase cost and present difficulty for data standardization. In this study, we examined how much new information central-channel electrofishing sampling could add to typical shoreline electrofishing in a large and relatively shallow river, the lower Wabash River, in the U.S. Midwest. We found that the two types of samples differed markedly in species composition, and each was strongly associated with a subset of species. Shoreline samples captured more fish individuals and species, and reached higher functional diversity, but central-channel samples often captured several large benthivore and migratory species such as Redhorse and Shovelnose Sturgeon. Central-channel electrofishing appears to be a quick and low-cost method to supplement shoreline sampling in monitoring and assessing large shallow rivers.

A comparison between fixed and random sampling of a low density spotted bass population in a large river

Characterizing the structure of riverine fish populations that are patchily distributed and at low densities is often difficult. Due to the wide distribution but low abundance of Spotted Bass, Micropterus punctulatus, throughout the lower Wabash River (LWR), captures from fixed and random sampling designs were compared to assess their performance in determining relative abundance and size structure. The LWR is monitored using both sampling regimes—the Long Term Electrofishing Program monitors community assemblages uses a stratified-random sampling, whereas the Illinois Department of Natural Resources monitors the fish community using a fixed-sampling design. Mean CPUE was significantly higher for fixed site sampling compared to random sites. However, the size structure of Spotted Bass sampled by each design were similar. These results suggest random-sampling designs should be used when monitoring low density populations of fishes in large riverine systems because this method provides the greatest spatial coverage of habitats, evaluates heterogeneity in distribution, and provides a representative measure of abundance throughout an entire aquatic system. In situations where size distribution or temporal trends are the only goal, fixed site sampling would be sufficient.

Demographics and Interstate Management Implications for Flathead Catfish in the Lower Wabash River, Illinois and Indiana

AbstractFlathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris in the lower Wabash River, Illinois and Indiana, are currently exploited by anglers and commercial fishers under the same fishing regulation; however, the regulations differed between the states prior to 2015. We assessed demographics of Flathead Catfish in this interstate river to gain baseline information to create models to test for sustainable exploitation rates under the new regulation and several hypothetical scenarios. During 2010–2012, we sampled 951 Flathead Catfish (length = 343 ± 5.6 mm [mean ± SE], weight = 914.5 ± 55.6 g, age = 3.5 ± 0.07 years) using pulsed‐DC electrofishing, AC electrofishing, commercial harvest, and hoop nets. Mean relative weight of Flathead Catfish was greater than 100%, and proportional size distribution indices (electrofishing = 35, hoop netting = 54) suggested a quality fishery. Total annual mortality (electrofishing = 0.48, hoop netting = 0.54) was similar to estimates in other Midwestern rivers. Yield‐per‐recruit models predicted that growth overfishing may occur over time under the current regulation; however, demographic metrics relate to recreational and commercial creel assessments. Our results suggest that the current minimum length limit could be raised to increase yield and reduce exploitation. Our findings also demonstrate several useful field and modeling techniques to assess catfish (family Ictaluridae) populations in environments that are difficult to sample and that lack fishery‐independent information.Received January 11, 2017; accepted August 31, 2017 Published online October 20, 2017

Demographics of Shovelnose Sturgeon in the Lower Wabash River, Illinois

AbstractWith the closure of commercial fishing for Shovelnose Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus in most reaches of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, harvest may increase in other rivers. We studied the demographics of a commercially exploited Shovelnose Sturgeon population in the lower 322 km of the Wabash River, Illinois. During 2000–2013, 10,734 Shovelnose Sturgeon were captured by using DC and AC electrofishing, gill nets, hoop nets, trotlines, and benthic trawls. Of the captured individuals, 399 fish were recaptured. Electrofishing CPUE was the highest reported in any study on Shovelnose Sturgeon. Captured fish ranged between 61 and 909 mm FL (mean = 662 mm; median = 671 mm), but few fish were smaller than 500 mm. Although the fish were in good condition (mean relative weight = 89.9), there was a decreasing trend in mean condition over time. Shovelnose Sturgeon ranged in age from 0 to 25 years; 90% of the fish were between age 8 and age 19. Fish were fully recruited to the sampling gear at age 10; total annual mortality for fish older than 10 years was 20.6%. An empirical growth rate of 2.67 mm/year was observed for fish larger than 635 mm, with several individuals showing negative growth. The sex ratio was slightly skewed toward males (2.18 males : 1 female). The Shovelnose Sturgeon population in the lower Wabash River was generally healthy and stable and had characteristics comparable to those of the upper Wabash River population, with slow growth, large sizes, good condition, and low mortality.Received December 19, 2014; acceptedMay 11, 2015

Flow structure and channel morphodynamics of meander bend chute cutoffs: A case study of the Wabash River, USA

[1] This paper documents the three-dimensional structure of flow and bed morphology of two developing chute cutoffs on a single meander bend on the lower Wabash River, USA, and relates the flow structure to patterns of morphologic change in the evolving cutoff channels. The upstream end of the cutoff channels is characterized by: (1) a zone of flow velocity reduction/stagnation and bar development in the main channel across from the cutoff entrance, (2) flow separation and bar development along the inner (left) bank of the cutoff channel immediately downstream from the cutoff entrance, and (3) helical motion and outward advection of flow momentum entering the cutoff channel, leading to erosion of the outer (right) bank of the cutoff channel. At the downstream end of the cutoff channels, the major hydrodynamic and morphologic features are: (1) flow stagnation along the bank of the main channel immediately upstream of the cutoff channel mouth, (2) convergence of flows from the cutoff and main channels, (3) helical motion of flow from the cutoff, (4) a zone of reduced velocity along the bank of the main channel immediately downstream from the cutoff channel mouth, and (5) development of a prominent bar complex that penetrates into the main channel and extends from the stagnation zone upstream to downstream of the cutoff mouth. These results provide the basis for a conceptual model of chute-cutoff dynamics in which the upstream and downstream ends of a cutoff channel are treated as a bifurcation and confluence, respectively.

Evaluation of Linear Site-Response Methods for Estimating Higher-Frequency (> 2 Hz) Ground Motions in the Lower Wabash River Valley of the Central United States

The horizontal-to-vertical ratio of ambient noise ( H/V * N ) and the time-averaged S -wave velocity of the upper 30 m of soils and rock at a site ( V S 30 ) were evaluated for their suitability as techniques for estimating site effects in the lower Wabash River Valley area of southern Indiana and Illinois. We also calculated the horizontal-to-vertical ratio of the S wave ( H/V * S ) for the southwestern Indiana earthquake of 18 June 2002 and evaluated its effectiveness for estimating site effects. The database for the study consisted of new SH -wave seismic refraction/reflection profiles and ambient noise recordings at several blast monitor sites that recorded the M 4.5, 18 June 2002 earthquake, as well as the S -wave arrivals recorded by the blast monitors during the earthquake. Our results are limited to ground motions > 2 Hz because of the low-cut frequency of the velocity transducers used in the blast monitor systems. The shallow seismic refraction/reflection profiles allowed us to determine the S -wave velocities and soil-bedrock contact geometry, as well as the depth to bedrock, characteristic frequency, and V S 30 . These methods were compared with linear one-dimensional site amplification approximations. The results of the study are not encouraging. There is only a weak correlation between the linear 1-D amplification curves and the site effects predicted by the two horizontal-to-vertical ratios or the V S 30 classification of the site. Likewise, there is poor correlation between the two horizontal-to-vertical techniques or between V S 30 and the Modified Mercalli intensities reported for the 18 June 2002 earthquake. The results show that site effects in southern Indiana and southern Illinois are too complex for single-parameter characterization; consequently, a better evaluation likely requires a minimum of site-specific in situ seismic-velocity measurements, geotechnical index tests, and one-dimensional approximation.

The geomorphology of Sugar Loaf Mound: Prehistoric cemeteries and the formation of loess cones in the lower Wabash Valley

Burial mounds found on bluff crests in the Midwest United States overlap in scale with conical shaped Peoria Loess hills along the valley margins of the lower Wabash River. Coring of Sugar Loaf Mound, a feature thought to be an artificial mound for some 200 years, indicates that it is a 9 m eolian feature that contains prehistoric human remains. Analysis indicates that a sharp-edged till ridge resulted in a zone of eolian sand and silt accumulation forming both a climbing and a perched dune. A streamline body resulted. Grain-size analysis indicates a bimodal population, suggesting a dust suspension from an outwash source and a local saltation sand source, with a time transgressive shift in dominance. Three other loess cones of comparable scale, shape, lithostratigraphy, and landscape position that were also used as late prehistoric cemeteries indicate a similar pattern of both formation and prehistoric mortuary use in the lower Wabash valley. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The geomorphology of Sugar Loaf Mound: Prehistoric cemeteries and the formation of loess cones in the lower Wabash Valley

Burial mounds found on bluff crests in the Midwest United States overlap in scale with conical shaped Peoria Loess hills along the valley margins of the lower Wabash River. Coring of Sugar Loaf Mound, a feature thought to be an artificial mound for some 200 years, indicates that it is a 9 m eolian feature that contains prehistoric human remains. Analysis indicates that a sharp-edged till ridge resulted in a zone of eolian sand and silt accumulation forming both a climbing and a perched dune. A streamline body resulted. Grain-size analysis indicates a bimodal population, suggesting a dust suspension from an outwash source and a local saltation sand source, with a time transgressive shift in dominance. Three other loess cones of comparable scale, shape, lithostratigraphy, and landscape position that were also used as late prehistoric cemeteries indicate a similar pattern of both formation and prehistoric mortuary use in the lower Wabash valley. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Soil Formation on Loess in Southwestern Indiana: I. Loess Stratigraphy and Soil Morphology

AbstractThin loess deposits and underlying Sangamon paleosols were studied and related to modern soil development. Ninety‐one sites were sampled along four traverses extending 60–80 km eastward from the lower Wabash River, the main loess source. The ground soils, located mostly on primary divides, have a parent material sequence of silty loess (Peoria), sandy loess, upper part of Sangamon paleosol, and lower part of Sangamon paleosol. The paleosols developed in till or outwash of Illinoian age or in residuum of Pennsylvanian or Mississippian age.Soil development increases with increasing distance from the loess source. Thick loess (> 2m) soils have an A‐B2t‐C horizon sequence, whereas the thinner loess (1–2 m) soils have an A‐B2t‐(A′2)‐Bx horizon sequence. Soils with < 0.75 to 1 m of loess have B2t horizons in both loess and residuum and usually do not have fragipans. Fragipans tend to be associated with sandy loess, but usually do not coincide with it. They may be just above the sandy loess, coincident with it, or in some combination of sandy loess and adjacent parent materials. It is believed that soil moisture relations influenced by the sandy loess, or the underlying paleosols, or both promote fragipan development.

Largescale ripples of the lower Wabash River

ABSTRACTLargescale ripples in the meandering lower Wabash River of Illinois and Indiana, U.S.A., include scroll bars and three dunelike bed forms (dunes, sand waves, and transverse bars). Scroll bars are lobate crested, asymmetrical in stream‐wise vertical profile, usually solitary, and oriented approximately normal to local channel strike. They form by passive flow expansion downchannel from locally emergent topographic highs, face and lie near inner banks of meander bends, enjoy a high preservation potential as leveelike ridges of ridge‐and‐swale topography, and migrate only during relatively low stream discharges, when water depth over bar crests is less than 0·5 m.Dunes correspond to dunes of the flow‐regime classification and rarely are solitary or superimposed. Sand waves may be symmetrical or asymmetrical, are always superimposed by dunes, occur in depths greater than 4 m and in bed material coarser than 1 mm mean size, and develop at bankfull and flood flows. Transverse bars migrate in depths less than 5 m in straight reaches and near inner banks of bends, display crestal dunes, and correspond to the bars of Costello (1974) and to the sand waves of Boothroyd (1969). Hydrodynamic regimes of scroll bars and transverse bars differ from that of dunes. The omnipresence of dunes upon stoss‐sides of sand waves confirms the existence of an equilibrium superimposition of dunelike largescale ripples.Depth‐velocity‐size diagrams appear to be a valid representation of empirical stability fields of dunelike largescale ripples in deep unsteady nonuniform aqueous flows. Stability fields of dunes and sand waves overlap greatly. Velocity profiles demonstrate an absence of leeside flow separation over dunes and an appearance (rare) over transverse bars only when the ratio of trough depth to crest depth exceeds two.Dune stratification displays (1) largescale trough cross‐strata, (2) thinning of sets as bed‐material size increases, and (3) an orientation within 20° of local channel strike. Transverse bars show avalanche sets up to 2 m thick, with reactivation surfaces. Scroll bars display thick avalanche sets separated by reactivation structures consisting of erratically oriented smallscale trough cross‐strata. Avalanche sets of scroll bars and of transverse bars are oriented 50–150° from and within 50° of, respectively, local channel strike.

Depositional Model of Point Bars in the Lower Wabash River

ABSTRACT A process-response model of point-bar sediments in the lower Wabash River of Illinois and Indiana was constructed by integration of (1) results (reported elsewhere) of repetitive hydraulic surveys of meander bends and (2) distributions of sedimentary structures and sediment size in Holocene alluvium. Vertical sequences of alluvium exposed in cutbanks and in point-bar trenches demonstrated preservation of bedform-texture patterns recognized from the hydraulic program. The depositional model is defined by distributions of three depositional facies around meander bends of disparate relative curvature. A fully developed facies assumed fully developed zones for current velocity and for bed-material size (velocity magnitude and mean size increasing from the inner bank toward the outer bank) A transitional facies incorporated transitional zones for both parameters (neither increasing outward from the inner bank). An intermediate depositional facies contained a fully developed velocity zone but a transitional size zone and was of significant extent only in gently curved bends. The latter two depositional facies differ greatly from standard facies models of meandering streams, constitute the bulk of surficial point-bar sediment in very sharply curved bends and in gently curved bends, and can be preserved preferentially by common types of bend migration. Preservation of the depositional facies of each meander bend depends upon the type of deformation (migration) the bend underwent. Limited observations from other freely meandering streams suggest that the Wabash depositional model may be widely applicable.

Velocity–bed-form–texture patterns of meander bends in the lower Wabash River of Illinois and Indiana

Meander bends in the lower Wabash River of Illinois and Indiana display coherent patterns of current velocity, bed topography, lower-regime bed forms, and bed-material size. The upstream reach of a bend is a zone of transition from the reversed hydraulic and sedimentologic conditions of the preceding bend. A downstream shift of the cross-sectional maximum velocity magnitude from the inner (point-bar side) bank to the outer bank defines a transitional zone for velocity magnitude in each bend; in this zone, current velocities are strongest and dunes and sand waves most prominently developed at near-bankfull and higher flows. Similar translations of the cross-sectional maxima of depth, mean size of bed material, and dune height and a reversal in the orientation of spiral flow define a transitional zone for each of these four other parameters in each bend. A given meander bend at any stream discharge shows the following sequence of increasing length of transition zones: spiral flow, depth, velocity magnitude, mean size of bed material, and dune height. Downstream from each transitional zone in a bend, the normal asymmetrical cross-sectional distribution of each parameter defines a fully developed zone for that parameter. Only in the fully developed zone does each parameter increase from the inner bank to the outer bank, as implied in the standard facies models for meandering streams. In both sharply curved and gently curved bends, fully developed zones for bed-material size do not exist. Sharply curved bends do not contain fully developed zones for velocity magnitude, which in other bends show the strongest velocities and largest dunes at near-bankfull or lower flows, especially if the zone is bypassed by overland flow during higher stream discharges. Available data from laboratory channels and from other meandering streams suggest that the above patterns of velocity magnitude, spiral motion, and bed-material size characterize freely meandering streams. The transitional zones of sedimentary and hydraulic parameters and the variations of these parameters through different flows and dissimilar bend curvatures introduce significant complications to present depositional models of meandering streams.

Lateral Variation in Chester Sandstones Producing Oil and Gas in Lower Wabash River Area, with Special Reference to New Harmony Field, Illinois and Indiana

Much oil is produced in the region of the lower Wabash River which is the boundary between Illinois and Indiana in this area. Oil and gas are produced from lower Pennsylvanian and Chester (upper Mississippian) sandstones and from the Fredonia limestone (McClosky lime) of the Ste. Genevieve formation (lower Mississippian series). The oil fields occur along a broad slightly folded anticline that roughly parallels the course of the river. The areal distribution of the oil pools is different for each producing formation and appears to be controlled to a greater degree by lensing sand conditions than by structure.

Lateral Variation in the Chester Sandstones Producing Oil and Gas in the Lower Wabash River Area: ABSTRACT

Oil and gas production in the Wabash River Valley in southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana is from lower Pennsylvanian and Chester sandstones and the McClosky limestone of the Ste. Genevieve formation. The principal fields in the area are New Harmony Consolidated and Keensburg Consolidated. These fields include an End_Page 914------------------------------ almost continuous producing area from Keensburg, Wabash County, at the north, to a point 3½ miles southeast of Phillipstown, White County. This single area is approximately 18 miles long and varies in width from ½ mile to more than 2 miles at its widest point in White County. As of January 1, 1942, there were almost 1,000 producing wells in the two fields and the productive area proved by drilling was 7,238 acres. All of the eight Chester sandstone formations and additional sandstone beds in other Chester formations were found productive in one place or another throughout the area. Considerable lateral variation in thickness and character of the sands was indicated by drilling. In many cases it was so great that it made the development of a particular sandstone uncertain from well to well. The lenticular character of producing sands resulted in irregular producing areas. The producing areas of the different sands may or may not be directly over or under each other. Many wells in the area are producing from more than one sand. Distribution of productive areas depends more on sand characteristics than structure in the lower Wabash River area. End_of_Article - Last_Page 915------------

Development in the Eastern Interior Basin in 1941: ABSTRACT

More wells were drilled in 1941 in Illinois and southwestern Indiana than in any previous year except 1907 when drilling reached a peak in that area. Drilling declined in western Kentucky, making the total number of completions in the Eastern Interior basin in 1941 slightly less than in 1940. Much of the 1941 drilling (both pool and wildcat) was concentrated in the deep basin area in the region of the lower Wabash River in Illinois and Indiana where 44 new pools and 43 extensions were discovered. None of the new pools was of major size and the total output of new wells in the whole area failed to offset the decline of the older wells. Total production from the Eastern Interior basin in 1941 is estimated at 145,603,000 barrels as compared with 154,796,000 barrels in 1940, decline of 6 per cent. Percentage of the national total was 10.3 in 1941 as compared with 11.5 in 1940. Rocks of the Mississippian system continue to yield most of the oil in the area--91.5 per cent of the Illinois total of 133,750,000 barrels in 1941. No new Devonian production was discovered in Illinois in 1941 and the Devonian wells, which yielded an estimated 26 per cent of the Illinois total in 1940, produced only 6 per cent of the total in 1941. Pennsylvanian and Ordovician strata yielded estimated amounts of 1.7 and 0.9 per cent, respectively. Geologic studies indicate that lenticular sand conditions are important in controlling the occurrence of the oil. End_of_Article - Last_Page 914------------