9403479 GOMEZ Overbank sedimentation caused by major floods is an important, but not well understood process. In order for there to be a testing of existing models and the construction of new models, it is necessary to collect better data. The upper Mississippi River floods of the summer of 1993 provide a special opportunity to collect such data. This Small Grants for Exploratory Research project is designed to collect systemmatic samples of overbank sedimentation from unleveed areas of the floodplain as well as an area which was inundated following a levee breach. Samples will be collected from two sites which will enable the investigators to map variations in the thickness and particle size distribution of overbank deposits associated with the flood. These data will enable the investigators to determine the relationship of floodplain topography and vegetation to observed patterns of scour and deposition and to compare patterns of erosion and sedimentation on the leveed and unleveed parts of the floodplain. Data will be organized in a geographic information system in order to facilitate further research. This project will provide a timely and unusual data set and analysis that can be used to test the integrity of existing sedimentation models and that will likely lead to new understanding of the process of sedimentation. ***
