USGS Kanawha Basin Facts

Description of the Kanawha River BasinThe Kanawha River Basin drains 12,223 mi2 in North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia (Messinger and Hughes, 2000). The New River, the major tributary of the Kanawha River, is formed in North Carolina (fig. 1). Major tributaries (> 400 mi2) of the New River are the Bluestone and Greenbrier Rivers in West Virginia. The Kanawha River is formed at Gauley Bridge, W.Va., by the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers, and its other major tributaries are the Elk and Coal Rivers. The Kanawha River drains to the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, W.Va.
The Kanawha River drains parts of three physiographic provinces (fig. 2), the Blue Ridge Province (17 percent), Valley and Ridge Province (23 percent), and the Appalachian Plateaus Province (60 percent) (Fenneman, 1938). In the Appalachian Plateaus part of the basin, hilltop altitude ranges from about 1,000 ft to about 4,000 ft, generally from northwest to east and southeast, and relief and stream gradient generally are greater in the area with greater altitude. The differences in altitude and relief within the Appalachian Plateaus have caused differences in environmental conditions including precipitation, streamflow, stream gradient, terrestrial vegetation, and land use (Messinger and Hughes, 2000).
The climate of the Kanawha River Basin is classified as continental, with four distinct seasons and marked temperature contrast between summer and winter (Messinger and Hughes, 2000). The maximum precipitation in the basin is greater than 60 in/yr both in the northeastern Appalachian Plateaus and in the southern Blue Ridge Province. The minimum precipitation in the basin, about 36 in/yr, is in the Valley and Ridge Province and in the Greenbrier Valley, in a regional rain shadow; however, the westernmost part of the Appalachian Plateaus receives only slightly more precipitation, about 40–45 in/yr.
Streams are regulated by four major flood-control dams, three navigation dams, and several smaller dams. All these dams obstruct fish movement. No fish that migrate to or from the ocean have ever been common in the basin, although some native fish, notably suckers, are strongly migratory within and near the basin. Ninety miles of the Kanawha River main stem are regulated for barge navigation by large locks and dams at London, Marmet, and Winfield. This entire reach of the river is dredged periodically.
Streams in the Blue Ridge Province follow a dendritic drainage pattern. Many mountain streams are cold and support (or formerly supported) brook trout populations, but the larger streams are warm. Stream water is typically dilute (less than 200 mg/L dissolved solids) and neutral to slightly acidic. Streams of the Valley and Ridge Province follow a trellised drainage pattern. Bedrock in the valleys is typically shale and limestone, and waters in Valley and Ridge streams are generally slightly alkaline
(7.0–8.0 pH units) and contain more dissolved solids (200–350 mg/L) than do streams in the Blue Ridge Province.
Streams throughout the Appalachian Plateaus follow a dendritic drainage pattern. Many high-altitude streams are cold, and some streams draining areas larger than 100 mi2 support trout populations. Bedrock in the northeastern part of the Appalachian Plateaus generally is inert, insoluble sandstone and shale. Stream water in this area typically is very dilute (30–100 mg/L dissolved solids) and poorly buffered, and some streams have been degraded by acid precipitation (Messinger, 1997). Streams in the rest of the Appalachian Plateaus typically have lower gradients than streams in the areas of highest altitude. The Greenbrier River and its eastern tributaries are underlain by limestone, and their waters are mildly alkaline (7.0–8.0 pH units), well buffered, and moderate in dissolved solids (150–200 mg/L). Bedrock in the western part of the Appalachian Plateaus Province is predominantly sandstone, shale, and coal, with interbedded limestone. The shale typically yields more solutes than the sandstone does, and relative amounts of shale increase in a gradient from south to north. Stream water in the western part of the Appalachian Plateaus contains more dissolved solids than any other part of the basin, with typical concentrations of 500 mg/L in the Coal River and its tributaries, the downstream tributaries of the Elk River, and many minor tributaries of the Kanawha River. Most stream water in this part of the basin is mildly alkaline and well buffered. The basin is mostly forest (81 percent) with a substantial amount of agricultural land (16 percent) (Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Interagency Consortium, 1997). Major industries in the basin include coal mining and chemical manufacturing in West Virginia, timbering throughout most of the basin, and pasture agriculture in Virginia, North Carolina, and parts of West Virginia (Messinger and Hughes, 2000). The Kanawha River Basin produces about 7 percent of the coal mined in the United States, mostly from a band of Pennsylvanian-age rocks in West Virginia (fig. 3). Where coal is minable, it has usually been mined repeatedly, using different methods (Paybins and others, 2001). Numbers of active surface and underground mines and abandoned mines are all generally greatest in the areas with the most total coal production, complicating attempts to separate the effects of these factors. Major hydrologic effects of coal mining include addition of sulfate, aluminum, iron, and manganese to water, and increase in stream sedimentation. Base flow is increased downstream from valley fills (Wiley and others, 2001), but subsidence from underground mining beneath valley floors can dewater aquifers and streams (Hobba, 1981) The New River may be among the oldest rivers in the world, although the claim that it is the second oldest river in the world is no longer considered to be well-founded (Swift, 2001; Lessing, 1997). Until about 2 million years ago, the New River was the headwater of the Teays River, the master stream flowing from the central Appalachian Mountains toward the Gulf of Mexico (Fridley, 1950). The native fish fauna of the New River is probably affected by both the New River’s ancient position as head of the Teays River, and by combinations of geomorphic barriers and climate changes during times of glaciation (Jenkins and Burkhead, 1994).