DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17536841
title: Supporting datasets and code for "High-Resolution Channel Geometry Reveals Contrasting Styles of Gravel River Adjustment"

description: Supporting code and datasets for Kostynick et al., "High-Resolution Channel Geometry Reveals Contrasting Styles of Gravel River Adjustment" (in revision at Geophysical Research Letters). 

This repository contains 20 .xlsx files, 43 .text files and 4 .zip files, which represent the input data, algorithm output data, GIS width measurement comparisons, bankfull discharge estimates, raw unit stream power values, USGS peak/stream measurements at each gage used in the analysis and code used to produce results described in Kostynick et al. (in revision). 

This repository code was written to complete analysis outlined in Kostynick et al. (in revision). You may need to modify the code for your specific applications. You are responsible for inspecting the code and making adjustments as necessary.

The assets included in this repository are defined as follows: 



Kostynick_et_al_2025_Data_Files.zip – contains 6 folders of input data, output results, and a readme file listed below.



*River Name*_High_Res_data.xlsx – Contains automated measurements of bankfull width, drainage area, distance downstream, elevation, channel slope, width excursions, and slope excursions.




*River Name*_GIS_Measurement_Results.xlsx – Contains individual measurement comparisons between manually made GIS measurements and the “fill-and-spill” automated widths. Medians are calculated and measurement statistics are included.




Input_Values – Input values used in the automated process for measurements of bankfull width. It is the same as Table S2 in the Supplementary Text.




Discharge_Estimates_For_Stream_Power.xlsx – Estimated ranges of discharges used to calculate stream power.




USGS_Peak_Measurements – 21 .txt files of USGS reported peak measurements. Each river is ordered by ascending numbers downstream, i.e., 1-4 is most upstream to most downstream listed in table S1.

USGS_Stream_Measurements - 21 .txt files of USGS reported stream measurements. Each river is ordered by ascending numbers downstream, i.e., 1-4 is most upstream to most downstream listed in table S1.

High_Resolution_Measurements - Contains 6 .xlsx files of output data from the automated processing.

GIS_Measurement_Comparison - Contains 6 .xlsx files that compare GIS measurements to the automated measurements of Bankfull width. Median values are included.

Algorithm_Inputs – A single .xlsx file is included that list the inputs used in the automated process.

Bankfull_Discharge_Estimates -  A single .xlsx file containing estimates of discharge drainage area scaling used to estimate stream power.

Unit_Stream_Power_Values -  Contains 6 .xlsx spreadsheets which include relative measurements of distance downstream and raw calculated values of unit stream power using our estimates of bankfull discharge.

USGS Datasets – Peak and stream measurements from the USGS made at each gage location used in the study. Metadata for each file was removed for processing but can be obtained at gage locations using https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/.

Kostynick_et_al_2025_README.txt - Information on the data and how it corresponds to the figures in within the manuscript.



Fill_and_Spill_Algorithm.zip - Matlab code and sample Rio Pueblo De Taos data used to run the “fill-and-spill” automated process



Instructions for model implementation are included as comments in the code

This folder also includes an instance of TopoToolbox (Schwanghart and Scherler,  2014) and Scientific Colourmaps to aid in initial data processing and plotting.



Fill_and_Spill_Algorithm_Without_DEM_Data.zip - Matlab code of "fill-and-spill" automated process without DEM files. This file is to reduce the total download time if example data is not needed. Note that to completely run the example code, the full Fill_and_Spill_Algorithm.zip file is needed.



This folder also includes an instance of TopoToolbox (Schwanghart and Scherler,  2014) and Scientific Colourmaps to aid in initial data processing and plotting.



Power_Law_Scaling_Code.zip - Matlab code and sample Rio Pueblo De Taos data used to create power law scaling Figure 1 in main text.



Details are included as comments in the code




Code ran on MATLAB R2024b on Windows 11 system

References:

Crameri, F. (2023). Scientific colour maps (Version 8.0.1) [Computer software]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.1243862



Schwanghart, W. (2022). Release TopoToolbox 2.4 [Computer software]. Github. wschwanghart/topotoolbox. Retrieved November 5, 2025, from https://github.com/wschwanghart/topotoolbox/releases/tag/2.4

 

Schwanghart, W., & Scherler, D. (2014). Short Communication: TopoToolbox 2 – MATLAB-based software for topographic analysis and modeling in Earth surface sciences. Earth Surface Dynamics, 2(1), 1-7-1–7. https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-2-1-2014

 


Phillips, C. B. (2021). Alluvial River Bankfull Hydraulic Geometry, HydroShare, https://doi.org/10.4211/hs.fa5503b04af343ffbaf33d5a15cb2579