Hydraulic and Sedimentological Characterizations of a Reach on the Anaktuvuk River, Alaska

Rivers located on the North Slope of Alaska’s Brooks Range are typically not well characterized with respect to basic hydraulic and sedimentological data. In order to obtain basic hydrosedimentological information on the Anaktuvuk River, a pristine stream located in the Colville River basin, we conducted an extensive field campaign from late May to early June 2009. The study reach was located at N69°27.785′, W151°09.858′, latitude and longitude, respectively. The Anaktuvuk River flows north from the Brooks Range to the Colville River, drains an area of 7,058?km2, and encompasses 2,063 m of vertical relief. During the field campaign, the field crew measured discharge and water-surface slope, collected water samples, and characterized bed sediment. As a result of fieldwork and laboratory work, we present an initial rating curve for the Anaktuvuk River, as well as the calculated roughness coefficient and suspended sediment concentrations. In addition, we compare the observed bankfull discharges with the bankfull discharge predicted by a recently published model.