Suspended sediment load estimation in an ungauged river in south‐eastern Australia

Soil erosion poses a significant threat to river health as well as the sustainability of soil resources. Management of this issue requires catchment‐specific data to be developed; however, many large catchments are poor in terms of hydrological and sediment transport data. Regional scale (thousands of square kilometres), computer‐based modelling methods are a way to generate such data. This study aims to apply the SedNet model to estimate a sediment budget for a 575 km², ungauged, agricultural catchment of south‐eastern Australia. The model results are then compared with field measured erosion rates for the catchment, in order to assess the sustainability of soil loss and redistribution across the catchment. SedNet estimated average suspended sediment concentrations between 70 and 120 mg/L, under conditions deemed most representative of the river. These model estimates were comparable with monitoring data, showing suspended sediment concentrations between 30 and 350 mg/L. It was found that soil loss and redistribution across the catchment is low; however, the estimated base sediment loads indicate that river health may be negatively impacted by this. SedNet accurately represented current catchment and river conditions and provided a reliable estimation of sediment yield, demonstrating the ability to estimate sediment loss and redistribution across data‐poor catchments using a multifaceted modelling approach. Methodologies, such as the one presented here, offer the ability to better assess the impacts of erosion on sediment loads to develop strategies to effectively manage excess suspended sediment.     

Estimation of Potential Soil Erosion for River Perkerra Catchment in Kenya

River Perkerra catchment with an area of 1207 km² is drained by River Perkerra, which is one of the rivers flowing into Lake Baringo whose drainage area is 6820 km². The lake is in a semi-arid area of Kenya. Its depth has reduced from 8 m in 1972 to 2.5 m in 2003 due to siltation resulting from high erosion rates in the catchment. The entire catchment is characterised by very steep slopes on the hillsides and gentle slopes in the middle and lower reaches where the surface is bare with very little undergrowth. Interventions to control soil erosion in this fragile ecosystem have been limited partly because of lack of data on erosion and its spatial distribution. In the present study, Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was used in conjunction with GIS Arc/Info and Integrated Land and Water Information Systems (ILWIS) to estimate potential soil loss from River Perkerra catchment. Various physical parameters of the equation were derived by analysing spatial data and processing Landsat TM satellite imagery of the catchment. The estimated potential soil erosion from the catchment was 1.73 million tonnes/year while the sediment yield at the catchment outlet was found to be 1.47 million tonnes/year. The sediment delivery ratio derived using an empirical equation was 0.83. This figure indicates that a higher proportion of sediments generated in the catchment is delivered at the outlet. The use of GIS enabled the results of erosion potential to be mapped back onto the catchment. This is useful in identifying priority areas that require urgent management interventions in controlling soil erosion.     

基于137Cs技术的侵蚀产沙对土地利用变化响应——以三峡库区斑竹林小流域为例

小流域是三峡库区入库泥沙的策源地,研究其侵蚀产沙状况对正确预测三峡水库来沙变化趋势非常重要。以三峡库区典型农业小流域--斑竹林小流域为研究对象,通过¹³⁷Cs示踪技术,研究了土地利用变化对流域侵蚀产沙空间分布的影响。结果表明：旱地退耕的其他林地和水田改的旱地的侵蚀堆积情况与土地利用变化前相差不大;在土地利用变化后的短期内,该流域侵蚀产沙变化较小,旱地是流域主要的侵蚀产沙源地,水田是淤积区。     

Sediment Loading During the 20th Century in Presque Isle Bay,Lake Erie,Pennsylvania

Mud-dominated sediments in Presque Isle Bay are contaminated with metals and hydrocarbons derived from developed watershed and atmospheric sources. Prior to this study, the quantities, rates, and spatial distribution of long-term sedimentation and erosion in the bay were largely unknown. As a result, the fate of contaminated bay-floor sediments and possible rates of natural recovery for this Area of Concern (AOC) could not be determined. To provide baseline data useful to state and federal agencies monitoring recovery of the bay, this paper identifies: (1) the quantities, rates and patterns of 20^th Century sedimentation and erosion, (2) the major sediment inputs and outputs for the bay, and (3) the implications of the sedimentary regime on possible future rates of bay recovery. Bathymetric and sedimentological data show that 20th Century net accumulation totaled approximately 3.94 × 10⁶ m³ which is equivalent to a dry sediment loading of 5.92 × 10⁹ kg (5.92 × 10⁶ t), or 6.29 kg/m²/yr (1.28 lb/ft²/yr) when averaged over the accretional 70% of the bay. This external loading represents approximately 50% of total accretion because externally derived sediments are augmented with resuspended sediments from shallow-water parts of the bay. The principal sediment inputs were littoral drift from ephemeral and permanent inlets (∼42%), artificial infilling along the shoreline (∼28%), streams (∼16%), bank/bluff erosion (∼12%), and biological production (∼2%). Dredging was the principal output. Based on long-term average sedimentation rates and patterns, recovery of the AOC through natural sediment capping will take at least several decades if source contaminants are removed.     

Tracing fine sediment sources in small mountain catchment

Fine sediment represents an important diffuse source pollutant in surface waters, due to its role in governing the transfer and fate of many substances, including nutrients, heavy metals, pesticides and other organic contaminants, and its influence on aquatic ecology. Therefore, catchment management strategies frequently need to include provision for the control of sediment mobilization and delivery. The sediment tracing concept provides a valuable framework for assisting the management and control of diffuse source sediment pollution by identifying the key sources and demonstrating the importance of intermediate storages and the likely impact of upstream mitigation strategies on downstream sediment and sediment associated contaminant fluxes. In this research, fine sediment sources were identified using tracing method. By field works, sediments were sampled from dam reservoir, different sources were also sampled. Fifteen tracers were first selected for tracing which are: The amounts of N, P, C, Cr, Co, Mg, K, Na, smectite, chlorite, illite, kaolinite, and two magnetic properties consisting of LOW Frequency Magnetic Susceptibility (X(LF)) and Frequency Dependent Magnetic Susceptibility (X(FD)). The samples were analyzed in the laboratory for these parameters and different statistical methods were applied to the data including Non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis Test and Stepwise Discriminant function analysis. The results provide important information on the relative importance of fine sediment sources to the reservoir sediments, which can be used to support model validation and the targeting of management and control strategies.     

Prediction of trace metal distribution coefficients (KD) for aerobic sediments

Distribution coefficients for suspended sediments may be estimated from water and sediment quality variables, using detailed conceptual chemical models or semi-empirical models. The predicted K_D values find application in trace metal fate modelling and risk assessment. The detailed chemical model SWAMP (Sediment Water Algorithm for Metal Partitioning) which expresses trace metal distribution coefficients as a function of environmental variables and sediment characteristics was used to describe field K_D values. Besides SWAMP, semi-empirical models were derived from field-K_D values. The field K_D-values for Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were measured on samples taken monthly from four surface waters in The Netherlands. In this paper we discuss the differences between the two modeling approaches.     

Human impacts on suspended sediment and turbidity in the River Murray,South Eastern Australia: Multiple lines of evidence

European settlement has led to increased loads of fine suspended sediment (SS) entering the River Murray, Australia's largest, and arguably, most important river. The River Murray's anthropogenic sediment history can be divided into four periods with varying source areas, sediment loads, and seasonal patterns. The Aboriginal period (before 1840) was characterized by clear water at summer low‐flows in the River Murray and its southern tributaries, with more sediment coming from the northern catchment than the southern, and the Darling River being turbid at all flows. There is little evidence that Aboriginal burning resulted in any measurable increase in SS. SS loads peaked in the 1870s and 1880s (the gold and gully period, 1850–1930) as valley floors were incised by gullies (mostly in northern tributaries), and gold sluicing flushed huge amounts of sludge into southern tributaries. Sedimentation in wetlands and on floodplains increased by 2–10 times in this period, and the biota in wetlands switched from clear water to turbid water communities. In the hiatus period (1930–1960) sediment supply from gullies and gold mining waned and low flow SS concentrations returned to low levels. Dam construction through the 1960s and 1970s (the regulation period, 1960 on) disconnected the River Murray from catchment derived sediment. Despite this, SS levels increased again: now largely derived from instream sources including bank erosion from long duration summer irrigation flows, the spread of bottom‐feeding carp (Cyprinus carpio), and wave erosion from boats. Erosion switched from winter to summer dominated. Significant investment in securing water for the environment in the Murray‐Darling Basin could be complemented by addressing in‐channel sediment sources in the River Murray itself to reduce turbidity. Overall, European era SS concentrations remain relatively low with small sediment delivery to the ocean (0.1 Mt per annum), despite high catchment erosion rates. This is due to poor sediment delivery efficiency through the low‐gradient landscape.     

GIS Based Estimation of Sediment Discharge and Areas of Soil Erosion and Deposition for the Torrential Lukovska River Catchment in Serbia

In the present study the SHETRAN river basin modelling system was used in conjunction with Geographic Information System (GIS) to estimate potential erosion and deposition rates within the catchment and the concentrations of sediment in a flow at the catchment outlet on the example of the 114.31 km² mountainous torrential Lukovska River catchment in Serbia. The streams in the Lukovska River catchment are short, steep and often produce hazardous torrential floods as a consequence of strong rainfall of short duration. The soil erosion and sediment discharge were analysed in view of the catchment response to physical characteristics of the catchment. Considering that the most of total annual sediment discharge in watersheds of torrential character is achieved during storm events, the SHETRAN modelling system was calibrated on the example of a storm event in 1986 and validated for three other storm events in 1974, 1976 and 1979. The simulated results of discharges and sediment concentrations at the catchment outlet for both calibration and validation events were compared with the observed data and found to be reasonable. The changes of erosion and deposition rates within the catchment and in the course of time were estimated for the calibration event in 1986. The simulated erosion rates were within the range of 1 to 10.5 t/ha and corresponded to the observed rates of erosion in Europe during extreme rain events. The presented methodology is useful in identifying the erosion vulnerable regions in a catchment where erosion control measures should be implemented.     

FingerPro: an R Package for Tracking the Provenance of Sediment

Soil loss by erosion processes is one of the largest challenges for food production and reservoir siltation around the world. Information on sediment, nutrients and pollutants is required for designing effective control strategies. The estimation of sediment sources is difficult to get using conventional techniques, but sediment fingerprinting is a potentially valuable tool. This procedure intends to develop methods that enable to identify the apportionment of sediment sources from sediment mixtures. We developed a new tool to quantify the provenance of sediments in an agroforest catchment. For the first time, the procedure for the selection of the best combination of tracers was included in the tool package. An unmixing model algorithm is applied to the sediment samples to estimate the contribution of each possible source. The operations are compiled in an R package named FingerPro, which unmixes sediment samples after selecting the optimum set of tracers. An example from a well-studied Mediterranean catchment is included in the package to test the model. The sediment source apportionments are compared with previous results of soil redistributions where ¹³⁷Cs derived rates validate the unmixing results, highlighting the potential of sediment fingerprinting for quantifying the main sediment provenance. Fingerprinting techniques will allow us to better comprehend sediment transport to water ecosystems and reservoirs and its detrimental effect on the quality of the water and aquatic habitats. The FingerPro package provides further understanding of the unmixing procedure through the use of graphical and statistical tools, offering a broader and easier application of the technique.

     

中国坡面水蚀预报模型研究

基于我国坡面水蚀预报模型研究成果,考虑浅沟侵蚀对坡面侵蚀产沙的重要影响,建立了我国坡面水蚀预报模型,给出了模型参数降雨侵蚀力、坡度与坡长、浅沟侵蚀影响因子的算法和采用数值。指出今后应加强土壤可蚀性因子、覆盖—管理因子和水土保持措施因子的研究与集成。利用自然坡面径流小区实测资料对模型进行验证,表明模型具有较高的预报精度,在有浅沟和无浅沟的坡面上,预报精度达88%以上。     

基于三级汇流和产输沙结构的分布式侵蚀产沙模型

黄土丘陵沟壑区面临严重的土壤侵蚀问题,是黄土高原主要产沙区域,针对该区域的土壤侵蚀产沙模拟一直是黄河泥沙研究的热点。尽管如此,已有侵蚀产沙模型对坡面、沟壑侵蚀环节刻画并不完善,沟壑侵蚀过程的忽视限制了模型在沟壑区侵蚀产沙模拟的精度。为此,本文考虑了沟壑侵蚀的特殊性,从分布式水循环模型(the Water and Energy Transfer Processes in Large River Basins,简称WEP-L)的"坡面-河道"二级产汇流结构中单独分离出沟壑环节,提出了"坡面-沟壑-河道"的三级汇流和产输沙结构,从而构建了基于WEP-L的分布式侵蚀产沙物理模型(WEP-SED)。将WEP-SED应用于无定河流域白家川水文站控制区,模型得到的白家川1956—2010年月均输沙率过程与实测过程接近。结果表明,WEP-SED可有效应用于黄土丘陵沟壑区的侵蚀产沙模拟研究。此外,模拟的白家川沟壑环节多年平均侵蚀量约占该区域总侵蚀量的49%,且94%的沟壑侵蚀集中于7—9月。模拟结果充分说明该区域沟壑侵蚀的严重性,细化沟壑侵蚀过程对于提高该区域侵蚀产沙模拟精度具有重要意义。     

华南红土区水土流失问题

中国南方水土流失大致可分为两种,即散流侵蚀和沟谷侵蚀。红土区多属沟谷侵蚀。从上而下分集水盆、沟谷和冲积扇三部分。集水盆盆边四周常形成一道崩塌小崖,称为“崩口”或“崩岗”,雨季大量崩塌沙泥,由沟谷挑出,并在谷口形成冲积扇;冲积扇可摧毁房屋、禾田、道路和河流。在花岗岩区,红土层可分四层,即红土层、沙土层、石卵层和风化基岩。土壤侵蚀如发育在红土层上,则成为崩口型(德庆型),如果红土层已被蚀去,发育在沙土层上,则成为沟谷型(五华型),如二层皆被蚀去,则发育成为“石蛋地形”,散流作用为主了。     

示踪技术在流域泥沙研究中的应用

介绍并评价了流域产沙的估算及流域泥沙来源的确定方法。分别突出了核素示踪技术与现代地球化学方法在流域沙帐，现代河流悬浮泥沙及历史泥沙来源的确定等方面的优势，百年来流域泥沙来源的历史信息可以通过核素示踪技术与组合指纹法的结合重现，这为研究百年来侵蚀环境变化及其与土壤侵蚀，泥沙产量变化之间的关系提供了基础。可以进一步解释历史沉积泥沙中所包含的环境信息。为环境治理措施的选择提供依据。     

岔巴沟淤地坝小流域重力侵蚀产沙量分析

以黄土高原典型流域中重力侵蚀产沙量为研究对象,选择岔巴沟流域中6个淤地坝小流域作为研究流域,以坝库中1978—2001年共22年泥沙淤积量作为流域总泥沙侵蚀量,采用中国土壤侵蚀流失模型(CSLE)并考虑沟蚀因素计算水力侵蚀量,将水力与重力侵蚀产沙量区分开来。研究结果表明:6个小流域中重力侵蚀产沙分别占流域总侵蚀产沙量的0%、51.0%、54.1%、59.0%、65.0%和67.0%;小流域中重力侵蚀产沙量与32°的沟坡面积具有显著的线性正相关关系,沟坡坡度是重力侵蚀的控制性因素,降低沟坡坡度能够显著地减少流域产沙量。     

Bank‐derived material dominates fluvial sediment in a suburban Chesapeake Bay watershed

Excess fine sediment is a leading cause of ecological degradation within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. To effectively target sediment mitigation measures, it is necessary to identify and quantify the delivery of sediment sources to local waterbodies. This study examines the contributions of sediment sources within Upper Difficult Run, a suburbanized watershed in Fairfax County, Virginia. A source sediment library was constructed from stream banks, forest soils, and road dust. Target sediments were collected from fine channel deposits and suspended sediment during 16 storm events from 2008 to 2012. Apportionment of targets to sources was performed using Sed_SAT, a publicly available toolkit for sediment fingerprinting. Bed sediment was dominated by stream bank material (mean: 98%), with minor contributions from forests (2%). Suspended fine sediments were also dominated by stream banks (suspended sediment concentration‐weighted mean: 91%), with minor contributions from roads (8%) and forests (<1%). Stream banks dominated at all discharges, and on the rising limb and at peak flow, sediment concentrations increased due to bank material rather than surface erosion. Sediment budget data indicated that direct bank erosion was insufficient to account for the suspended load derived from stream banks. However, bank‐derived sediment re‐mobilized from in‐channel storage could account for this difference and, combined, resulted in a sediment delivery ratio of 0.847 for all bank‐derived sediments. Results demonstrate that stream bank erosion is responsible for the majority of fine sediment in this suburban watershed of the Chesapeake Bay drainage area. Thus, management actions to control upland sources of sediment may have limited effect on the sediment conditions of Upper Difficult Run, whereas efforts focusing on bank stabilization, channel restoration, and/or stormwater management to reduce bank erosion may improve the ecological condition of these waterbodies.     

Modeling the Transport of Sediments and Hydrophobic Contaminants in the Lower Saginaw River

A study of processes that are significant in the transport and fate of sediments and hydrophobic contaminants in the lower Saginaw River over long periods of time, up to 25 years, has been made. The numerical model used in the analysis consists of a two-dimensional, vertically-integrated, time-dependent hydrodynamic and sediment transport model coupled (a) with a three-dimensional, time-dependent model of the dynamics of the sediment bed and its properties and (b) with a model of the transport and fate of hydrophobic contaminants. Calculations of sediment transport for different magnitude flow events demonstrate the variations in erosion and deposition at different sites and the dependence of this erosion and deposition on the flow rate. These calculations also illustrate the inherent variability, or uncertainty, in any long-term predictions since the results depend to a great extent on the times of occurrence of the largest flow events, times which can not be predicted but are only known statistically. The transport and fate of PCBs were also investigated with the emphasis on the effects of (a) large flow events, (b) incoming upstream PCB loads, and (c) burial of contaminated sediments by clean sediments with subsequent erosion of sediments by a large flow event. The analysis clearly shows that the major erosion of contaminated sediments occurs at the edge of the river channel with little erosion of contaminated sediments in the near-shore area.     

黄土高原沟道坝系模型设计方法

在回顾前人研究成果及分析土壤侵蚀模型试验特点的基础上，提出了黄土高原小流域沟道坝系模型设计的方法。认为在水力侵蚀最活跃的黄土高原地区，降雨强度是影响产流产沙的关键因子，从而需要抓住降雨与侵蚀产沙这对主要矛盾，根据降雨侵蚀空间或时问的集积效果来实现模型流域与原型流域产沙特征的相似。为保证沟道坝系地貌演变相似，除降雨历时遵循重力相似条件外，模型降雨产沙关系还应通过借助天然资料率定产沙量比尺的途径与原型相对应。     

Sediment‐bound nutrient export from five small reservoir catchments and its implications for the Sudan savanna zone of Ghana

A study was carried out in the Sudan savanna zone in the Upper East Region of Ghana to assess the rate of sediment‐bound nutrient export (NE) into five small reservoirs (Dua, Doba, Zebilla, Kumpalgogo and Bugri) and to analyse the implications of this export. The catchment soils and reservoir sediments from the various study sites were sampled and analysed for their bulk density, particle size distribution and nutrient content. Assessment of the nutrient concentrations indicated that the reservoir sediments were richer not only in nutrients and organic carbon, but also in clay and silt, than the catchment soils, having enrichment ratios >1. Nutrient export rates (NE; kg ha^?1 year^?1) from the reservoir catchments ranged from 0.755 (±0.264) for OC, 0.104 (±0.0245) for N, 0.0020 (±0.0003) for P, 0.016 (±0.0038) for K, 0.009 (±0.0024) for Na, 0.113 (±0.017) for Ca and 0.027 (±0.0093) for Mg. These rates were lower than those of other studies, likely due to the low nutrient content in the catchment soils. The relationships established between NE and specific sediment yield (SSY) indicated the NE was positively correlated with SSY (R² = 0.66–0.98). The derived empirical equations can be satisfactorily used to predict the quantity of sediment‐bound plant nutrients lost from similar catchments and subsequently stored in the reservoir sediments. The study results also suggest the need for sustainable land management practices to forestall erosion in the catchment areas and to reduce reservoir sedimentation, for enhancement of the livelihoods of the communities in the study area.     

A Landscape Planning and Management Tool for Land and Water Resources Management: An Example Application in Northern Ethiopia

Land and water degradation due to on-site soil/nutrient loss and off-site pollution/sedimentation are serious environmental problems. Landscape planning and management tools are essential to implement best management practices targeted at locations where they are needed most. Although many soil/water-landscape studies have been published in the last 2 decades, progress in developing operational tools for supporting landscape planning to minimize land and water degradation in developing regions is still modest. Some of the existing tools are data demanding and/or complicated to be useful to data scarce regions. Some require detailed understanding of the hydrological and modelling processes and thus less applicable to local stakeholders involved in land use planning and management. A user-friendly LAndscape Planning and MAnagement Tool (LAPMAT) developed to facilitate land management decision-making. LAPMAT is a menu-oriented interactive graphical user interface that can aid decision makers identify hotspot areas of soil erosion and evaluate the effects of alternative land use management practices at a catchment scale. The modelling framework and its interfaces are designed to guide the user through a series of menus that: 1) allow input model parameters, adjusting coefficients, visualizing input parameters and executing the model; 2) enable changing land use and management practices and re-evaluating potential consequences; 3) allow viewing results in tabular, graphical or map form side-by-side; and 4) (re)-evaluating the respective impacts of management/conservation options. The framework has been applied to assess the severity of soil erosion and simulate the impact of different land management practices using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) adjusted for sediment delivery ratio in an example catchment of northern Ethiopia. The results showed average sediment yield rate of 55 t ha^?1 y^?1. Conservation measures targeted at high soil loss areas and gullies gave the maximum reduction in sediment yield by about 80 %. Since LAPMAT allows users handle the selection of management/planning options and provide fast and responsive outputs, it can assist in effective multi-stakeholder negotiations over land-use planning where the minimization of land/water degradation is the ultimate goal.     

Suspended sediment estimation and analysis in river basins with rice paddy fields

Suspended sediment, which is an important water quality characteristic concerning effluents from agricultural areas, was studied in relatively small rivers that drain agricultural watersheds with considerable rice paddy areas. Suspended sediment load (SL) was observed daily for thirty three months and analysed--applying data stratification. Suspended sediment prediction models were established and the effect of rice transplanting activities on the rivers' SL was estimated. Results showed that data stratification improved the discharge-SL correlation and reduced regression and curve-fitting errors, thereby improving the efficiency of the derived model equations. Clustering the months into the rice- and non-rice transplanting seasons also improved the resulting regression equations, although not statistically significantly. Suspended SL was found to be higher during the rice transplanting season and the activities contributed a considerable amount of suspended sediment during the period, supporting the conjecture that sediments come from sources other than natural soil erosion.