Assessment of sedimentation processes determined from side-scan sonar surveys in the Buffalo River, New York, USA

An assessment of sedimentation processes was made using side-scan sonar records collected over a 15-year period in the Buffalo River, New York, USA. Spatial and temporal changes in natural and man-made bedforms documented sediment erosion, slumping, and sediment depositional sites. Bedforms and sediment texture were used to divide the mapped portion of the river (9 km) into four sedimentary environments, with Section 1 at the upper end and Section 4 near the mouth where the river discharges into the east end of Lake Erie. Based on annual changes in side-scan sonar records, depositional rates decrease in the downriver direction. Section 2, located 5 km from the river's mouth, contains sedimentary furrows. The persistence of furrows in this portion of the river requires both sediment erosion and deposition under a bidirectional flow regime. Results from this study confirmed that side-scan sonar is a valuable tool in understanding sediment dynamics and can be useful in river restoration decision making.