DOI: 10.13020/2ggx-qk28
title: Historical stream and valley sedimentation survey data for the Whitewater River Valley, Minnesota, United States (1855–1994)

description: Between the late 1930s and mid-1960s, Soil Conservation Service (SCS) and United States Geological Survey (USGS) personnel established 107 floodplain survey transects in the Whitewater River Valley (MN) to investigate stream and valley sedimentation conditions throughout the basin. These transects were the basis for auger boring and optical elevation surveys conducted by field personnel. The former was performed to measure floodplain legacy sediment thickness, or the thickness of the sediment deposited since the widespread introduction of Euro-American agriculture around 1855. The latter was performed to capture the continuous geometry of the river valley via elevation measurements at discrete points along the transect. Since the late 1930s, multiple government agencies have sampled these transects for multiple sedimentation surveys yielding a near 140-year record (1855-1994) of river valley change that has not been available to the public. The relevant survey periods include 1939–1941 (SCS), 1964–1968 (USGS), 1975 (SCS), 1978 (SCS), and 1993–1995 (SCS–Natural Resources Conservation Service [NRCS]). Data preservation work conducted in 2008–2014 (NRCS-Pennsylvania State University) focused on a GNSS survey of transect monuments (markers) and continued work in 2021–2025 (University of Minnesota Twin Cities) focused on compiling all the previous data since 1939 for publication and calculating elevation change rates across the basin. We have compiled the historical sedimentation survey data pertaining to these transects and distilled it into eight files: (A) transects, (B) monuments, (C) boring surveys, (D) elevation surveys, (E) monument coordinates, (F) elevation change rates, (G) elevation change rate calculation exception zones, and (H) elevation change rate statistics.
description: A. WRV_MN_1939_1994_sedimentation_transects.csv: Transect data and metadata.
 
B. WRV_MN_1939_2014_sedimentation_monuments.csv: Transect monument, or other marker, data and metadata. Provides a breakdown of transect monumentation history from data collected by field surveyors between 1939 and 2014.
 
C. WRV_MN_1939_1965_sedimentation_borings.csv: Transect auger boring data and metadata. Provides legacy sediment (LS) thickness data collected by field surveyors in 1939 and 1965.

D. WRV_MN_1855_1994_sedimentation_elevations.csv: Transect elevation (surface profile) data and metadata collected by field surveyors between 1939 and 1994. Some data was calculated by Wood in 2024.

E. WRV_MN_2008_2014_sedimentation_coordinates.csv: Transect monument, or other marker, GNSS coordinate data and metadata collected by field surveyors led by Christianson and Svien between 2008 and 2014. Some data was calculated by Wood in 2025.

F. WRV_MN_1855_1994_sedimentation_rates.csv: Transect elevation change rates calculated by Wood in 2025 for the time periods of 1855–1939, 1939–1965, 1965–1994, 1855–1965, 1965–1975, 1975–1978, and 1978–1994.

G. WRV_MN_1855_1994_sedimentation_exceptions.csv: Transect elevation change rates calculation exceptions set by Wood in 2025. The exception is a zone along the transect between two measurement stations where elevation change rates are not calculated.

H. WRV_MN_1855_1994_sedimentation_statistics.csv: Statistical hypothesis test results for tests conducted by Wood in 2025 to gauge whether sedimentation rates between 1855–1939, 1939–1965, and 1965–1994, differed.