Temporal variability of suspended sediment sources in an alpine catchment combining river/rainfall monitoring and sediment fingerprinting

Influence of the rainfall regime on erosion and transfer of suspended sediment in a 905‐km² mountainous catchment of the southern French Alps was investigated by combining sediment monitoring, rainfall data, and sediment fingerprinting (based on geochemistry and radionuclide concentrations). Suspended sediment yields were monitored between October 2007 and December 2009 in four subcatchments (22–713 km²). Automatic sediment sampling was triggered during floods to trace the sediment origin in the catchment. Sediment exports at the river catchment outlet (330 ± 100 t km^‐2 yr^‐1) were mainly driven (80%) by widespread rainfall events (long duration, low intensities). In contrast, heavy, local and short duration storms, generated high peak discharges and suspended sediment concentrations in small upstream torrents. However, these upstream floods had generally not the capacity to transfer the sediment down to the catchment outlet and the bulk of this fine sediment deposited along downstream sections of the river. This study also confirmed the important contribution of black marls (up to 70%) to sediment transported in rivers, although this substrate only occupies c. 10% of the total catchment surface. Sediment exports generated by local convective storms varied significantly at both intra‐ and inter‐flood scales, because of spatial heterogeneity of rainfall. However, black marls/marly limestones contribution remained systematically high. In contrast, widespread flood events that generate the bulk of annual sediment supply at the outlet were characterized by a more stable lithologic composition and by a larger contribution of limestones/marls, Quaternary deposits and conglomerates, which corroborates the results of a previous sediment fingerprinting study conducted on riverbed sediment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Storm event sediment fingerprinting for temporal and spatial sediment source tracing

Sediment fingerprinting has been widely used to distinguish discrete sediment sources; however, application to intra-storm sediment source variability has received relatively little focus despite the benefit being long recognized. In this investigation, sediment fingerprinting was applied to a 53-hr storm event sampled hourly to determine sediment source dynamics throughout the event. Sediment sources were differentiated using 16 variables, and source contribution determined using Bayesian and Frequentist mixing models for comparison. Both models provided comparable source predictions for the dominant source estimates and the general temporal pattern. The Frequentist model appeared to exhibit some unreliable values coinciding with low GOF and attributed to inherent model structure. The Bayesian model showed higher uncertainty, likely due to the “process error” utilized associated with single sample mixtures. High variability in sediment source contribution was observed between hourly time steps; however, local smoothing reveals temporal trends during the event. A higher average proportion of mudstone is found in the falling limb (0.544) compared with the rising limb (0.464), and the reverse is observed for mountain range (0.218 vs. 0.283) and unconsolidated (0.073 vs. 0.055). In the initial hours of the storm, mudstone source contribution significantly drops, whereas mountain range and unconsolidated contributions peak. The SSC-Q clockwise hysteresis indicates proximal sediment sources, suggesting the mudstone sediment is stored channel sediment and easily entrained. This sediment flushes through, coinciding with a drop as the distal mountain range and unconsolidated sources arrive to peak contribution. The wider Manawatū discharge and sediment load then arrive, delivering increasing levels of mudstone throughout the remainder of the event while mountain range sediment diminishes. Spatial representation of the sediment source contribution was derived from distributing sediment source loads to the spatial extent of the source material according to sub-catchment sediment loads and was weighted according to slope. This provided an effective means to visualize the origin of the sediment and a better spatial interpretation of sediment fingerprinting results, which is typically limited by poor spatial resolution.     

Use of composite fingerprints to determine the provenance of the contemporary suspended sediment load transported by rivers

Sediment fingerprinting appears to offer a valuable alternative to direct monitoring for elucidating the provenance of suspended sediment and the relative importance of spatial zones or subcatchments comprising larger (>500 km²) drainage basins. Against this background, a quantitative composite fingerprinting technique, incorporating both statistically verified multicomponent signatures and a multivariate sediment-mixing model, has been employed to determine the spatial origin of contemporary suspended sediment transported from the upper and middle reaches of the River Exe (601 km²) and River Severn (4325 km²) basins, UK. Spatial origin is addressed in terms of the relative contribution from three distinct geological subareas constituting each study basin. The consistency of the composite fingerprinting approach is examined using the estimates for mean and seasonal variations in source area contributions and also a comparison between the results obtained for individual flood events and alternative lines of evidence provided by flood travel times and the spatial distribution of precipitation. It is argued that fingerprinting estimates for sediment provenance are consistent with existing information on suspended sediment yields from different subcatchments within the study basins, although in the Severn, the role of storage and remobilization in producing signature ‘averaging’ may complicate comparison of the fingerprinting data with typical floodwater routing times. Validation represents the greatest problem for the cost–benefit of fingerprinting and scope still exists for further refinement of the procedures involved. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of a confluence‐based sediment‐fingerprinting approach to a dynamic sedimentary catchment,New Zealand

Fine sediment is a dynamic component of the fluvial system, contributing to the physical form, chemistry and ecological health of a river. It is important to understand rates and patterns of sediment delivery, transport and deposition. Sediment fingerprinting is a means of directly determining sediment sources via their geochemical properties, but it faces challenges in discriminating sources within larger catchments. In this research, sediment fingerprinting was applied to major river confluences in the Manawatu catchment as a broad‐scale application to characterizing sub‐catchment sediment contributions for a sedimentary catchment dominated by agriculture. Stepwise discriminant function analysis and principal component analysis of bulk geochemical concentrations and geochemical indicators were used to investigate sub‐catchment geochemical signatures. Each confluence displayed a unique array of geochemical variables suited for discrimination. Geochemical variation in upstream sediment samples was likely a result of the varying geological source compositions. The Tiraumea sub‐catchment provided the dominant signature at the major confluence with the Upper Manawatu and Mangatainoka sub‐catchments. Subsequent downstream confluences are dominated by the upstream geochemical signatures from the main stem of Manawatu River. Variability in the downstream geochemical signature is likely due to incomplete mixing caused in part by channel configuration. Results from this exploratory investigation indicate that numerous geochemical elements have the ability to differentiate fine sediment sources using a broad‐scale confluence‐based approach and suggest there is enough geochemical variation throughout a large sedimentary catchment for a full sediment fingerprint model. Combining powerful statistical procedures with other geochemical analyses is critical to understanding the processes or spatial patterns responsible for sediment signature variation within this type of catchment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating sampling efficiency when estimating sediment source contributions to suspended sediment in rivers by fingerprinting

A general method is proposed which measures the increase in uncertainty when sampling effort is reduced in sediment fingerprinting. The method gives quantitative measures of how reduced sampling of material in one of the source areas, and/or of suspended sediment in streams, increases the uncertainties in the proportions of sediment contributed from the sources. Because the proportions of sediment contributed by the source areas must add to one, standard errors of the estimated proportions cannot be used as the usual measures of uncertainty: the paper uses instead the volume of the joint 95% confidence region for the estimated proportions. The paper shows how the uncertainty in this volume changes as numbers of suspended sediment samples, and the numbers of samples collected from cropped fields, are reduced by successive steps from 24 (20, in the case of cropped fields) to 16, 12, 8, 4 and 2 samples. As expected, uncertainty increases rapidly as the number of samples – whether of suspended sediment or from cropped fields – is reduced drastically. The pattern of increasing uncertainty is similar both for reductions in suspended sediment sampling, and for reduced sampling from cropped areas. When the number of suspended sediment samples, and the number of samples from cropped fields, are reduced to the same values, the increase in uncertainty from fewer suspended sediment samples was always slightly greater than the increased uncertainty from the reduced sampling of cropped areas, although this finding took no account of differences in the costs of field sampling and laboratory analysis. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interannual variation of suspended sediment load and sediment yield in an alpine catchment

Abstract

The results are described of 16 years operation of a measuring station for the automatic recording of water discharge, bed load and suspended sediment transport in the Rio Cordon catchment, a small alpine basin (5 km²) located in northeastern Italy. Hillslope erosion processes were investigated by surveying individual sediment sources repeatedly. Annual and seasonal variations of suspended sediment load during the period 1986–2001 are analysed along with their contribution to the total sediment yield. The results show that suspended load accounted for 76% of total load and that most of the suspended sediment transport occurred during two flood events: an extreme summer flash flood in September 1994 (27% of the 16-years total suspended load) and a snowmelt-induced event in May 2001 accompanied by a mud flow which fed the stream with sediments. The role of active sediment source areas is discussed in relation to the changes in flood peak—suspended load trends which became apparent after both the 1994 and the 2001 events.     

Magnitude and variation in the contribution of bank erosion to the suspended sediment load of the River Severn,UK

The wide range of studies describing the role of bank erosion in fluvial sediment supply have mostly lumped amounts of bank erosion into coarse temporal units, such as years. This paper investigates sediment yields from individual bank erosion events within the upper River Severn, UK (basin area 380 km²). Manual erosion pins and photo-electronic erosion pins were used to estimate bank erosion, and turbidity meters were used to determine suspended sediment transport. At the annual time-scale, the silt-clay fraction of bank-derived sediment accounted for an equivalent of 17 per cent of the suspended load, increasing to an average of 38 per cent at the monthly timescale, and then to an average of 64 per cent at the event timescale. This research highlighted that for an upland catchment, bank erosion was an important supply of suspended sediment, and that for some flood events bank erosion can supply more sediment than is transported. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of intermediate fine sediment storage in a braided river reach (southern French Prealps)

This paper presents a field investigation on river channel storage of fine sediments in an unglaciated braided river, the Bès River, located in a mountainous region in the southern French Prealps. Braided rivers transport a very large quantity of bedload and suspended sediment load because they are generally located in the vicinity of highly erosive hillslopes. Consequently, these rivers play an important role because they supply and control the sediment load of the entire downstream fluvial network. Field measurements and aerial photograph analyses were considered together to evaluate the variability of fine sediment quantity stored in a 2·5‐km‐long river reach. This study found very large quantities of fine sediment stored in this reach: 1100 t per unit depth (1 dm). Given that this reach accounts for 17% of the braided channel surface area of the river basin, the quantities of fine sediment stored in the river network were found to be approximately 80% of the mean annual suspended sediment yields (SSYs) (66 200 t year^?1), comparable to the SSYs at the flood event scale: from 1000 t to 12 000 t depending on the flood event magnitude. These results could explain the clockwise hysteretic relationships between suspended sediment concentrations and discharges for 80% of floods. This pattern is associated with the rapid availability of the fine sediments stored in the river channel. This study shows the need to focus on not only the mechanisms of fine sediment production from hillslope erosion but also the spatiotemporal dynamics of fine sediment transfer in braided rivers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temporal variation of suspended sediment transport in the Koga catchment,North Western Ethiopia and environmental implications

Event sediment transport and yield were studied for 45 events in the upstream part of the 260 km² agricultural Koga catchment that drains to an irrigation reservoir. Discharge and turbidity data were collected over a period of more than a year, accompanied by grab sampling. Turbidity was very well correlated with the sediment concentrations from the samples (r = 0.99), which allowed us to estimate the temporal patterns of sediment concentrations within events. The hysteresis patterns between discharge and sediment concentrations were analysed to provide insight into the different sediment sources. Anticlockwise patterns are the dominant hysteresis patterns in the area, suggesting smaller contributions of suspended sediment from the river channels than from the hillslopes and agricultural areas. Complicated types of hysteresis patterns were mostly observed for long events with multiple peaks. For a given discharge, sediment yields in August and September, when the catchment was almost completely covered with vegetation, were much smaller than during the rest of the rainy season. The hysteresis patterns and timing suggest that the sediment availability from the agricultural areas and hillslopes affects sediment yields more strongly than does peak discharge. Two distinct types of sediment rating curves were observed for the season when the agricultural land was covered with vegetation and when it was not, indicating the dominating contribution of land use/cover to sediment yields in the catchment. The rate of suspended sediment transport in the area was estimated as 25.6 t year^?1 ha^?1. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reintroduced large wood modifies fine sediment transport and storage in a lowland river channel

This paper explores changes in suspended sediment transport and fine sediment storage at the reach and patch scale associated with the reintroduction of partial large wood (LW) jams in an artificially over‐widened lowland river. The field site incorporates two adjacent reaches: a downstream section where LW jams were reintroduced in 2010 and a reach immediately upstream where no LW was introduced. LW pieces were organized into ‘partial’ jams incorporating several ‘key pieces’ which were later colonized by substantial stands of aquatic and wetland plants. Reach‐scale suspended sediment transport was investigated using arrays of time‐integrated suspended sediment samplers. Patch‐scale suspended sediment transport was explored experimentally using turbidity sensors to track the magnitude and velocity of artificially generated sediment plumes. Fine sediment storage was quantified at both reach and patch scales by repeat surveys of fine sediment depth. The results show that partial LW jams influence fine sediment dynamics at both the patch and reach scale. At the patch‐scale, introduction of LW led to a reduction in the concentration and increase in the time lag of released sediment plumes within the LW, indicating increased diffusion of plumes. This contrasted with higher concentrations and lower time lags in areas adjacent to the LW; indicating more effective advection processes. This led to increased fine sediment storage within the LW compared with areas adjacent to the LW. At the reach‐scale there was a greater increase in fine sediment storage through time within the restored reach relative to the unrestored reach, although the changes in sediment transport responsible for this were not evident from time‐integrated suspended sediment data. The results of the study have been used to develop a conceptual model which may inform restoration design. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using radiometric fingerprinting and phosphorus to elucidate sediment transport dynamics in an agricultural watershed

The major goals of this study were to determine stream bed sediment erosion/deposition rates, sediment age, percent ‘new’ sediment, and suspended sediment origin during two storm events of contrasting magnitudes (11.9 mm over 5 h and 58.9 mm over 39 h) using fallout radionuclides (excess lead 210 – ²¹⁰Pb_xs and beryllium 7 – ⁷Be) and link the nature and type of sediment source contributions to potential phosphorus (P) off‐site transport. The study was conducted in cropland‐dominated and mixed land use subwatersheds in the non‐glaciated Pleasant Valley watershed (50 km²) in South Central Wisconsin. Fine sediment deposition and erosion rates on stream beds varied from 0.76 to 119.29 mg cm^?2 day^?1 (at sites near the watershed outlet) and 1.72 to 7.72 mg cm^?2 day^?1 (at sites in the headwaters), respectively, during the two storm events. The suspended sediment age ranged from 123 ± 12 to 234 ± 33 days during the smaller storm event; however, older sediment was more prevalent (p = 0.037) in the streams during the larger event with suspended sediment age ranging from 226 ± 9 to 322 ± 114 days. During the small and large storm event, percent new sediment in suspended sediment ranged from 5.3 ± 2.1 to 21.0 ± 2.9% and 5.3 ± 2.7 to 6.7 ± 5.7%, respectively. In the cropland‐dominated subwatershed, upland soils were the major source of suspended sediment, whereas in the mixed land use subwatershed, both uplands and stream banks had relatively similar contributions to suspended sediment. In‐stream (suspended and bed) sediment P levels ranged from 703 ± 193 to 963 ± 84 mg kg^?1 during the two storm events. The P concentrations in suspended and bed sediment were reflective of the dominant sediment source (upland or stream bank or mixed). Overall, sediment transport dynamics showed significant variability between subwatersheds of different land use characteristics during two contrasting storm events. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Specific suspended sediment yields of the Andean rivers of Chile and their relationship to climate,slope and vegetation

Abstract

Using daily suspended sediment and water discharge data, we calculated the current mean annual runoff and Specific Suspended Sediment Yield (SSY) for 66 mountainous and piedmont catchments in Chile. These catchments are located from the extreme north of Chile to Southern Patagonia and cover an exceptionally wide range of climates, slopes, and vegetation. The SSY ranges mainly between 0 and 700 t km^-2 year^-1 with some exceptions as high as 1780 t km^-2 year^-1. The SSY increases between the extreme north and 33°S and then decreases toward the south. Sediment and water discharge north of 33°S occur mainly during summer. Farther south the contribution of winter precipitation increases and predominates. When the SSY database is correlated with topographic, climatic and vegetation indices, it is found to correlate significantly with runoff and mean slope only. In order to concentrate on erosion processes in the mountain range, 32 mountainous catchments were selected along a strong north–south SSY gradient between 27°S and 40°S. From north to south, SSY increases strongly with runoff and then decreases, even while runoff keeps increasing. In catchments where SSY is low, although runoff is high, the mean slope is less than 40% and the vegetation cover is greater than 8%. For the other catchments, runoff variations explain 67% of the variance in sediment yields. Thus, SSY seems to be controlled by vegetation cover and slope thresholds. In addition, SSY also correlates with glacier cover. However, a correlation between SSY and seismicity, although possible, is ambiguous.

Citation Pepin, E., Carretier, S., Guyot, J. L. & Escobar, F. (2010) Specific suspended sediment yields of the Andean rivers of Chile and their relationship to climate, slope and vegetation. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(7), 1190–1205.     

Response of river channel patterns to the spatially varying suspended sediment concentrations

River channel pattern transformation is dealt with in a broad background of suspended sediment concentration, varying from low, medium, high to hyperconcentration. Based on data from about 100 alluvial rivers in China, suspended sediment transport rate has been plotted against mean annual water discharge, showing that all points can be divided into four belts by three straight lines, as stable braided pattern, meandering pattern with ordinary sediment concentrations, wandering braided pattern, and meandering pattern with hyperconcentration of sediment. This picture of channel pattern transformation can be well explained by the law of the water flow's energy expenditure varying with its sediment concentration. The energy expenditure increases with sediment concentration, reaching a maximum, then declines. Rivers falling in different ranges of sediment concentrations adjust their own energy expenditure in different manners, leading to occurrence of different channel patterns. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 49671011).     

A preliminary assessment of the spatial sources of contemporary suspended sediment in the Ohio River basin,United States,using water quality data from the NASQAN programme in a source tracing procedure

Reliable information on catchment scale suspended sediment sources is required to inform the design of management strategies for helping abate the numerous environmental issues associated with enhanced sediment mobilization and off‐site loadings. Since sediment fingerprinting techniques avoid many of the logistical constraints associated with using more traditional indirect measurement methods at catchment scale, such approaches have been increasingly reported in the international literature and typically use data sets collected specifically for sediment source apportionment purposes. There remains scope for investigating the potential for using geochemical data sets assembled by routine monitoring programmes to fingerprint sediment provenance. In the United States, routine water quality samples are collected as part of the US Geological Survey's revised National Stream Quality Accounting Network programme. Accordingly, the geochemistry data generated from these samples over a 10‐year period (1996–2006) were used as the basis for a fingerprinting exercise to assess the key tributary sub‐catchment spatial sources of contemporary suspended sediment transported by the Ohio River. Uncertainty associated with the spatial source estimates was quantified using a Monte Carlo approach in conjunction with mass balance modelling. Relative frequency weighted means were used as an alternative way of summarizing the spatial source contributions, thereby avoiding the need to use confidence limits. The results should be interpreted in the context of the routine, but infrequent nature, of the suspended sediment samples used to assemble geochemistry as a basis for the sourcing exercise. Nonetheless, the study demonstrates how routine monitoring samples can be used to provide some preliminary information on sediment provenance in large drainage basins. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temporal variations of reservoir sediment sources in a small mountainous catchment in Korea

An understanding of the temporal variation in reservoir sedimentation and identification of the main sources of sediment are necessary for the maintenance of sustainable reservoirs. For this purpose, field measurements, sampling, and fingerprinting of reservoir sediment were undertaken from July 2005 to November 2007. Source fingerprinting of reservoir sediment was conducted using cesium‐137 (¹³⁷Cs). The relative contributions of gully bank and forest road, and forest floor material to reservoir sediment were calculated using a mixing model. Bank and forest road material, estimated to make up about 96% of the reservoir sediment, was the dominant source. Enormous reservoir sedimentation, which amounted to about 60% of the total reservoir sedimentation during the observation period, occurred during a heavy rainstorm with an 80‐year recurrence time. To maintain the sustainability of the reservoir in this study, therefore, temporal and spatial preparation strategies for heavy rainstorms and bank and forest road erosion should be considered. However, spatial information on sediment sources from ¹³⁷Cs fingerprinting is limited. To better identify the sediment sources spatially and temporally, further studies applying soil erosion models and more detailed field studies are needed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes to sediment sources following wildfire in a forested upland catchment,southeastern Australia

Few investigations link post‐fire changes to sediment sources and erosion processes with sediment yield response at the catchment scale. This linkage is essential if downstream impacts on sediment transport after fire are to be understood in the context of fire effects across different forest environments. In this study, we quantify changing source contributions to fine sediment (<63 µm) exported from a eucalypt forest catchment (136 ha) burnt by wildfire. The study catchment is one of a pair of research catchments located in the East Kiewa River valley in southeastern Australia that have been the subject of a research program investigating wildfire effects on runoff, erosion, and catchment sediment/nutrient exports. This previous research provided the opportunity to couple insights gained from a range of measurement techniques with the application of fallout radionuclides ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb_ex to trace sediment sources. It was found that hillslope surface erosion dominated exports throughout the 3·5‐year post‐fire measurement period. During this time there was a pronounced decline in the proportional surface contribution from close to 100% in the first six months to 58% in the fourth year after fire. Over the study period, hillslope surface sources accounted for 93% of the fine sediment yield from the burnt catchment. The largest decline in the hillslope contribution occurred between the first and second years after fire, which corresponded with the previously reported large decline in sediment yield, breakdown of water repellency in burnt soils, substantial reduction in hillslope erodibility, and rapid surface vegetation recovery. Coupling the information on sediment sources with hillslope process measurements indicated that only a small proportion of slopes contributed sediment to the catchment outlet, with material derived from near‐channel areas dominating the post‐fire catchment sediment yield response. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meso‐scale catchment sediment budgets: combining field surveys and modeling in the Dragonja catchment,southwest Slovenia

In this paper, we present a methodology to construct a sediment budget for meso‐scale catchments. We combine extensive field surveys and expert knowledge of the catchment with a sediment delivery model. The meso‐scale Mediterranean drainage basin of the Dragonja (91 km²), southwest Slovenia, was chosen as case study area. During the field surveys, sheet wash was observed on sloping agricultural fields during numerous rainfall events, which was found to be the main source of sediment. With the sediment yield model WATEM/SEDEM the estimated net erosion on the hillslopes 4·1 t ha^–1 y^–1 (91% of inputs). The second source, bank erosion (4·2%; 0·25 t ha^–1 y^–1) was monitored during several years with erosion pins and photogrammetric techniques. The last source, channel incision, was derived from geomorphological mapping and lichenomery and provided 3·8% (0·17 t ha^–1 y^–1) of the sediment input. The river transports its suspended sediment mainly during high‐flow events (sampled with automated water samplers). About 27% (1·2 t ha^–1 y^–1) of the sediment delivered to the channel is deposited on floodplains and low terraces downstream (estimated with geomorphological mapping, coring and cesium‐137 measurements). The sediment transported as bedload disintegrates during transport to the outlet due to the softness of the bedrock material. As a result, the river carries no bedload when it reaches the sea. The results imply a build‐up of sediment in the valleys catchment. However, extreme flood events may flush large amounts of sediment stored in the lower parts of the system. Geomorphological evidence exists in the catchment that such high magnitude, low frequency events have happened in the past. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Streamflow and suspended sediment yield following the 2000 Bobcat fire,Colorado

Postfire runoff and erosion are a concern, and more data are needed on the effects of wildfire at the watershed‐scale, especially in the Colorado Front Range. The goal of this study was to characterize and compare the streamflow and suspended sediment yield response of two watersheds (Bobcat Gulch and Jug Gulch) after the 2000 Bobcat fire. Bobcat Gulch had several erosion control treatments applied after the fire, including aerial seeding, contour log felling, mulching, and straw wattles. Jug Gulch was partially seeded. Study objectives were to: (1) measure precipitation, streamflow, and sediment yields; (2) assess the effect of rainfall intensity on peak discharges, storm runoff, and sediment yields; (3) evaluate short‐term hydrologic recovery. Two months after the fire, a storm with a maximum 30 min rainfall intensity I₃₀ of 42 mm h^?1 generated a peak discharge of 3900 l s^?1 km^?2 in Bobcat Gulch. The same storm produced less than 5 l s^?1 km^?2 in Jug Gulch, due to less rainfall and the low watershed response. In the second summer, storms with, I₃₀ of 23 mm h^?1 and 32 mm h^?1 generated peak discharges of 1100 l s^?1 km^?2 and 1700 l s^?1 km^?2 in the treated and untreated watersheds respectively. Maximum water yield efficiencies were 10% and 17% respectively, but 18 of the 23 storms returned ≤2% of the rainfall as runoff, effectively obscuring interpretation of the erosion control treatments. I₃₀ explained 86% of the variability in peak discharges, 74% of the variability in storm runoff, and >80% of the variability in sediment yields. Maximum single‐storm sediment yields in the second summer were 370 kg ha^?1 in the treated watershed and 950 kg ha^?1 in the untreated watershed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Short‐term spatial and temporal patterns of suspended sediment transfer in proglacial channels,small River Glacier,Canada

Alpine glacial basins are a significant source and storage area for sediment exposed by glacial retreat. Recent research has indicated that short‐term storage and release of sediment in proglacial channels may control the pattern of suspended sediment transfer from these basins. Custom‐built continuously recording turbidimeters installed on a network of nine gauging sites were used to characterize spatial and temporal variability in suspended sediment transfer patterns for the entire proglacial area at Small River Glacier, British Columbia, Canada. Discharge and suspended sediment concentration were measured at 5 min intervals over the ablation season of 2000. Differences in suspended sediment transfer patterns were then extracted using multivariate statistics (principal component and cluster analysis). Results showed that each gauging station was dominated c. 80% of days by diurnal sediment transfer patterns and ‘low’ suspended sediment concentrations. ‘Irregular’ transfer patterns were generally associated with ‘high’ sediment concentrations during snowmelt and rainfall events, resulting in the transfer of up to 70% of the total seasonal suspended sediment load at some gauging stations. Suspended sediment enrichment of up to 600% from channel storage release and extrachannel inputs occurred between the glacial front and distal proglacial boundary. However, these patterns differed significantly between gauging stations as determined by the location of the gauging station within the catchment and meteorological conditions. Overall, the proglacial area was the source for up to 80% of the total suspended sediment yield transferred from the Small River Glacier basin. These results confirmed that sediment stored and released in the proglacial area, in particular from proglacial channels, was controlling suspended sediment transfer patterns. To characterize this control accurately requires multiple gauging stations with high frequency monitoring of suspended sediment concentration. Accurate characterization of this proglacial control on suspended sediment transfer may therefore aid interpretation of suspended sediment yield patterns from glacierized basins. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.