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The Kobuk River (''Kuuvak'' in Iñupiaq) (also Kooak, Kowak, Kubuk, Kuvuk, or Putnam) is a river located in the
Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
region of northwestern
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...
in the United States. It is approximately long. Draining a basin with an area of ,Brabets, T.P., Hydrologic Data and a Proposed Water-Quality Monitoring Network for the Kobuk River Basin, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, and Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Investigations Report 01-4141, 2001 the Kobuk River is among the largest rivers in northwest Alaska with widths of up to 1,500 feet (460 m) and flow at a speed of 3–5 miles per hour (5–8 km per hour) in its lower and middle reaches.Kobuk Valley National Park Final Environmental Impact Statement, National Park Service The average elevation for the Kobuk River Basin is above sea level, ranging from near sea level to 11,400 feet (3,475 m).
Topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...
includes low, rolling mountains, plains and lowlands, moderately high rugged mountainous land, and some gently sloped plateaus and highlands. The river contains an exceptional population of sheefish (''Stenodus leucicthys''), a large predatory whitefish within the salmon family, found throughout the Arctic that spawns in the river's upper reaches during the autumn.
FishBase (April 2007)
A portion of the vast Western Arctic Caribou Herd utilize the Kobuk river valley as winter range.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game (December 2003)


Course

It is commonly assumed that the Kobuk River issues from Walker Lake (Northwest Arctic, Alaska), Walker Lake. However, the headwaters of the river are to the east of Walker Lake in the
Endicott Mountains The Endicott Mountains are a range of mountains, part of the Brooks Range in northern Alaska. They are located in the middle of the Brooks range and run some east–west. To the east are the Philip Smith Mountains and to the west are the Sc ...
within the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, just north of the
Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at ...
. It flows briefly south, descending from the mountains through two spectacular canyons (Upper and Lower Kobuk Canyon), then flows generally west along the southern flank of the western
Brooks Range The Brooks Range ( Gwich'in: ''Gwazhał'') is a mountain range in far northern North America stretching some from west to east across northern Alaska into Canada's Yukon Territory. Reaching a peak elevation of on Mount Isto, the range is b ...
in a broad wetlands valley. In the valley it passes a connected community of inland native villages, including Kobuk, Shungnak, and Ambler, where it receives the Ambler River. In the river's lower reaches, where it passes between the Baird and Waring mountains, it traverses
Kobuk Valley National Park Kobuk Valley National Park is an American national park in the Arctic region of northwestern Alaska, located about north of the Arctic Circle. The park was designated in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to preserve the ...
, the location of the Kobuk Sand Dunes. It then passes Kiana. The river enters its broad delta approximately 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Kiana. The delta is located in The Hotham Inlet of the Kotzebue Sound approximately 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Kotzebue.Alaska Planning Group, U.S. Department of the Interior. Final Environmental Statement for Proposed Kobuk Valley National Monument, 1973


History

The Kobuk's
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...
name ''Kuuvak'' means "great river". It was first transcribed by John Simpson in 1850 as "Kowuk." Explored by Lt. G. M. Stoney, USN, in 1883–1886, who wrote the name "Ku-buck," but proposed that it be called "Putnam" in honor of Master
Charles Putnam Charles Flint Putnam (1 December 1854 – ) was an officer in the United States Navy. Biography Born in Freeport, Illinois, Putnam entered the United States Naval Academy at the age of 14. Upon his request at graduation in 1873, he was ...
, USN, officer of the Rodgers, who was carried to sea on the ice and lost in 1880. Lt. J. C. Cantwell,
USRCS ) , colors= , colors_label= , march= , mascot= , equipment= , equipment_label= , battles= , anniversaries=4 August , decorations= , battle_honours= , battle_honours_label= , disbanded=28 January 1915 , flying_hours= , website= , commander1= , co ...
, also explored the river in 1884 and 1885 and spelled the name "Koowak" on his map and "Kowak" in his text. Ivan Petroff spelled the river name "Kooak" in 1880, and W. H. Dall spelled it "Kowk" in 1870. Lt. H. T. Allen, USA, obtained the
Koyukon The Koyukon (russian: Коюконы) are an Alaska Native Athabascan people of the Athabascan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. Their traditional territory is along the Koyukuk and Yukon rivers where they subsisted for thousands of years b ...
Indian name in 1885 which he spelled "Holooatna" and "Holoatna." Native peoples have hunted, fished, and lived along the Kobuk for at least 12,500 years and it has long been an important transportation route for inland peoples. In 1898 the river was the scene of a brief
gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...
called the
Kobuk River Stampede The Kobuk River Stampede was a brief gold rush on the Kobuk River in Alaska. From 1897 to 1898, several false accounts of the discovery of gold on the Kobuk led nearly 2,000 gold seekers to the area. Most of these prospectors arrived by ship, du ...
, which involved about 2,000 prospectors in total. Hearing of gold along the Kobuk and its tributaries, miners set out from
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
and
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
on ships to reach the mouth of the Kobuk. Upon arrival they were informed by native people that it was a scam, and only about 800 traveled upriver. The result was that little or no gold was found, and only on a few tributaries of the river. In 1980 the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
designated of the river downstream from Walker Lake as the Kobuk Wild and Scenic River as part of the
National Wild and Scenic Rivers System The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...
. The river is considered an outstanding destination for recreational floating.


Climate

The Kobuk River Basin is located just north of the
Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at ...
and has a
continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing so ...
. The summers are short and warm, while winters are long and cold. The mean annual temperature in the middle and upper portions of the Kobuk Valley is -6 °C, and the mean temperature in July is 15 °C.Mann, D.H., Heiser, P.A., Finney, B.P, 2002. Holocene history of the Great Kobuk Sand Dunes, Northwestern Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21 (4-6). 709-731. An average of 21 inches (53 cm) of precipitation falls in the basin. However, actual precipitation can range from 15 to 40 inches (40–100 cm) with greater amounts falling in the upper reaches of the river basin. The Kobuk River Basin is very sensitive to changes in climate.
Arctic climate The climate of the Arctic is characterized by long, cold winters and short, cool summers. There is a large amount of variability in climate across the Arctic, but all regions experience extremes of solar radiation in both summer and winter. Som ...
s have warmed at approximately twice the global rate in the last several decades.Anisimov, O.A., D.G. Vaughan, T.V. Callaghan, C. Furgal, H. Marchant, T.D. Prowse, H. Vilhjálmsson and J.E. Walsh, 2007: Polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic). Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, M.L. Parry, O.F Canziani, J.P Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 653-685. Records of air-temperature from 1961 to 1990 logged at the latitudes of the Kobuk River, show a warming trend of about 1.4 °F (0.78 °C) per decade. The warming has been the strongest in the
winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...
and
spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...
months. Climate change is presently considered the most severe
environmental stress Stress, either physiological, biological or psychological, is an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. Stress is the body's method of reacting to a condition such as a threat, challenge or physical and psych ...
in the Kobuk River Basin and throughout Alaska.National Assessment Synthesis Team, Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, US Global Change Research Program, Washington DC, 2000 As a specific example, climate change will cause widespread
thawing Melting, or fusion, is a physical process that results in the phase transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid. This occurs when the internal energy of the solid increases, typically by the application of heat or pressure, which ...
of
permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
in the
discontinuous Continuous functions are of utmost importance in mathematics, functions and applications. However, not all functions are continuous. If a function is not continuous at a point in its domain, one says that it has a discontinuity there. The set of a ...
zone and significant changes in the
continuous Continuity or continuous may refer to: Mathematics * Continuity (mathematics), the opposing concept to discreteness; common examples include ** Continuous probability distribution or random variable in probability and statistics ** Continuous ...
zone. Thawing permafrost can lead to a landscape of irregular depressions (
thermokarst Thermokarst is a type of terrain characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws. The land surface type occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as ...
) due to subsiding soils. This can alter
drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditio ...
patterns and even change the course of streams; whereas other areas could become
swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
-like. In addition, slope stability will decrease and permafrost degradation could lead to
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
of river banks resulting in an increase in
sediment transport Sediment transport is the movement of solid particles (sediment), typically due to a combination of gravity acting on the sediment, and/or the movement of the fluid in which the sediment is entrained. Sediment transport occurs in natural system ...
by the rivers.Koster E.A. & M.E. Nieuwenhuijzen, 1992. Permafrost Response to Climatic Change. Published in Greenhouse-Impact on Cold-Climate Ecosystems and Landscapes, Editors: M. Boer & E. Koster. These physical changes will impact nutrient cycling and biological processes within the basin as well.


Geology and soils

Permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
regions along the Kobuk River are shown in the accompanying figure.


Geomorphology

The Kobuk River is a periglacial river, fed by a remnant glacial lake (Walker Lake) and mountain snowmelt in the
Brooks Range The Brooks Range ( Gwich'in: ''Gwazhał'') is a mountain range in far northern North America stretching some from west to east across northern Alaska into Canada's Yukon Territory. Reaching a peak elevation of on Mount Isto, the range is b ...
. It cuts a channel through a landscape otherwise dominated by
permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
. The Kobuk's current form and structure is a direct result of several stages of erosion and channel formation following the last glacial retreat. As the glacier first retreated and melted, large amounts of highly erodible, fine-grained sediment dropped out in relatively high mountain valleys. The availability of this fine-grained, loose sediment combined with a high gradient to turn a newly forming Kobuk River into a fast-working sediment transport system. The river picked up
glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
from its upper reaches and transported it downstream until the gradient diminished. When the river encountered flatter ground, it deposited its sediment load resulting in the creation of broad, flat
floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
s,
alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
s, and
meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...
bends through
aggradation Aggradation (or alluviation) is the term used in geology for the increase in land elevation, typically in a river system, due to the deposition of sediment. Aggradation occurs in areas in which the supply of sediment is greater than the amount o ...
.Ballantyne, Colin K., Paraglacial Geomorphology. Quaternary Science Reviews 21 (2002), p. 1935 - 2017 After the first stage of aggradation and sediment transport, the Kobuk began a new phase of erosion and landform development. The river exhausted its supply of easily erodible sediment upstream, thus decreasing its sediment load and increasing its load carrying capacity downstream. With more capacity downstream, the river began to incise into the alluvial fan it previously created, moving sediment stored for a long time on its original floodplains to newer floodplains even further downstream. Further down in the Kobuk watershed, the river worked in concert with the wind to create one of the more famous landforms in Alaska: the Kobuk Dunes. These large
sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
s are the modern ancestor of alluvial deposits that became shaped and dominated by an exchange of aeolian and
fluvial In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...
processes.Ashley, Gail and Hamilton, Thomas, Fluvial Response to Late Quaternary Climatic Fluctuations, Central Kobuk Valley, Northwestern Alaska. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, Vol 63 No. 5, September 1993 pgs 814-827 In moister climates, the river has more water, and thus more power, and cuts down through a sandy bed. In times of drier climate, wind dominates and blows a lot of sediment into a weaker fluvial system, leading to aggradation and floodplain re-distribution. Currently, the Kobuk River in its middle and lower reaches is an anastomizing stream, with several
braided Braided is a musical group consisting of Casey LeBlanc, Ashley Leitão, and Amber Fleury, who all competed on the third season of '' Canadian Idol'' in 2005. They are the third music group to come from an Idol show in the world, after Young Div ...
channels in places, wide migrating meander bends, and oxbow lakes. It is controlled by yearly cycles of freeze and thaw, much like its surrounding landscape. For six months of the year, the river is largely still, frozen on top by a thick layer of ice. In the spring, warmer temperatures cause this ice to begin to melt. But the resulting process is not gradual. Rather, the pressure of melting ice from upstream builds up upon ice "dams" in the river's channel, eventually causing an "ice break-up" event, in which a flood of ice and water moves powerfully downstream. These annual spring break-up events have several important consequences. First, the river has deeply undercut and eroded banks, caused by large, fast-moving chunks of ice carving out the river's channel before it begins spilling out onto its floodplain, which is 1 to 6 miles (1.6-9.7 km) wide except at the confluence of major tributaries. Second, the river moves laterally very quickly and dramatically, re-inventing side channels every year as its secondary streams become drowned in each yearly flood by an overwhelming amount of sediment. Lastly, since the river is surrounded mostly by permafrost and because during the spring break-up event there are still large parts of frozen ground close to its banks, floods often transports large amounts of fine sediment across broad expanses of floodplain in thin sheets of water that slide easily across the frozen ground. These characteristics also translate into a relatively variable habitat for the Kobuk's native species. Farthest west, the Kobuk empties into Hotham Inlet, the easterly arm of Kotzebue Sound. During recent geologic times however, when sea level was lower, the Noatak, Kobuk, and
Selawik River The Selawik River is a stream, long, in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Alaska. Originating in the Purcell Mountains near the Zane Hills, it flows generally west through the Selawik National Wildlife Refuge to Selawik Lake, which emp ...
s were joined. Now, they have separate deltas with many lakes and swamps and intricately webbed channel systems. The deltas are composed primarily of silt, sand, and gravel.


Surface water and hydrology

The Kobuk River is ice covered 6 months of the year and in general, late October to late May is a period of relatively low flow. Annually, the hydrograph reflects two flood peaks: the first is associated with spring break-up and the second, a lesser peak, is associated with late summer precipitation. As the snowpack begins to melt toward the end of May, flow in the Kobuk River increases with most of the runoff occurring during June. Flow during the summer (July through September) is dominated by variable precipitation events. Most of the major tributaries of the Kobuk River flow from the north, draining the mountains in the southern
Brooks Range The Brooks Range ( Gwich'in: ''Gwazhał'') is a mountain range in far northern North America stretching some from west to east across northern Alaska into Canada's Yukon Territory. Reaching a peak elevation of on Mount Isto, the range is b ...
. From east to west, these include the Reed River, Beaver Creek, Mauneluk River, Kogoluktuk River, Shungnak River, Ambler River, Akillik River, Tutuksuk River, Salmon River, and the Squirrel River.Hydrologic Unit Map 1987 - U.S. Department of the Interior Geological Survey Within
Kobuk Valley National Park Kobuk Valley National Park is an American national park in the Arctic region of northwestern Alaska, located about north of the Arctic Circle. The park was designated in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act to preserve the ...
, are the Kallarichuk, Kaliguricheark, and Adillik rivers. All of their headwaters are in the
Baird Mountains The Baird Mountains are a mountain range located northeast of the Kotzebue Sound, in between the Kobuk River, Kobuk and Noatak Rivers in Alaska. The range was named after Smithsonian Institution Secretary Spencer F. Baird. Geographical setting Th ...
. The major tributaries flowing north from the Waring Mountains are the Pah River, Pick River, and Niaktuvik Creek. The Pah River drains a lowland area of the basin. Most major tributaries draining high relief areas have higher unit runoff than tributaries draining the lower relief areas. Walker Lake is at an altitude of in the headwaters of the Kobuk River.Jones, J.R. et al.
Limnology of Walker Lake and Comparisons with Other Lakes in the Brooks Range, Alaska
Final Report NPS/AR-89/21
Other surface water features within the basin include Lake Selby, Nutuvukti Lake, and Norutak Lake. Additionally, numerous small lakes and ponds occur in the lowlands along the river, some formed as detached oxbows of the meandering river and others formed where permafrost has melted and caused depressions. Flow records are available from
USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
monitoring stations at Ambler and Kiana. Average annual flow for the Kobuk River at Ambler has ranged from to over the period of record 1966–78, with peak discharge ranging from to . Near Kiana, average annual flow has ranged from to for the period 1977–99 with peaks of to . Peak flows can result from large volumes of water released when ice jams fail. Flow records are also available for Dahl Creek, a tributary of the Kobuk River with a confluence near the town of Kobuk.


See also

*
List of rivers of Alaska This is a List of rivers in Alaska, which are at least fifth-order according to the Strahler method of stream classification, and an incomplete list of otherwise-notable rivers and streams. Alaska has more than 12,000 rivers, and thousands more st ...
*
List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers This is a list of the designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers in the United States. Each river has been designated by Congress, or, if certain requirements were met, the Secretary of the Interior. A designation may include multiple watercourses ...
*
Kobuk River Stampede The Kobuk River Stampede was a brief gold rush on the Kobuk River in Alaska. From 1897 to 1898, several false accounts of the discovery of gold on the Kobuk led nearly 2,000 gold seekers to the area. Most of these prospectors arrived by ship, du ...


References


External links


Alaska fish and game species descriptions



Gates of the Arctic National Park


* ttp://www.nps.gov/gaar/Expanded/key_values/wild_and_scenic_rivers/kobuk.htm Kobuk Wild and Scenic River
Kobuk River Stampede

Kobuk, Alaska

Alaska Department of Natural Resources Kobuk Area Map
(big file) {{Authority control Rivers of Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska Rivers of Alaska Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve Kobuk Valley National Park Brooks Range