| Abstract: | Magnitude and frequency of bedload transport was examined in the Lainbach River, Bavaria, using magnetically tagged particles. During the study, 18 small to moderate events and one major event occurred. About 1 per cent of the flow period exceeded the entrainment threshold and at least once every year about 50 per cent of the tagged particles were mobile. Themajor event which occurred during the study period resulted in the deposition of a thick layer of sediment in parts of the channel and passive burial of most of the recovered particles. The step–pool pattern, which characterized the study site prior to the large event, was obliterated. However, the channel recovered quickly and has returned to a new step–pool pattern. The event changed the boundary conditions by increasing the availability of loose sediment and creating higher river-bed slopes in reaches between breached check dams. As a result, movement of individual particles measured for events of both the same magnitude and duration, occurring before and after the large event, yielded different values. For events which occurred after the large event, the range and the mean distance of movement were about ten times higher. |
