Interpolation of bottom bathymetry and potential erosion in a large Tennessee reservoir system using GRASS
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Div.
A regularized spline with tension was used to interpolate a bathymetric bottom surface for the Watts Bar reservoir just south of Oak Ridge, TN as part of an effort to predict the spatial distribution of radionuclide contaminants. Cesium 137 was released as a by-product of the production of fissionable materials during the mid-1950s. Cesium is strongly adsorbed onto clay and silt particles in the water column, and tends to settle to the bottom. An understanding of the shape and contours of the bottom is important for understanding and prediction of the location and extent of contaminated sediments. The results of the investigations are available on the World Wide Web (WWW) at URL: http://www.esd.ornl.gov/programs/CRERP/INDEX.HTM. The Waterways Experiment Station (WES) of the US Army Corps of Engineers conducted a hydro-acoustic study of the Clinch River arm of Watts Bar Reservoir to determine the distribution, thickness, and type of bottom sediments that had accumulated since completion of Watts Bar Dam in 1942. WES has developed a rapid geophysical technique to determine material characteristics of bottom and subbottom sediments. Acoustic impedance values determined from seismic reflection data are directly related to the density and material type of the subbottom sediments. The objective was to quantify with depth the density and type of bottom and subbottom sediments up to depths of 15 ft below the bottom surface along the Clinch River and Poplar Creek, TN.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 195670
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9503121-3; ON: DE96004557; TRN: AHC29605%%46
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Geographic Information System (GIS), Vancouver (Canada), 27-30 Mar 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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