Characterization of agricultural floodplain scour using one-dimensional hydraulic simulation

The Iowa Flood Center (IFC), a unit of The University of Iowa’s IIHR – Hydroscience & Engineering, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources are developing a statewide floodplain boundary dataset to provide information that is critical to proper flood mitigation planning. During flooding, soil loss from agricultural land, in addition to inundation, can have a substantial economic impact on an agricultural state like Iowa. The ability to identify areas with a high potential to experience scour during flooding could assist farmers and land owners in making better land management decisions. Currently, the IFC statewide floodplain mapping program is creating floodplain maps for all Iowa streams. The effort described herein has developed methods to take advantage of this large dataset and use it to characterize scour potential within floodplains. These scour characterization maps will provide a cost effective means of making approximate assessments of scour potential, but more detailed two dimensional modeling will still be required if a high level of precision is required. The results of this thesis are being used by the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) and the IFC to develop a program through which certified crop consultants can help farmers make more informed land management decisions based on risk of flood related soil loss.