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1.
We examined the trends of grain sizes along the upper 414 km2 of the mountainous Rio Chagres drainage basin in Panama. Gravel bars were sampled along 40 km of the Rio Chagres and five major tributary streams using a transect pebble count of median diameter, lithology, and clast rounding. Although previous investigators have found that downstream fining can be obscured by inputs of colluvial sediment and other local controls in mountain drainages, we decided to examine the trends of grain sizes along a tropical mountain river where rapid weathering and high capability of transport might be capable of overriding the input effects of colluvium. Specifically, we tested the hypotheses that downstream fining would be present as a result of selective sorting, and that weak felsic particles would decrease in size preferentially to strong mafic particles because of abrasion. Statistical analyses reveal a weak downstream decrease of sediment size on gravel bars along the study reach of the Rio Chagres, with a Sternberg diminution coefficient (α) for felsic and mafic grains of − 0.013 and − 0.017, respectively. Felsic clasts have thicker weathering rinds and become rounded downstream faster than mafic particles, but tumbling-mill tests of abrasion show no significant differences in rate of mass loss in relation to lithology, and downstream decreases in grain size are similar between lithologies. Dividing the study reach into six sub-reaches bounded by major tributary junctions, we further tested the hypothesis that downstream trends in fining might be obscured at the basin scale by sediment input from tributaries, but that trends in grain sizes might be more visible at the reach scale between tributaries. We did not find any consistent trends in grain size between tributaries. Stream width appears to assert a local control on grain size; coarse particles are associated with narrow channel reaches, whereas smaller particles are associated with wide channel reaches.  相似文献   

2.
塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地克里雅河沿岸的古绿洲与人类活动遗迹丰富,伴随着河流的变迁,遗址印记了古代文明的消失,河道成为孕育绿洲的证据。在浩瀚的沙漠中,古代文明与古绿洲属于依附关系。以圆沙古城为代表的圆沙古三角洲绿洲是孕育沙漠文明的典型。采自圆沙古城北侧深度约11 m的沉积剖面(KYN22),光释光测年和沉积学分析结果所示,剖面记录了13.8~2.3 ka时间段内圆沙古三角洲的环境变化:克里雅河全新世大部分时间活动于圆沙一带,早期大致经历了由风沙环境向河流环境的转变过程,13.8 ka至9.0~10.0 ka河流与风沙环境均有出现,中期以来至2.3 ka河流环境稳定。KYN22剖面所示克里雅河在圆沙的活动或为全新世气候变暖的结果。研究工作可为全新世克里雅河与塔里木盆地南缘环境演变研究提供新材料。  相似文献   

3.
4.
This paper examines the millennial-scale evolution of the longitude profile of Nahal (Wadi) Zin in the Dead Sea basin in the northern Arava valley, Israel. Nahal Zin has incised ~ 50 m into relatively soft late Pleistocene Lake Lisan sediments. Incision was forced by the regressive (> 10 km) lake level fall of a total of > 200 m of Lake Lisan from its highest stand at ~ 25 ka and exposure of the lake-floor sediments to fluvial and coastal processes. Alluvial cut terraces of the incising channel are well preserved along the 17.5 km of the lowermost reach of Nahal Zin. At its outlet into the Dead Sea basin, Nahal Zin deposited a Holocene alluvial fan at the base of a 10–80 m high escarpment in unconsolidated sediments. The escarpment is associated with the Amazyahu fault, which forms the southern structural boundary of the present Dead Sea basin. Geomorphic mapping, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages, and soil stratigraphy allowed correlation of terrace remnants and reconstruction of several past longitudinal profiles of Nahal Zin and its incision history. Together with the published lake level chronology, these data provide an opportunity to examine stream incision related to base level lowering at a millennial scale. OSL ages of the terraces fit relatively well with the established lake level chronology and follow its regression and fall. For a few thousands of years the longitudinal profile response to the lake level fall was downstream lengthening onto the exposed former lake bed. Most of the incision (~ 40 m) occurred later, when the lake level reached the top of the Amazyahu fault escarpment and continued to drop. The incision was a relatively short episode at about 17 ka and cut through this escarpment almost to its base. The fast incision, its timing, and the profiles of the incising channels indicate that the escarpment was an underwater feature and was not formed after the lake retreated.This fairly simple scenario of regressive lake level fall and knickpoint exposure and incision is modeled here using a one-dimensional numerical incision model based on a linear diffusion equation. The calculated diffusion coefficient fits earlier results and data obtained from other streams in the area and confirms the upscaling of this simple model to the millennial scale.  相似文献   

5.
Predicting fine sediment dynamics along a pool-riffle mountain channel   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
Fine sediment dynamics in mountain rivers are of concern because of implications for aquatic habitat, channel stability, and downstream sediment yields. Many mountain river systems have episodic fine sediment transport because of infrequent, point-source sediment inputs from landslides; basin instability triggered by land uses such as logging; or infrequent mobilization of the coarse surface layer in channels. Dam removal, which is now more likely along mountain rivers, may also provide a substantial fine sediment input to downstream channel reaches.Fine sediment storage in the interstices of spawning gravels and within pools along mountain rivers is of particular interest because of impacts to aquatic organisms. In this study we focus on sediment dynamics within pools of the North Fork Poudre River in Colorado as an example of the processes controlling fine sediment deposition, storage, and transport within laterally constricted pools. The 1996 release of 7000 m3 of silt-to gravel-sized sediment from a reservoir on the North Fork provided an opportunity to develop a field data set of fine sediment dynamics and to test the predictions of three different one- or two-dimensional sediment transport and hydraulic models against the field observations.The models were calibrated against quantitative measurements of pool scour and fill. One-dimensional HEC-6 results indicate that robust simulations yield the greatest agreement between predicted and measured pool bed elevation change. Model calibration on two pools and validation on one pool indicate that at least 58% of observed bed changes after the sediment release were predicted by HEC-6. Modeling accuracy using quasi-two-dimensional GSTARS 2.0 was considerably more variable, and no pool-wide trends were obtained. The two-dimensional model RMA2 substantially improved the representation of eddy pool hydraulics within a compound pool of the North Fork. Results from the hydraulic modeling, coupled with bed load and total load computations, delineate areas of scour and deposition which are consistent with observations in the field.A conceptual model of sediment delivery and storage for laterally confined pools suggests that persistent deposition of fine sediment within eddies distal from the sediment source may result from sediment releases. The original loss of channel capacity facilitated additional deposition within eddies as sediment within upstream proximal pools became mobilized. At high discharges, the development of a strong shear zone prevents degradation of sediment deposits within the eddy. Central portions of these proximal pools may clear according to existing models, whereas deposition within recirculating zones may be long-term. Water managers could use these models to estimate minimum pool volume for overwinter habitat and residence time of pool sediment.  相似文献   

6.
J.A. Moody  R.H. Meade 《Geomorphology》2008,99(1-4):387-403
Flood processes no longer actively increase the planform area of terraces. Instead, lateral erosion decreases the area. However, infrequent extreme floods continue episodic aggradation of terraces surfaces. We quantify this type of evolution of terraces by an extreme flood in May 1978 on Powder River in southeastern Montana. Within an 89-km study reach of the river, we (1) determine a sediment budget for each geomorphic feature, (2) interpret the stratigraphy of the newly deposited sediment, and (3) discuss the essential role of vegetation in the depositional processes.Peak flood discharge was about 930 m3 s− 1, which lasted about eight days. During this time, the flood transported 8.2 million tons of sediment into and 4.5 million tons out of the study reach. The masses of sediment transferred between features or eroded from one feature and redeposited on the same feature exceeded the mass transported out of the reach. The flood inundated the floodplain and some of the remnants of two terraces along the river. Lateral erosion decreased the planform area of the lower of the two terraces (~ 2.7 m above the riverbed) by 3.2% and that of the higher terrace (~ 3.5 m above the riverbed) by 4.1%. However, overbank aggradation, on average, raised the lower terrace by 0.16 m and the higher terrace by 0.063 m.Vegetation controlled the type, thickness, and stratigraphy of the aggradation on terrace surfaces. Two characteristic overbank deposits were common: coarsening-upward sequences and lee dunes. Grass caused the deposition of the coarsening-upward sequences, which had 0.02 to 0.07 m of mud at the base, and in some cases, the deposits coarsened upwards to coarse sand on the top. Lee dunes, composed of fine and very fine sand, were deposited in the wake zone downstream from the trees. The characteristic morphology of the dunes can be used to estimate some flood variables such as suspended-sediment particle size, minimum depth, and critical shear velocity. Information about depositional processes during extreme floods is rare, and therefore, the results from this study aid in interpreting the record of terrace stratigraphy along other rivers.  相似文献   

7.
At the reach scale, a channel adjusts to sediment supply and flow through mutual interactions among channel form, bed particle size, and flow dynamics that govern river bed mobility. Sediment can impair the beneficial uses of a river, but the timescales for studying recovery following high sediment loading in the field setting make flume experiments appealing. We use a flume experiment, coupled with field measurements in a gravel-bed river, to explore sediment transport, storage, and mobility relations under various sediment supply conditions. Our flume experiment modeled adjustments of channel morphology, slope, and armoring in a gravel-bed channel. Under moderate sediment increases, channel bed elevation increased and sediment output increased, but channel planform remained similar to pre-feed conditions. During the following degradational cycle, most of the excess sediment was evacuated from the flume and the bed became armored. Under high sediment feed, channel bed elevation increased, the bed became smoother, mid-channel bars and bedload sheets formed, and water surface slope increased. Concurrently, output increased and became more poorly sorted. During the last degradational cycle, the channel became armored and channel incision ceased before all excess sediment was removed. Selective transport of finer material was evident throughout the aggradational cycles and became more pronounced during degradational cycles as the bed became armored. Our flume results of changes in bed elevation, sediment storage, channel morphology, and bed texture parallel those from field surveys of Redwood Creek, northern California, which has exhibited channel bed degradation for 30 years following a large aggradation event in the 1970s. The flume experiment suggested that channel recovery in terms of reestablishing a specific morphology may not occur, but the channel may return to a state of balancing sediment supply and transport capacity.  相似文献   

8.
Cosmogenic nuclides produced in quartz may either decay or accumulate while sediment is moved through a river basin. A change in nuclide concentration resulting from storage in a floodplain is potentially important in large drainage basins in which sediment is prone to repeated burial and remobilization as a river migrates through its floodplain. We have modeled depth- and time-dependent cosmogenic nuclide concentration changes for 10Be, 26Al, and 14C during sediment storage and mixing in various active floodplain settings ranging from confined, shallow rivers with small floodplains to foreland-basin scale floodplains traversed by deep rivers. Floodplain storage time, estimated from channel migration rates, ranges from 0.4 kyr for the Beni River basin (Bolivia) to 7 kyr for the Amazon River basin, while floodplain storage depth, estimated from channel depth, ranges from 1 to 25 m.For all modeled active floodplain settings, the long-lived nuclides 10Be and 26Al show neither significant increase in nuclide concentration from irradiation nor decrease from decay. We predict a hypothetical response time after which changes in 10Be or 26Al concentrations become analytically resolvable. This interval ranges from 0.07 to 2 Myr and exceeds in all cases the typical residence time of sediment in a floodplain. Due to the much shorter half life of 14C, nuclide concentrations modeled for the in situ-produced variety of this nuclide are, however, sensitive to floodplain storage on residence times of < 20 kyr.The cosmogenic nuclide composition of old deposits in currently inactive floodplains that have been isolated for periods of millions of years from the river that once deposited them is predicted to either increase or decrease in 10Be and 26Al concentration, depending on the depositional depth. These conditions can be evaluated using the 26Al/10Be ratio that readily discloses the depth and duration of storage.We illustrate these models with examples from the Amazon basin. As predicted, modern bedload collected from an Amazon tributary, the Bolivian Beni River, shows no systematic change in nuclide concentration as sediment is moved through 500 km of floodplain by river meandering. In contrast, in the central Amazon floodplain currently untouched by the modern river system, low 26Al/10Be ratios account for minimum burial depths of 5 to 10 m for a duration of > 5 Myr.The important result of this analysis is that in all likely cases of active floodplains, cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al concentrations remain virtually unchanged over the interval sediment usually spends in the basin. Thus, spatially-averaged denudation rates of the sediment-producing area can be inferred throughout the entire basin, provided that nuclide production rates are scaled for the altitudes of the sediment-producing area only, because floodplain storage does not modify nuclide concentrations introduced from the sediment source area.  相似文献   

9.
This paper presents an analysis of critical thresholds for bedload transport based on field measurements conducted in two small, high gradient streams: the Rio Cordon (Italian Alps) and the Tres Arroyos (Chilean Andes). The threshold of incipient motion was identified by using marked particles displacement and both flood and flow competence approaches. The findings are expressed in terms of Shields parameter, dimensionless discharge, and specific stream power, and are used to identify the effects of relative grain size, relative depth, and bedform resistance. Overall, particle entrainment tends to be size selective, rather than exhibiting equal mobility, and the high values of dimensionless critical shear stress observed at both study sites confirm the additional roughness effects of step–pool morphologies that are very effective in reducing the bed shear stress and causing an apparent increase in critical shear stress.  相似文献   

10.
Jose Luis Antinao  John Gosse   《Geomorphology》2009,104(3-4):117-133
The distribution and age of large (> 0.1 km2) Pliocene to recent rockslides in the Chilean Cordillera Principal (32–34.5 S), the Southern Central Andes, has been analyzed to determine the rockslide triggering mechanisms and impact on regional landscape evolution. Most of the rockslides appear in the western Cordillera Principal and cluster along major geological structures. Variographic analyses show spatial correlation between rockslides, geological structures and shallow seismicity. A relative chronosequence was calibrated with existing 14C and 40Ar/39Ar dates and new cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages for selected rockslides. Rockslide-induced sediment yield was estimated with empirical relations for rockslide area distributions. Throughout the Quaternary, rockslides have delivered sediment to streams at rates equivalent to denudation rates of 0.10 ±0.06 mm a− 1, while estimates using short term (20 a) seismicity records are 0.3− 0.2+ 0.6 mm a− 1. The estimates of sediment transfer and the spatial distribution of rockslides reflect a landscape in which tectonic and geological controls on denudation are more significant than climate.  相似文献   

11.
We have monitored initiation conditions for six debris flows between May 2004 and July 2006 in a 0.3 km2 drainage basin at Chalk Cliffs; a band of hydrothermally-altered quartz monzonite in central Colorado. Debris flows were initiated by water runoff from colluvium and bedrock that entrained sediment from rills and channels with slopes ranging from about 14° to 45°. The availability of channel material is essentially unlimited because of thick channel fill and refilling following debris flows by rock fall and dry ravel processes. Rainfall exceeding I = 6.61(D)− 0.77, where I is rainfall intensity (mm/h), and D is duration (h), was required for the initiation of debris flows in the drainage basin. The approximate minimum runoff discharge from the surface of bedrock required to initiate debris flows in the channels was 0.15 m3/s. Colluvium in the basin was unsaturated immediately prior to (antecedent) and during debris flows. Antecedent, volumetric moisture levels in colluvium at depths of 1 cm and 29 cm ranged from 4–9%, and 4–7%, respectively. During debris flows, peak moisture levels in colluvium at depths of 1 cm and 29 cm ranged from 10–20%, and 4–12%, respectively. Channel sediment at a depth of 45 cm was unsaturated before and during debris flows; antecedent moisture ranged from 20–22%, and peak moisture ranged from 24–38%. Although we have no measurements from shallow rill or channel sediment, we infer that it was unsaturated before debris flows, and saturated by surface-water runoff during debris flows.Our results allow us to make the following general statements with regard to debris flows generated by runoff in semi-arid to arid mountainous regions: 1) high antecedent moisture levels in hillslope and channel sediment are not required for the initiation of debris flows by runoff, 2) locations of entrainment of sediment by successive runoff events can vary within a basin as a function of variations in the thickness of existing channel fill and the rate of replenishment of channel fill by rock fall and dry ravel processes following debris flows, and 3) rainfall and simulated surface-water discharge thresholds can be useful in understanding and predicting debris flows generated by runoff and sediment entrainment.  相似文献   

12.
Slope–channel coupling and in-channel sediment storage can be important factors that influence sediment delivery through catchments. Sediment budgets offer an appropriate means to assess the role of these factors by quantifying the various components in the catchment sediment transfer system. In this study a fine (< 63 µm) sediment budget was developed for a 1.64-km2 gullied upland catchment in southeastern Australia. A process-based approach was adopted that involved detailed monitoring of hillslope and bank erosion, channel change, and suspended sediment output in conjunction with USLE-based hillslope erosion estimation and sediment source tracing using 137Cs and 210Pbex. The sediment budget developed from these datasets indicated channel banks accounted for an estimated 80% of total sediment inputs. Valley floor and in-channel sediment storage accounted for 53% of inputs, with the remaining 47% being discharged from the catchment outlet. Estimated hillslope sediment input to channels was low (5.7 t) for the study period compared to channel bank input (41.6 t). However an estimated 56% of eroded hillslope sediment reached channels, suggesting a greater level of coupling between the two subsystems than was apparent from comparison of sediment source inputs. Evidently the interpretation of variability in catchment sediment yield is largely dependent on the dynamics of sediment supply and storage in channels in response to patterns of rainfall and discharge. This was reflected in the sediment delivery ratios (SDR) for individual measurement intervals, which ranged from 1 to 153%. Bank sediment supply during low rainfall periods was reduced but ongoing from subaerial processes delivering sediment to channels, resulting in net accumulation on the channel bed with insufficient flow to transport this material to the catchment outlet. Following the higher flow period in spring of the first year of monitoring, the sediment supplied to channels during this interval was removed as well as an estimated 72% of the sediment accumulated on the channel bed since the start of the study period. Given the seasonal and drought-dependent variability in storage and delivery, the period of monitoring may have an important influence on the overall SDR. On the basis of these findings, this study highlights the potential importance of sediment dynamics in channels for determining contemporary sediment yields from small gullied upland catchments in southeastern Australia.  相似文献   

13.
Understanding and quantifying sediment load is important in catchments draining highly erodible materials that eventually contribute to siltation of downstream reservoirs. Within this context, the suspended sediment transport and its temporal dynamics have been studied in the River Isábena (445 km2, south-central Pyrenees, Ebro basin) by means of direct sampling and turbidity recording during a 3-year dry period. The average flood-suspended sediment concentration was 8 g l− 1, with maximum instantaneous values above 350 g l− 1. The high scatter between discharge and suspended sediment concentrations (up to five orders of magnitude) has not permitted the use of rating curve methods to estimate the total load. Interpolation techniques yielded a mean annual sediment load of 184,253 t y− 1 for the study period, with a specific yield of 414 t km− 2 y− 1. This value resembles those reported for small torrents in nearby mountainous environments and is the result of the high connectivity between the badland source areas and stream courses, a fact that maximises sediment conveyance through the catchment. Floods dominated the sediment transport and yield. However, sediment transport was more constant through time than that observed in Mediterranean counterparts; this can be attributed to the role of base flows that entrain fine sediment temporarily stored in the channel and force the river to carry high sediment concentrations (i.e., generally in the order of 0.5 g l− 1), even under minimum flow conditions.  相似文献   

14.
To determine for how long a landslide affects sediment discharge, the sediment yields of 15 check-dam basins were compared with the time series of landslide distributions in a mountain basin in the Tanzawa region, central Japan. The distribution of sediment yield was quantitatively estimated from deposition in the sediment pools of check dams. The relationship between the landslide history and sediment discharge in the Nakagawa River basin was examined for an approximately 80-year period. Two major landslide events occurred during this period: the 1923 Kanto Earthquake and the 1972 disaster caused by heavy rainfall. The resulting trend in sediment discharge of the whole basin, estimated using reservoir sedimentation in the Miho Dam at its base, was nearly constant, with high sediment discharge (2897 m3 km− 2 yr− 1) in the intervening quarter-century, despite the recovery of vegetation on landslide areas in this period. Comparisons of the landslide distributions resulting from the two disasters, the sediment yields of check-dam basins, and the sediment discharge of the whole basin indicate that recent sediment discharge contains landslide debris that was originated by the Kanto Earthquake that occurred over 80 years ago. Thus, to understand high sediment discharge, it is essential to investigate not only the current basin condition and recent events, but also the landslide history of the basin for at least the previous 100 years.  相似文献   

15.
In catchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia, there is a growing concern that sediments and nutrients being exported from the land are having a detrimental effect on coral reef communities. There is a need to determine the processes and rates of erosion from the major land use types, so that management intervention can be initiated to reduce sediment yields where required. This paper presents a sediment budget for Weany Creek, a 13.5 km2 grazed semi-arid sub-catchment of the Burdekin River catchment, Australia. A range of field methods was used to measure erosion from hillslopes, gullies and stream banks, as well as identify the amount of sediment being deposited and remobilised on the bed of gullies and the stream network. The data suggests that at least during drought conditions, the primary erosion source in this catchment is gully erosion. However, the largest source of sediment in the budget is actually associated with the remobilisation of in-channel sediment stores. Overall, the sediment budget is comprised of  81% coarse material and 19% fine sediment and an agreement between the fine sediment yield estimated in the sediment budget and the yield measured at the catchment outlet is within 10%. The total sediment yield estimated for this catchment is  4205 t yr− 1 and is much lower than expected for a catchment of this size. This may reflect the drought conditions during the measurement period; however, there is also the possibility that the primary erosion sources have been exhausted, and the rates of sediment loss may be much lower now than they may have been in the past. Nonetheless, the results show that stored sediment, which may have been deposited in the channel many decades ago, is an important contributor to end of catchment sediment yields and warrants further investigation.  相似文献   

16.
Small, low order channels located in wet meadows along the Mogollon Rim of northern Arizona that receive the bulk of their flow from spring discharge exhibit a morphology that differs markedly from channels that receive the bulk of their flow from runoff. These small, spring-dominated channels generally have dense vegetation cover, vertical (or near vertical) banks with flat channel beds that are armored with clasts up to 60 mm. Clasts armoring the spring-dominated channels become mobile at 45 to 85% of the bankfull depth. The lack of fine-grained material in the bed of the spring-dominated channels reflects the small drainage size, lack of fine grain input from the spring, and winnowing affect of the consistent discharge. Minor amounts of large woody debris were present in some of the spring-dominated channels, however, unlike previous studies it does not appear to play a role in the spring-dominated channel morphology. Sinuosity values for spring-dominated channels averaged 1.19, while the average sinuosity values for the runoff-dominated channels, 1.08, were significantly lower. Measured width-to-depth ratios averaged 2.4 in the spring-dominated channels, much lower than the average ratio of 11.6 found for the runoff-dominated channels. The standard deviation of width-to-depth ratios was higher for runoff-dominated channels, reflecting a more variable channel profile. A third channel type, here referred to as hybrid channels, receive significant flow from both springs and runoff. These channels have characteristics that fall between spring-dominated and runoff-dominated channels.Elevation, gradient, organic matter content, and sediment grain size distribution of the wet meadows in which the channels are formed do not exhibit significant differences between channel types, suggesting that these factors are not responsible for the observed differences in channel morphologies. The major differences in controls on the channel morphology found between the spring-dominated and runoff-dominated channels are the discharge regime and the sediment input. The hydrology unique to the spring-dominated channels and the lack of fine-grained sediment input combine to create the observed differences.  相似文献   

17.
The Mangshan loess plateau is located 25 km to the west of Zhengzhou on the south bank of the Yellow River. Here the river flows out through the Sanmen Gorge releasing most of its suspended load following a dramatic decrease in gradient. The stratigraphy of the Mangshan loess deposits, consisting of a number of loess and palaeosol sequences, was established following magnetostratigraphic studies and measurements of magnetic susceptibility and grain size distribution. The Bruhnes/Matuyama boundary was found at the depth of about 130 m, indicating that this sequence at Mangshan resembles what is observed elsewhere in the Loess Plateau.The upper part of the Mangshan loess displays extremely high sedimentation rates ( 50 m3 per 1000 years), lower susceptibility values and coarser grain-size distribution, unlike the lower part of the profile and other sections in the Loess Plateau. This striking change indicates that the upper Mangshan loess had a different sediment source, different from the deserts that act as a common source for most of the loess deposits in central China. This sediment source is believed to be the proximal Yellow River floodplain, and the ancient alluvial fan lying at the eastern end of the Sanmen Gorge. The age estimation of the formation of the alluvial fan, based on Mangshan loess, suggests that the Yellow River may have eroded the Sanmen Gorge at approximately MIS 7.  相似文献   

18.
Floodplains provide valuable social and ecological functions, and understanding the rates and patterns of overbank sedimentation is critical for river basin management and rehabilitation. Channelization of alluvial systems throughout the world has altered hydrological and sedimentation processes within floodplain ecosystems. In the loess belt region of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley of the United States, channelization, the geology of the region, and past land-use practices have resulted in the formation of dozens of valley plugs in stream channels and the formation of shoals at the confluence of stream systems. Valley plugs completely block stream channels with sediment and debris and can result in greater deposition rates on floodplain surfaces. Presently, however, information is lacking on the rates and variability of overbank sedimentation associated with valley plugs and shoals.We quantified deposition rates and textures in floodplains along channelized streams that contained valley plugs and shoals, in addition to floodplains occurring along an unchannelized stream, to improve our understanding of overbank sedimentation associated with channelized streams. Feldspar clay marker horizons and marker poles were used to measure floodplain deposition from 2002 to 2005 and data were analyzed with geospatial statistics to determine the spatial dynamics of sedimentation within the floodplains.Mean sediment deposition rates ranged from 0.09 to 0.67 cm/y at unchannelized sites, 0.16 to 2.27 cm/y at shoal sites, and 3.44 to 6.20 cm/y at valley plug sites. Valley plug sites had greater rates of deposition, and the deposited sediments contained more coarse sand material than either shoal or unchannelized sites. A total of 59 of 183 valley plug study plots had mean deposition rates > 5 cm/y. The geospatial analyses showed that the spatial dynamics of sedimentation can be influenced by the formation of valley plugs and shoals on channelized streams; however, responses can vary. Restoration efforts in the region need to have basinwide collaboration with landowners and address catchment-scale processes, including the geomorphic instability of the region, to be successful.  相似文献   

19.
Fire can alter sediment sources and transport rates in river basins, changing landforms and aquatic habitats and degrading downstream water quality. Variability in the response between environments, between fires, and with time since fire makes predicting the catchment-scale effect of individual fires difficult. This study applies the fallout radionuclides 137Cs and 210Pbxs to trace the sources and transport of fine sediment through a river network following a wildfire of moderate to extreme severity in the 629-km2 eucalypt-forested Nattai River water-supply catchment near Sydney, Australia. The tracer analysis showed that post-fire erosion caused a switch in fine (< 10 µm) sediment sources from 80% subsoil derived from gully and river bank erosion to 86% topsoil derived from hillslope surface erosion. The fine sediment phosphorus content increased 4–10 fold over pre-fire levels. Annual post-fire sediment yields estimated from suspended solids rating curves were 109–250 times higher than they would have been without fire. A large additional amount of sediment remained stored within the river network for at least four years, particularly in lower-gradient reaches. Analysis of a sediment core showed that surface erosion following a previous fire had supplied at least 29% of total catchment sediment yield over the past 36 years. It is concluded that wildfire can alter catchment sediment budgets in two ways. Firstly, a spatially-diffuse pulse of elevated erosion is associated with moderate or intense rainfall events in post-fire years. Secondly, pulses of elevated catchment sediment yield are driven by the timing and river sediment transport capacity of runoff events. Severe post-fire erosion and high interannual hydrologic variability can result in large sediment stores persisting within the river network for many years. Fallout radionuclide tracers are shown to be useful in quantifying fine sediment sources and transport dynamics following wildfire, and the contribution of wildfire to catchment sediment yield.  相似文献   

20.
Sediment supply provides a fundamental control on the morphology of river deltas, and humans have significantly modified these supplies for centuries. Here we examine the effects of almost a century of sediment supply reduction from the damming of the Elwha River in Washington on shoreline position and beach morphology of its wave-dominated delta. The mean rate of shoreline erosion during 1939–2006 is ~ 0.6 m/yr, which is equivalent to ~ 24,000 m3/yr of sediment divergence in the littoral cell, a rate approximately equal to 25–50% of the littoral-grade sediment trapped by the dams. Semi-annual surveys between 2004 and 2007 show that most erosion occurs during the winter with lower rates of change in the summer. Shoreline change and morphology also differ spatially. Negligible shoreline change has occurred updrift (west) of the river mouth, where the beach is mixed sand to cobble, cuspate, and reflective. The beach downdrift (east) of the river mouth has had significant and persistent erosion, but this beach differs in that it has a reflective foreshore with a dissipative low-tide terrace. Downdrift beach erosion results from foreshore retreat, which broadens the low-tide terrace with time, and the rate of this kind of erosion has increased significantly from ~ 0.8 m/yr during 1939–1990 to ~ 1.4 m/yr during 1990–2006. Erosion rates for the downdrift beach derived from the 2004–2007 topographic surveys vary between 0 and 13 m/yr, with an average of 3.8 m/yr. We note that the low-tide terrace is significantly coarser (mean grain size ~ 100 mm) than the foreshore (mean grain size ~ 30 mm), a pattern contrary to the typical observation of fining low-tide terraces in the region and worldwide. Because this cobble low-tide terrace is created by foreshore erosion, has been steady over intervals of at least years, is predicted to have negligible longshore transport compared to the foreshore portion of the beach, and is inconsistent with oral history of abundant shellfish collections from the low-tide beach, we suggest that it is an armored layer of cobble clasts that are not generally competent in the physical setting of the delta. Thus, the cobble low-tide terrace is very likely a geomorphological feature caused by coastal erosion of a coastal plain and delta, which in turn is related to the impacts of the dams on the Elwha River to sediment fluxes to the coast.  相似文献   

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