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Here’s a question that I’m having a hard time getting an answer to. What is the single deepest spot on the Ohio River? When I Google it, I get answers of 55 feet, 85 feet, and 130 feet…though they all place it in the Louisville area.
What I am wondering is, if I were in a boat over the deepest single spot while the water was at typical summertime pool –no flooding, no droughts – how many feet down would I find the mud, gravel, or rocks? I figure if anyone has some good answers (or could make up good BS…) it would be the people here
On a related note, can anyone say what the terrain of the river bottom would look like if the water suddenly disappeared? Would it be long stretches of bare mud and silt, with the occasional rocky spot? Would it be an undulating junkyard of rocks, wrecked cars, trees, and garbage.
Whenever I look at the river, I try to picture what it would look like underneath, but I just don’t know.
Senior Member
up the river from the Cannelton dam to Mcalpine a lot of the river is 35-40 feet deep all the way across. That being said I'm sure there are a few deep holes. 130 feet seems ridiculous though but who knows. As far as what it looks like, I would have to say it would be all mud. Everything silts over is my reasoning.
Senior Member
I'm going to say the deepest part of the Ohio river is in the Fossil beds about 40-50ft in parts.
Junior Member
Wow, that is really a good and interesting question that got me thinking. I've never really thought about the bottom of the Ohio river until you asked.
As I thought about it, many creeks I have fished came to mind -- locally one's like Elkhorn, Floyd's Fork, Brashear's, and little Kentucky River. Your question made me think of those creeks and their bottoms. On the whole, those creeks have a lot of "shelves", some "pebbly" bottoms, and even some "silty" areas. It seems the bottoms change in all of them, some having to do with the surrounding areas (fields, bluffs, etc) and some with respect to flow (bends, straight areas, etc).
So, no, I have no idea if the river is just a "big creek" --- but your question sure had me wondering --- maybe there are different "bottoms", just like there are in the different creeks.
I'll be watching this post to listen and learn.
Great question,
Jeff
Right below Cannelton Dam it is real deep. I'm thinking 50 to 70. Maybe more.
There is a pretty big place on the upper side of Mcalpine in Louisville where it is 60'. I believe that is where they dredged to make I-71.
Way down river from Louisville I ran across a place that was 100' or so. It was not all that big. I have the place and depth marked on a river chart.
Peter - (logged in as test)
Last edited by peter; 02-25-2013 at 09:09 PM.
I`ve run up and down that river with my depth finder and what i found is thats for the most part the river is shollow {25-30ft} from louisville to salt river,,but from salt on down it its deeper and deeper,,down around Otter Creek i`ve seen places 60-80 ft and aloy of more rock,,,
Senior Member
I have been up and down the river from Louisville to Markland and I am pretty sure there is not anyplace much deeper than 35 feet at normal pool. Now, the rock quarrys that they opened to the main river can be really deep, some of them are 65-70.
From what I have seen, most of the river bottom is silted in and mostly mud. BUT, there is areas that can be more rocky or at least gravelly. My theory is look at the land around the rivers edge and it will give you good idea of what the bottom is like.
There is areas of the river that have "washouts" or ditches that dump rock and gravel out and make a "harder" bottom.
I also believe you may find anything at the bottom of the river----logs,rocks,cars,boats,building remains, etc. etc.
Member
At the mouth of the Kentucky River there is a pool that is about 100' deep.
Mile marker 677.3, well below Leavenworth, Wolf Creek Light area, from mid river to the outside of this tight bend, I read 90 feet.
And...it scares me to death to think about what all is at the bottom of that river. Hey.....has anyone seen my Subaru?
Senior Member
Wow, that's deep, I wouldn't want to dip that out with a sardine can.Originally Posted by HURRICANEBOB
Senior Member
It's over 100 feet deep below Cannelton. Fished a tourney there once and didn't have enough rope to anchor. Deepest water on Markland pool that I know of is about 75 feet not far from auroa. Mouth of KY is deep but I think that hole is technically in the KY River. Super deep water is over rated fishing wise for cats...
Member
Your comment about creek bottoms is similar to my way of thinking on it. The natural processes are the same, so the same principles must apply, right? The biggest difference is scale.
I bet there are areas that change and shift pretty frequently, depending on conditions; a blanket of silt might deposit, and then a field of debris on top of it (logs, whiskey bottles...) and then the next "flood stage" might scrub it back to bare limestone for a while. I dunno. At any rate, I agree with you and MarkW that it must differ depending on the terrain around the river--I bet that around the knobs, there must be more rocks along the bottom.
I would also guess that the current must sometimes carve out a deeper hole that will shift and disappear again.
Here's another question for people who are commenting about the depth from their own experiences: is you measurement based on depth/fish finders? And are those sonar-based? If so, do varying water temperatures give odd readings regarding depth? (for instance, can it exagerate the depth, or hide how deep something truly is?)
I want to sit down and talk with a geologist/hydrologist...but I don't know any...
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