Noah P.
SnyderAssistant Professor
Department of Geology & Geophysics
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Noah P.
Snyder
Assistant Professor
Department of Geology & Geophysics
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Research
Rivers are conduits for transport of fresh water, sediment and nutrients throughout the landscape. At the same time, rivers are vital pathways for the migration of aquatic species, such as salmon. My research focuses on understanding how rivers respond to changes, ranging from long-term variations in tectonics or climate to short-term shifts in management style or land use. I link measurements of channel morphology from high-resolution airborne lidar digital elevation models with field-based measurements of stream processes. I am currently working in three specific research directions.
1. Controls on the morphology of rivers in response to deglaciation and land-use change
Field surveys in the Narraguagus River watershed (August 2008) and Sheepscot River (December 2006), Maine.
The New England landscape is rich with opportunities for studying geomorphic responses to changes in external forces. The region hosts a large human population and has undergone large-scale climate (late Pleistocene continental glaciation, Holocene transgression), geodynamic (post-glacial isostatic rebound) and land-use (deforestation and reforestation) changes, yet few process geomorphologists have studied it extensively in recent years. The challenge is studying fluvial processes in a landscape where relief and sediment supply bear the strong imprint of continental glaciation. Over the past five years, I have been meeting with other scientists (geologists, ecologists, and biologists), environmental engineers, and resource managers to learn about research needs and opportunities in the region. I am interested in contributing to our understanding of the interrelated issues associated with Atlantic salmon habitat requirements, river restoration, and dam removal in northern New England. For this research, my students and I link measurements from high-resolution lidar digital elevation models with field measurements of stream processes. In 2006, this work was funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Maine Atlantic Salmon Conservation Fund. In 2007, I began a 5-year National Science Foundation award entitled “CAREER: Land use, geologic and climatic controls on stream processes in northern New England using airborne laser swath mapping,” funded by the Geomorphology and Land Use Dynamics program.
Field workshop with students from Washington Academy and Boston College in the Narraguagus River watershed, Maine (May 2008).
I have parallel projects in northern New England using the sediment stored behind dams as a natural laboratory to study stream processes. My students and I are studying sediment dynamics associated with the removal of the Merrimack Village Dam on the Souhegan River in southern New Hampshire. This work is funded by the NOAA Open Rivers Initiative. Dam removals provide opportunities to study large-magnitude channel changes over short intervals. Another aspect of this dam-related research is funded by a grant from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, in which we use reservoir sediments as scale models for offshore depositional systems.
I am a member of the Penobscot River Science Steering Committee and a core network participant in the NSF-funded “RCN: Diadromous Species Restoration Research Network.”
Removal of the Merrimack Village Dam (left) and expsoure of impounded sediment (right, photo by Matt Collins) on August 6, 2008, Souhegan River, New Hampshire.
Publications: New England rivers
Wilkins, B.C.*, and Snyder, N.P., 2009, Geomorphic comparison of two Atlantic coastal rivers: toward an understanding of physical controls on Atlantic salmon habitat, submitted to River Research and Applications, May 2009, accepted November 2009. PDF
Snyder, N.P. , 2009, Studying stream morphology with airborne laser elevation data, Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, v. 90, n. 6, p.45-46. PDF
Snyder, N.P., Castele, M.R.*, and Wright, J.R., 2008, Bedload entrainment in low-gradient paraglacial coastal rivers of Maine, U.S.A.: Implications for habitat restoration,Geomorphology, v. 103, p. 430-446, doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2008.07.013. PDF
Snajczuk, P.B.*, 2009, Using airborne lidar data to create a surficial geologic map of the upper Narraguagus River watershed, Maine, B.S. Thesis, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 47 p. and 1 plate.
Wilkins, B.C.*, 2009, Geomorphic comparison of two Atlantic coastal rivers: toward an understanding of physical controls on Atlantic salmon habitat, M.S. Thesis, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 219 p.
Kasprak, A.*, 2008, Measuring sedimentation rates and land-use change in a dam-influenced lake delta: Narraguagus River, Maine, B.S. Thesis, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 122 p.
Castele, M.R.*, 2007, Modeling sediment transport and quantifying channel morphology of the Sheepscot River, coastal Maine, M.S. Thesis, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 173 p.
Gryga, M.E.*, 2006, Controls on water temperature in the Sheepscot River, Maine, B.S. Honors Thesis, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 48 p.
(*BC student co-authors.)
Links: New England rivers
BC Chronicle article about NSF CAREER award: March 15, 2007.
Nashua Telegraph articles about the Souhegan River dam removal: August 22, 2008; August 29, 2008; May 7, 2009. Manchester Hippo article: September 3, 2009.
BC Chronicle article about lidar mapping and Eos article: February 26, 2009. Other articles: EurekAlert; Science Centric; ScienceDaily.
2. Transient response of a desert river to forced diversion: Furnace Creek Wash, Death Valley National Park, California
This project seeks to better quantify erosion rates of bedrock by rivers in tectonically active areas using an unusual large-scale experiment caused by the forced diversion of Furnace Creek Wash into much steeper and smaller Gower Gulch in 1941. The project started as Lisa Schultz's Masters Thesis at BC, and continued with the collection of airborne laser swath mapping data in 2005 as part of a proposal funded by the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping.
Airborne laser swath mapping slope (colors, red = steep) and shaded-relief (grayscale) image of the diversion (arrow), Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.
Publications: Death Valley area
Snyder, N.P., and Kammer, L.L.*, 2008, Dynamic adjustments in channel width in response to a forced diversion: Gower Gulch, Death Valley National Park, California, Geology, v. 25, p. 187-190, doi: 10.1130/G24217A.1. WEB PDF
Schultz, L.L.*, 2005, Investigation of the transient response of Gower Gulch to forced diversion, Death Valley, California, M.S. Thesis, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 57 p.
Snyder, N.P., and Hodges, K.V., 2000, Depositional and tectonic evolution of a supradetachment basin: 40Ar/ 39Ar geochronology of the Nova Formation, Panamint Range, California, Basin Research, v. 12, n. 1, p. 19-30. PDF
(*BC student co-authors.)
Links: Death Valley area
BC Magazine article about Death Valley research: Spring 2008.
Other articles about Death Valley research: EurekAlert; PhysOrg; Science Centric; ScienceDaily.
3. Sediment transport and reservoir sedimentation in the Yuba River watershed in northern California
The Upper Yuba River Studies Program is a multidisciplinary investigation of the feasibility of introducing wild anadromous fish species to the watershed upstream of Englebright Dam. My participation in the UYRSP (funded by the California Bay-Delta Authority and its Science Fellows Program) began while I was a postdoctoral researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Team in Santa Cruz, California. My work on the project concerns linking reservoir sedimentation with watershed hydrology, understanding reservoir depositional processes, and using short-lived isotopes (7Be, 137Cs and 210Pb) to constrain reservoir sedimentation history.
Publications: Yuba River
Snyder, N.P., Wright, S.A., Alpers, C.N., Flint, L.E., Holmes, C.W., and Rubin, D.M, 2006, Reconstructing depositional processes and history from reservoir stratigraphy: Englebright Lake, Yuba River, northern California, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 111, F04003, doi:10.1029/2005JF000451. PDF
Alpers, C.N., Hunerlach, M.P., Marvin-DiPasquale, M.C., Antweiler, R.C., Lasorsa, B.K., De Wild, J.F., and Snyder, N.P., 2006, Geochemical data for mercury, methylmercury, and other constituents in sediments from Englebright Lake, California, 2002, U.S Geological Survey Data-Series Report 2005-151, http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/ds151/, 95 p.
Curtis, J.A., Flint, L.E., Alpers, C.N., Wright, S.A., and Snyder, N.P., 2006, Use of Sediment Rating Curves and Optical Backscatter Data to Characterize Sediment Transport in the Upper Yuba River Watershed, California, 2001–03, U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5246, http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2005/5246/, 74 p.
Snyder, N.P., Rubin, D.M., Alpers, C.N., Childs, J.R., Curtis, J.A., Flint, L.E., and Wright, S.A., 2004, Estimating rates and properties of sediment accumulation behind a dam: Englebright Lake, Yuba River, northern California, Water Resources Research, v. 40, W11301, doi:10.1029/2004WR003279. PDF
Snyder, N.P. , Allen, J.R., Dare, C., Hampton, M.A., Schneider, G., Wooley, R.J., Alpers, C.N., and Marvin-DiPasquale M.C., 2004, Sediment grain-size and loss-on-ignition analyses from 2002 Englebright Lake coring and sampling campaigns, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2004-1080, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1080/, 46 p.
Snyder, N.P. , Alpers, C.N., Flint, L.E., Curtis, J.A., Hampton, M.A., Haskell, B.J., and Nielson, D.L., 2004, Report on the May-June 2002 Englebright Lake deep coring campaign, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2004-1061, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1061/, 32 p., 10 plates.
Snyder, N.P. , and Hampton, M.A., 2003, Preliminary cross section of Englebright Lake sediments, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03-397, http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of03-397/, 1 plate.
Childs, J.R., Snyder, N.P., Hampton, M.A., 2003, Bathymetric and geophysical surveys of Englebright Lake, Yuba-Nevada Counties, California, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03-383, http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of03-383/, 20 p.
Other and previous research
Publications: Channel response to tectonics, bedrock erosion processes, digital elevation model analysis
Wobus, C.W., Whipple, K.X, Kirby, E., Snyder, N.P., Johnson, J., Spyropolou, K., Crosby, B., and Sheehan, D., 2006, Tectonics from topography: Procedures, promise, and pitfalls, in Willett, S.D., Hovius, N., Brandon, M.T., and Fisher, D.M., editors, Tectonics, Climate, and Landscape Evolution, Geological Society of America Special Paper 398, p. 55-74, doi: 10.1130/2006.2398(04). PDF
Snyder, N.P., Whipple, K.X., Tucker, G.E., and Merritts, D.J., 2003, Importance of a stochastic distribution of floods and erosion thresholds in the bedrock river incision problem, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 108 (B2), 2117, doi: 10.1029/2001JB001655. PDF and correction
Snyder, N.P., Whipple, K.X., Tucker, G.E., and Merritts, D.J., 2003, Channel response to tectonic forcing: analysis of stream morphology and hydrology in the Mendocino triple junction region, northern California, Geomorphology, v. 53, p. 97-127. PDF
Snyder, N.P., Whipple, K.X., Tucker, G.E., and Merritts, D.J, 2002, Interactions between onshore bedrock-channel incision and nearshore wave-base erosion forced by eustasy and tectonics, Basin Research, v. 14, p. 105-127. PDF
Snyder, N.P., Whipple, K.X., Tucker, G.E., and Merritts, D.J, 2000, Landscape response to tectonic forcing: digital elevation model analysis of stream profiles in the Mendocino triple junction region, northern California, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 112, n. 8, p. 1250-1263. PDF
Whipple, K.X., Snyder, N.P., and Dollenmayer, K., 2000, Rates and processes of bedrock incision by the Upper Ukak River since the 1912 Novarupta ash flow in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Alaska, Geology, v. 28, n. 9, p. 835-838. PDF
Teaching: courses taught on a regular basis
GE 170, Rivers and the Environment
GE 400, Watershed Geomorphology
GE 490, Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation
GE400 class fieldtrip on Mount Monadnock, NH (November 2007, left); GE132 lecture on Mount Sugarloaf, MA (November 2009, right).
© Noah P. Snyder, revised September 29, 2009.