Dr. Pitlick's research focuses on linkages between surface-water hydrology, sediment transport, and channel morphology in river basins of various size and scale. The principal goal of this work is to determine how the fluxes of water and sediment combine to influence river channel properties and processes. Dr. Pitlick has lead several studies sponsored by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to determine how hydrologic changes in the Colorado River basin have affected habitats used by native fishes, including the Colorado pikeminnow. He has worked with the US Forest Service STREAM team to develop tools to quantify fluvial sediment transport in gravel-bed channels. Other projects initiated in the last four years focus on: (i) sediment transport in French alpine rivers; (ii) fluvial-hydraulic processes on the Toutle River near Mt. St. Helens, WA; and (iii) effects of streambed disturbance on nutrient cycling and stream ecosystem processes.
keywords
fluvial geomorphology, erosion and sediment transport, surface water hydrology
