Zack deluca
Hydrogeomorphic response to flooding in northern Yellowstone National Park
In a warming climate, severe floods may become more frequent, heightening the importance of understanding the subsequent geomorphic response of fluvial systems. The most common metrics for investigating geomorphic change as a result of flooding often neglect the duration of a flood event and simply use the peak-flow magnitude. I am applying cumulative flood impulse, a metric that incorporates channel bed-material caliber and the period that discharge exceeds the channel bed-surface incipient-motion threshold, to study the hydrogeomorphic response of the June 2022 flooding on the Gardner River and Soda Butte Creek in northern Yellowstone National Park. This research is accomplished through field surveys, repeat lidar analysis, and hydraulic modeling.
Zack DeLuca is an MS candidate at the University of Montana studying fluvial geomorphology in the Geosciences department under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Wilcox. He is interested in riverscape evolution and our interactions with those changes to the landscape.