Abstract: A study was conducted for the resolution of sediment source areas in the Big Sandy River basin, southwestern Wyoming. Suspended-sediment and bedload data were collected in order to determine total sediment transport at several locations within the basin. The bedload data were compared to the Einstein bedload function and total load data were compared to the Colby method. The bedload comparison showed a higher estimation of transport rates with Helley-Smith sampler measurements than with the Einstein beadload function. The Colby method yielded higher transport rates at high flows and lower transport rates at low flows than the measured total transport rate. The Big Sandy reservoir acts as a control in the basin. The area upstream of the reservoir was interpreted separately from the area downstream for source-area determination. In the arid plains upstream of the reservoir, the amount of sediment transported increased 98 percent with an increase in runoff of only 1 percent.

From introduction: One purpose of this study was to describe streamflows of the Green River and its tributaries. In addition to describing the cause and occurrence of streamflows in the study area, a brief discussion of how streamflow data are collected and summarized is presented as background information to users of this report who may be unfamiliar with streamflow measurement. The second and primary purpose of this study was to describe hydraulic characteristics of streams in the study area.