Morphology of Drained Upland Depressions on the Des Moines Lobe of Iowa

• Published in: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) Vol. 39; no. 3; pp. 587 - 600
• Main Authors: McDeid, Samuel M., Green, David I. S., Crumpton, William G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Algorithms; Basins; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Bulk density; Coastal Sciences; Digital Elevation Models; Drainage; Ecology; Environmental Management; frequency distribution; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; General Wetland Science; Geologic depressions; highlands; Hydrogeology; Hydrology; Iowa; Landscape Ecology; landscapes; Life Sciences; mathematical models; Morphology; Photogrammetry; Power law; Prairie Pothole region; Python; Regions; Spatial distribution; Topography; Wetlands; Iowa; Des Moines Iowa; United States > US; North America; Prairie Pothole region; Digital elevation models; Prairie Pothole Region; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0277-5212; 1943-6246
• DOI: 10.1007/s13157-018-1108-4

An algorithm developed to derive the morphology of depressional landscape features was applied to the Iowa portion of the Des Moines Lobe using high-resolution hydrologically corrected digital elevation models. In total, 173,171 topographically intact, drained upland depressions were identified, and their individual morphologies determined. The frequency distributions of maximum area of inundation, maximum depth, and maximum storage volume of depressions were described by a power-law function. Maximum storage volume was strongly related to maximum inundation area through a power-law model, the parameters of which differ from those reported for other areas of the North American Prairie Pothole Region. The spatial distributions, densities, and bulk morphological attributes of upland depressions within the DML-IA tend to be coincident with the region's distinctive glaciated sub-regions.