Channel cross-section changes in Mississippi's Goodwin Creek

Abstract

Selected channel cross sections in a 3.86-km reach of Goodwin Creek in southeastern Panola County, Mississippi, were periodically resurveyed from November 1977 through June 1983. Rates of channel enlargement varied with bank and bed material lithology, but short-term changes were variable in time and space. Banks composed of early Holocene deposits were relatively stable; however, they failed in polygonal blocks after bank toe removal. Banks composed of late-Holocene deposits were more erodible, and gravity-induced slab failures followed loading and tension crack development. Within individual reaches, channel changes were highly variable. Average net erosion of the channel bed and banks over the 5 1/2-year period was about 21 tons of sediment from each meter of channel length in the reach.