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Title

  • Sediment management alternatives for the Fox Chain of Lakes along the Fox River in Illinois

Description

  • The Fox Chain of Lakes is a series of interconnected glacial lakes that are essentially located along the main stem of the Fox River. Originating in Wisconsin, the Fox River flows through northern Illinois before becoming a major tributary of the Illinois River. About 75 percent of the Fox River above the lowest section of the Fox Chain of Lakes lies in Wisconsin. The drainage area above the lowest point of the chain is about 1,184 square miles. The Fox Chain of Lakes has a surface area of more than 6,000 acres. Over the years, significant land-use changes have occurred on this watershed. These changes and the geographical location of the Fox River have resulted in extensive sediment deposition within these lakes. This is especially true for those lakes in the direct path of the Fox River. For example, Grass Lake and Nippersink Lake have lost most of their capacities to sediment deposition. The average depth of Grass Lake in 1975 was 2.7 feet, and the sediment is extremely soft. Within the present research activity, the original research conducted in 1974-1975 by the authors is being examined along with additional data collected by others within the last 25 years. These initial analyses indicated that both in-lake and off-lake sediment management techniques must be implemented to increase water depths within the lakes and decrease sediment loads. Among the in-lake management alternatives that should be considered are dredging and disposing of sediment outside the lake, discharging hydraulically dredged sediment into geotubes or some other type of containment facility within the lake, and creating artificial islands within the lake with dredged sediments. The watershed-based sediment management alternatives could include implementation of best management practices on the watershed, flow and sediment retention basins, side channel sediment traps, sediment management within the stream channel, and the implementation of a systemwide sediment management alternative.

Originally Deposited as: 999999994342

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Language(s): EN-English

Volume or Year: 2002
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Date Created: 9 24 2004
Date Last Modified: 5 13 2003

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1. Sediment management alternatives for the Fox Chain of Lakes along the Fox River in Illinois (20061002185120_ISWSCR2002-04.pdf).
Document Size:3311257 Software: Adobe Acrobat Version: 7.0