Buffalo Bayou Field Guide

Stop 7 // Coexistence

Middle of the Sabine Street Bridge

THE NEXT STORM IS COMING, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO TO LIVE WITH IT?

Art of Sand Peels

The sand peel sculptures are the geologic archive of multiple storm events in Buffalo Bayou.  They record the rise of the flood, the waning of energy and deposition of sediment during the adjustment phase and our efforts as a city to recover from storms.  This geologic archive is paralleled in the hydrologic archive and human impact archive.  The sand peel sculptures also capture the flow of time, with individual layers recording moments in time and bundles of layers recording days and months and years. 

The sand peel sculptures have the ability to hold a record of the event even after people repair their houses and businesses and start over from scratch.  They can hold this human event in relation to a geologic event, and enable dreaming about such an event outside the realm of the human tragedy of the storm, to help recognize the realities of a cosmopolitan city like Houston, built on a coastal plain of which Buffalo Bayou is just a small part.   Due to natural processes and our recovery efforts the sand peel sculptures are the preserved natural archive of these storm events.

As we look down Buffalo Bayou (Fig. 7.1) and think of the bigger systems that the sand peel sculptures are recording, with rising sea level and the potential for bigger storms, the question is not “Will there be another Harvey?” but “When will there be another Harvey?” and “How will we prepare for it?”

SPONSORS

The Buffalo Bayou Hurricane Hike is supported by a generous grant by the AAPG Foundation and endorsed by AAPG Division of Environmental Geoscientists.

Acknowledgements

The Flow Archive collaborative effort exists to consider the intersecting flows of time, sediment, water, and humans to ponder the impacts of culture and geopolitics of the past and present on the future.  The Buffalo Bayou Hurricane Hike was originally developed as a Field Guide for a field trip in conjuncture with the GeoGulf Convention October 2019. In 2024 the hike was updated with support from AAPG to include a teachers guide written for K-12 science teachers and students.

We want to thank GeoGulf 2019 who expanded the traditional scope of their convention to include an art installation, art paper, and field trip of our art/science collaboration with a social message.  

We also want to thank Jan-Claire Phillips for endless logistical, moral and editorial support,   Don Yurewicz for his photography, and Andrés and Jack Machin, Tom Byrd, Charlie and Linda Beeman, Ky Cooksey, Erin Miller for physical and moral support.   

Support and assistance were provided by Buffalo Bayou Partnership, University of Houston, United Way of Greater Houston, and funding for the sand peel sculptures was provided in part by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. For past exhibitions, information and images of the artwork visit https://www.katekendall.info.  For more information about Flow Archive and future projects visit https://flowarchive.com. 

References Cited

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Carlowicz, M., and J. Allen, 2017, Texas waters run brown after Harvey:  NASA Earth Observatory, Land Atmosphere Near Real-Time Capability for EOS, <https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/90866/texas-waters-run-brown-after-harvey> Accessed June 1, 2018. 

Chowdhury, A. H., and M. J. Turco, 2006, Geology of the Gulf Coast aquifer, Texas:  Texas Water Development Board Report 365, Chapter 2, p. 23–50, <https://www.twdb.texas.gov/publications/reports/numbered_reports/doc/R365/R365_Composite.pdf> Accessed June 1, 2019.

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HCFCD, 2017, Harris county flood control district:  Buffalo Bayou inundation map, August 29, 2017, <https://www.hcfcd.org/media/2302/buffalobayou_inundationscenarios0830.pdf> Accessed June 1, 2018.

Horton, J. D., C. A. San Juan, and D. B. Stoeser, 2017, The state geologic map compilation (SGMC) geodatabase of the conterminous United States (ver. 1.1, August 2017):  U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 1052, 46 p., <https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1052> Accessed June 1, 2018.

Kendall, J. J., K. P. Kendall, A. Roesch, A. Stearns, C. Ramon, and S. Meyer, 2019a, Fluvial tapestries:  The depositional record of Hurricane Harvey in Buffalo Bayou:  Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 69, p. xx.

Kendall, K. P., and J. J. Kendall, 2018, Fluvial tapestries:  GeoArt of Hurricane Harvey:  The Houston Geologic Society Bulletin, v. 61, p. 33–43.

Kendall, K. P., S. Meyer, A. Roesch, A. Stearns, C. Ramon, and, J. J. Kendall 2019b, Flood, adjust, recovery:  Flow archives of Hurricane Harvey, Buffalo Bayou, Houston, Texas:  Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 69, p. xx–yy.

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Meyer, S., J. J. Kendall, and J. Saylor, 2019, Interpretation of sands deposited in Buffalo Bayou during Hurricane Harvey:  Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 69, p. xx.

Moiola, R. J., R. T. Clarke, and B. J. Phillips, 1969, A rapid method for making peels of unconsolidated sands:  Geologic Society of America Bulletin, v. 80, p. 1385–1386.

Paine, J. G., M. Sojan, and C. Tiffany, 2012, Historical shoreline changes through 2007, Texas Gulf Coast:  Rates, contributing causes, and Holocene context:  Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Journal, v. 1, p. 13–26.

Ramon-Duenas, C., and J. S. Wellner, 2019, The San Luis Pass flood tidal delta and how storms model the Texas coast: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 69, p. xx.

Roth, D. M., 2018, Tropical cyclone point maxima:  Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Data, United States Weather Prediction Center, <https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/tcmaxima.html> Accessed December 21, 2018.

Sammy, S., 2019, Terrestrial and Martian water investigation using ground penetrating radar (GPR):  Surveys of Hurricane Harvey storm deposits, imaging of ice in Mars regolith simulant, and rover-based GPR suitability mapping with GIS:  M.S. thesis, University of Houston, x p.

Stearns, A., 2019, Hurricane Harvey sedimentation patterns in Buffalo Bayou, Houston, Texas:  Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions, v. 69, p. xx.

USGS, 2017a, Stream gauge height at station 08074000 on Buffalo Bayou at Shepherd:  National Water Information System, <https://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?cb_00065=on&format=gif_default&site_no=08074000&period=&begin_date=2017-08-24&end_date=2017-12-18> Accessed December 21, 2018.

USGS, 2017b, Stream gauge height at station 08073600 on Buffalo Bayou at W Belt:  National Water Information System, <https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/inventory/?site_no=08073600> Accessed December 21, 2018.

Wallace, D. J., and J. B. Anderson, 2013, Unprecedented erosion of the upper Texas coast:  Response to accelerated sea-level rise and hurricane impacts:  Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 125, p. 728–740, doi:10.1130/B30725.1.