UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN SURFACE PROCESSES AT SENECAVILLE LAKE, SOUTHEASTERN OHIO

Senecaville Lake is one of a system of projects designed to provide flood control and water conservation in the Muskingum Watershed in southeastern Ohio. Senecaville Lake was constructed in 1937 and encompasses 3,550 acres. It is contained within a watershed of approximately 75,520 acres. Senecaville Lake is located approximately 25 miles east-southeast of New Concord, Ohio. A majority of the northern and southeastern portion of the lake is easily accessible along State Routes 313 and 147. The lake level is maintained seasonally with the summer level around 832.3 feet and the winter level around 827.2 feet. By 1997 the lake had lost only 10 percent of its permanent storage volume to sedimentation. Historical and ongoing activities in the sub-watersheds that may affect sedimentation and surface processes along the lake edge include surface mining, drilling oil and gas wells, and agriculture. Two major streams enter the lake along its eastern margin and have built significant deltas. Senecaville Lake represents an excellent natural laboratory for undergraduate research in surface processes because of the varied activities within the sub-watersheds, the seasonally maintained lake levels, and the low sedimentation rate. We have constructed a GIS database for this area from the following resources available from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR): DOQs (1994), and vector and raster data from topographic maps (1961, photo revised 1975/1976). An ongoing undergraduate research project at Senecaville Lake is a GIS study of sedimentation as recorded by delta growth at the mouths of two major streams along the eastern margin of the lake. In the near future this project will include coring the deltas during the winter months when the lake level is 5 feet lower which exposes a significant portion of the deltas. Other potential research projects include studying the effects of the seasonal change in water level on delta development and studying shoreline erosional processes.