Missouri Mississippi Research Articles

Suspended Sediment Concentration Estimation from Landsat Imagery along the Lower Missouri and Middle Mississippi Rivers Using an Extreme Learning Machine

Monitoring and quantifying suspended sediment concentration (SSC) along major fluvial systems such as the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers provide crucial information for biological processes, hydraulic infrastructure, and navigation. Traditional monitoring based on in situ measurements lack the spatial coverage necessary for detailed analysis. This study developed a method for quantifying SSC based on Landsat imagery and corresponding SSC data obtained from United States Geological Survey monitoring stations from 1982 to present. The presented methodology first uses feature fusion based on canonical correlation analysis to extract pertinent spectral information, and then trains a predictive reflectance–SSC model using a feed-forward neural network (FFNN), a cascade forward neural network (CFNN), and an extreme learning machine (ELM). The trained models are then used to predict SSC along the Missouri–Mississippi River system. Results demonstrated that the ELM-based technique generated R2 > 0.9 for Landsat 4–5, Landsat 7, and Landsat 8 sensors and accurately predicted both relatively high and low SSC displaying little to no overfitting. The ELM model was then applied to Landsat images producing quantitative SSC maps. This study demonstrates the benefit of ELM over traditional modeling methods for the prediction of SSC based on satellite data and its potential to improve sediment transport and monitoring along large fluvial systems.

Intercomparison of global river discharge simulations focusing on dam operation—multiple models analysis in two case-study river basins, Missouri–Mississippi and Green–Colorado

We performed an intercomparison of river discharge regulated by dams under four meteorological forcings among five global hydrological models for a historical period by simulation. This is the first global multimodel intercomparison study on dam-regulated river flow. Although the simulations were conducted globally, the Missouri–Mississippi and Green–Colorado Rivers were chosen as case-study sites in this study. The hydrological models incorporate generic schemes of dam operation, not specific to a certain dam. We examined river discharge on a longitudinal section of river channels to investigate the effects of dams on simulated discharge, especially at the seasonal time scale. We found that the magnitude of dam regulation differed considerably among the hydrological models. The difference was attributable not only to dam operation schemes but also to the magnitude of simulated river discharge flowing into dams. That is, although a similar algorithm of dam operation schemes was incorporated in different hydrological models, the magnitude of dam regulation substantially differed among the models. Intermodel discrepancies tended to decrease toward the lower reaches of these river basins, which means model dependence is less significant toward lower reaches. These case-study results imply that, intermodel comparisons of river discharge should be made at different locations along the river's course to critically examine the performance of hydrological models because the performance can vary with the locations.

Causes for the decline of suspended‐sediment discharge in the Mississippi River system, 1940–2007

AbstractBefore 1900, the Missouri–Mississippi River system transported an estimated 400 million metric tons per year of sediment from the interior of the United States to coastal Louisiana. During the last two decades (1987–2006), this transport has averaged 145 million metric tons per year. The cause for this substantial decrease in sediment has been attributed to the trapping characteristics of dams constructed on the muddy part of the Missouri River during the 1950s. However, reexamination of more than 60 years of water‐ and sediment‐discharge data indicates that the dams alone are not the sole cause. These dams trap about 100–150 million metric tons per year, which represent about half the decrease in sediment discharge near the mouth of the Mississippi. Changes in relations between water discharge and suspended‐sediment concentration suggest that the Missouri–Mississippi has been transformed from a transport‐limited to a supply‐limited system. Thus, other engineering activities such as meander cutoffs, river‐training structures, and bank revetments as well as soil erosion controls have trapped sediment, eliminated sediment sources, or protected sediment that was once available for transport episodically throughout the year. Removing major engineering structures such as dams probably would not restore sediment discharges to pre‐1900 state, mainly because of the numerous smaller engineering structures and other soil‐retention works throughout the Missouri–Mississippi system. Published in 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Replacement Dolomites and Ore Sulfides as Recorders of Multiple Fluids and Fluid Sources in the Southeast Missouri Mississippi Valley-Type District: Halogen-87Sr/86Sr- 18O- 34S Systematics in the Bonneterre Dolomite

Replacement dolomites may continue to recrystallize in the presence of subsequent diagenetic and hydrothermal fluids. During recrystallization, they can change both their solid geochemistry and that of their included fluids (by releasing older fluids and entrapping younger fluids). Thus it may be possible to decipher a complex fluid history by analyzing both the composition of the dolomite (δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr) and its contained fluids (Cl/Br), as the former reflects temperature and/or fluid-rock interactions, whereas the latter reflects salinity source regions of the last fluid to affect the dolomite. Applying this approach to the Bonneterre Dolomite of southeast Missouri, which hosts the world-class Viburnum Trend Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) Pb-Zn district, reveals the presence of two geochemically distinct types of brines whose influence varied temporally during the Bonneterre’s history of dolomitization and ore deposition. A plot of Cl/Br molar ratios of included fluids versus 87Sr/86Sr ratios of the enclosing dolomite indicates distinct salinity sources for early (halite dissolution) and later (extreme evaporation of seawater) dolomitizing brines. Comparison with fluids in ore sulfides may permit us to relate replacement dolomites to ore-forming events. Early-stage copper- and zinc-bearing sulfides (δ34S ~0‰) have fluids with Cl/Br molar ratios (150–1,050) reflecting a similar importance of halite-dissolving brine during ore deposition. Main-stage cuboctahedral galena (δ34S ~15‰) has fluids with Cl/Br molar ratios (<100–400) similar to extremely evaporated seawater brines responsible for late replacement dolomites. We suggest that resident brines, which gained salinity (in part through halite dissolution), sulfur, and metals from local sedimentary and igneous rocks, were important for early replacement dolomitization and Early-stage ore deposition. This fluid type was supplanted by later, Main-stage brines that acquired salinity (through seawater evaporation) and metals in a more distal, basinal setting. Late-stage, vug-filling cubic galena records a renewed importance of the halite-dissolving brine as the influence of the more distal basinal brine waned. Halogen-sulfur isotope systematics of sulfides indicate that fluid mixing likely was a dominant ore-depositing mechanism during all stages of ore mineralization in the Viburnum Trend.

The braided Milk River, northern Montana, fails the Leopold–Wolman discharge-gradient test

The Milk River, the northernmost tributary to the Missouri–Mississippi River system, exhibits an anomalous sand-bed braiding reach in an otherwise meandering system. Shortly after leaving Alberta and entering Montana the river suddenly changes to braiding and maintains this pattern for 47 km before entering Fresno Reservoir. Measured stream gradient and bankfull discharge in the braiding reach severely fail the Leopold and Wolman [U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 282B (1957) 39] slope–discharge test for differentiating channel patterns. While channel slope has long been regarded as one of the primary variables associated with braiding, our data from the sand-bed Milk River do not support this relationship. Instead, the data show that the braiding reach has a lower channel slope (0.00047) than the meandering reach (0.00055). Coupled with a constant discharge the unit length stream power is comparable between the two reaches. At the morphologic transition between meandering and braiding, a dramatic reduction in channel bank strength occurs where the sampled silt–clay content declines from 65% in the meandering reach to 18% in the braiding. This enables channel widening which is reflected in a 60% reduction in unit area stream power in the braiding reach. Thus, sediment transport capacity declines and channel bars are deposited. During waning flows, these bars are dissected, producing a braiding morphology. We suggest that for sand-bed braiding rivers the silt–clay percentage in the channel banks may be more important than slope. A review of the original Leopold and Wolman [U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 282B (1957) 39] dataset, and many subsequent analyses, reveals that most braided rivers studied were gravel-bed. As a result, causal variables associated with braiding in sand-bed environments may need a thorough evaluation.

Fluid migration and associated diagenesis in the Greater Reelfoot rift region, Midcontinent, United States

The sources and pathways of basinal fluid flow on the North American craton have been the subjects of intense debate. Regional dolomitization and the distribution of petroleum and sulfide mineralization on the southern Midcontinent are believed to be related to migration of warm basinal fluids from and within the Arkoma and Illinois basins. Because of its hydrologic connection with these two basins, the Reelfoot rift has been postulated as a potential source and/or conduit for one or more of these fluids. Cathodoluminescence petrography has revealed nine distinct carbonate cement microstratigraphies in the Reelfoot rift and on its adjacent carbonate platforms in Missouri (Western platform) and Tennessee (Eastern platform). Temporal geochemical trends within each of the three areas are distinct. Eastern platform carbonate cements and their fluid inclusions exhibit decreasing δ13C, δ18O, homogenization temperatures ( T h), and last ice melting ( T m) values with decreasing age. Reelfoot rift dolomite and calcite cement and their fluid inclusions define a trend of decreasing δ13C and δ18O values and increasing T h and T m values. Western platform dolomite cements, including those in the nearby southeast Missouri Mississippi Valley–type mineral district, display a paragenetic trend of increasing δ13C and δ18O values, followed by a return to lower values during the final stage of cement deposition. Distinct geochemical patterns indicate that stratigraphically controlled fluid flow through carbonate aquifers in the Reelfoot rift was restricted within individual fault blocks that had limited communication with the adjacent carbonate platforms. Lateral fluid migration between fault blocks and vertical migration within fault blocks in the Reelfoot rift likely was restricted by faults, stratigraphic offset, and impermeable units. If significant fluid movement occurred from the Reelfoot rift onto the adjacent Western carbonate platform, it likely occurred along northwest-striking strike-slip faults.

Prenylflavonoid variation in Humulus lupulus: distribution and taxonomic significance of xanthogalenol and 4′- O-methylxanthohumol

The resins produced by either lupulin or leaf glands of over 120 plants of Humulus lupulus and one plant of H. japonicus (Cannabinaceae) were analyzed for the presence of prenylated flavonoids. The H. lupulus taxa investigated were H. lupulus var. lupulus from Europe, H. lupulus var. cordifolius from Japan, and H. lupulus from North America. Fifty-two of the plants examined were cultivars of European, American, and Japanese origin. Twenty-two flavonoids were detected in the glandular exudates of H. lupulus by HPLC-MS–MS. Xanthohumol (3′-prenyl-6′- O-methylchalconaringenin) was the principal prenylflavonoid in all H. lupulus plants and was accompanied by 11 structurally similar chalcones. Ten flavonoids were identified as the flavanone isomers of these chalcones. Three other prenylchalcones were isolated from H. lupulus cv. ‘Galena’, one of which was identified as 3′-prenyl-4′- O-methylchalconaringenin (named ‘xanthogalenol’). The distribution of three 4′-O-methylchalcones, i.e. xanthogalenol, 4′- O-methylxanthohumol, and 4′,6′-di- O-methylchalconaringenin, was found to be limited to wild American plants from the Missouri–Mississippi river basin, H. lupulus var. cordifolius, and most of their descendents. These 4′- O-methylchalcones were absent from cultivars of European origin, and from wild hops from Europe and southwestern USA. The flavonoid dichotomy (presence versus absence of 4′- O-methylchalcones) indicates that there are at least two evolutionary lineages within H. lupulus (European and Japanese–American), which is in agreement with morphological, molecular, and phytogeographical evidence. Leaf glands of H. japonicus from eastern Asia did not produce the H. lupulus prenylflavonoids.

Laurentide subgiacial outburst floods: landform evidence from digital elevation models

Various lines of landform evidence in many parts of Canada are comprehensively explicable as products of subglacial sheetfloods–outburst floods. In the Northwest Territories, northern Saskatchewan, and Alberta, landform associations such as scoured bedrock tracts, cavity-fill drumlins, erosional drumlins, erosional giant flutes–remnant ridges, tunnel channels, channeled scabland, and hummocky terrain with upstanding moraine plateaus reflect primary glaciofluvial erosional processes and secondary depositional activities. The Livingstone Lake event major sheetfloods path arcs obliquely upslope from the Keewatin District, Northwest Territories, through northern Saskatchewan and much of Alberta into Montana, U.S.A. Hill-shaded maps generated from digital elevation models, at widely varying scales, are used to illustrate regional to local examples of megaflood landform suites. Complementary maps and diagrams are derived from more conventional data sources. Speculations regarding extraglacial implications of the outburst floods in the Missouri–Mississippi basins, Mississippi Delta, and Gulf of Mexico are offered for testing by others.

The paleohydrology of southeast Missouri Mississippi Valley-type deposits: interplay of faults, fluids, and adjoining lithologies : C. W. Clendenin, C. A. Niewendorp, M. J. Duanne & G.R. Lowell, Economic Geology, 89(2), 1994, pp 322–332

The paleohydrology of southeast Missouri Mississippi Valley-type deposits: interplay of faults, fluids, and adjoining lithologies : C. W. Clendenin, C. A. Niewendorp, M. J. Duanne & G.R. Lowell, Economic Geology, 89(2), 1994, pp 322–332

Structure, stratigraphy, and mineralization; an interrelationship triangle and the Southeast Missouri mississippi valley-type deposits

Structure, stratigraphy, and mineralization; an interrelationship triangle and the Southeast Missouri mississippi valley-type deposits

Dolomitization and Dolomite Neomorphism in the Back Reef Facies of the Bonneterre and Davis Formations (Cambrian), Southeastern Missouri

The back reef facies of the Bonneterre and Davis Formations consists of dolomitized cryptalgalaminates and partially dolomitized peloid mudstones. These subfacies were deposited on tidal flats and in shallow lagoons that existed in the St. Francois Mountains of southeast Missouri during late Cambrian time. The back reef facies is bounded on the seaward side by dolomitized algal bioherms and grainstone banks which host the southeast Missouri Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) lead-zinc-copper ore deposits. Cryptalgalaminates are replaced by both fine crystalline, planar dolomite and coarse crystalline, nonplanar dolomite. Peloid mudstones are partially replaced, but mainly by coarse crystalline, nonplanar dolomite. Planar dolomite, replacing cryptalgalaminates, shows gradational transitions into coarse crystalline, nonplanar dolomite. The transitions are accompanied by progressive increase in average crystal size and an increased skewness toward the coarse size fraction. Planar dolomite is enriched in 18 O relative to stratigraphically equivalent marine limestones. Coarse crystalline, nonplanar dolomite, which replaces both cryptalgalaminates and peloid mudstones, has delta 13 C and delta 18 O values transitional between those of planar dolomite and late dolomite cements associated with MVT mineralization. Fluid inclusion analysis of nonplanar dolomite and associated dolomite cements indicates precipitation at elevated temperatures (60 to 114 degrees C) by saline, basinal fluids. These data indicate that the back reef facies was subjected to a complex diagenetic history involving both early and late diagenetic dolomitization and dolomite neomorphism. Fine crystalline, planar dolomite was formed during early diagenetic dolomitization of the cryptalgalaminate subfacies by a fluid approaching seawater composition. Coarse crystalline, nonplanar dolomite was formed as a result of neomorphism of pro-existing planar dolomite and dolomitization of peloid mudstones, after burial, accompanying MVT mineralization in southeast Missouri.