Floodplains as a source of fine sediment in grazed landscapes: Tracing the source of suspended sediment in the headwaters of an intensively managed agricultural landscape

Geomorphology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 308 ◽  
pp. 278-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjing Yu ◽  
Bruce L. Rhoads
2018 ◽  
Vol 169 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Vítková ◽  
Marco Conedera ◽  
Jiří Sádlo ◽  
Jan Pergl ◽  
Petr Pyšek

Dangerous and useful at the same time: management strategies for the invasive black locust The North American black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is considered controversial as many other introduced tree species because of its both positive and negative properties. Based on a literature review and own data we analyze the occurrence of black locust in Czechia and Switzerland and present the management approaches in place. In both countries, black locust is on the blacklist of invasive introduced species. It can grow in a wide range of habitats from urban and agricultural landscape to dry grassland and forest. Meanwhile, the species became in many places part of the environment and human culture, so that neither unrestricted cultivation nor large-scale eradication is feasible. We suggest a context-dependent management which respects the different needs and takes into account the local environmental conditions, land-use, habitat type, risk of spread as well as economic, cultural and biodiversity aspects. To this purpose we propose three management strategies: 1) control respectively gradual suppression of black locust in forests where the species is not welcome, 2) its eradication in sensitive ecosystems as dry grasslands or clear and dry forests and 3) its tolerance in intensively managed agricultural landscapes and in urban environment.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan T. García ◽  
Joseph R. Harrington

The River Bandon located in County Cork (Ireland) has been time-continuously monitored by turbidity probes, as well as automatic and manual suspended sediment sampling. The current work evaluates three different models used to estimate the fine sediment concentration during storm-based events over a period of one year. The modeled suspended sediment concentration is compared with that measured at an event scale. Uncertainty indices are calculated and compared with those presented in the bibliography. An empirically-based model was used as a reference, as this model has been previously applied to evaluate sediment behavior over the same time period in the River Bandon. Three other models have been applied to the gathered data. First is an empirically-based storm events model, based on an exponential function for calculation of the sediment output from the bed. A statistically-based approach first developed for sewers was also evaluated. The third model evaluated was a shear stress erosion-based model based on one parameter. The importance of considering the fine sediment volume stored in the bed and its consolidation to predict the suspended sediment concentration during storm events is clearly evident. Taking into account dry weather periods and the bed erosion in previous events, knowledge on the eroded volume for each storm event is necessary to adjust the parameters for each model.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 4513-4525 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wohlfart ◽  
J.-F. Exbrayat ◽  
K. Schelde ◽  
B. Christen ◽  
T. Dalgaard ◽  
...  

Abstract. The surrounding landscape of a stream has crucial impacts on the aquatic environment. This study pictures the hydro-biogeochemical situation of the Tyrebækken creek catchment in central Jutland, Denmark. The intensively managed agricultural landscape is dominated by rotational croplands. The small catchment mainly consist of sandy soil types besides organic soils along the streams. The aim of the study was to characterise the relative influence of soil type and land use on stream water quality. Nine snapshot sampling campaigns were undertaken during the growing season of 2009. Total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), nitrate (NO3−), ammonium nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations were measured, and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) was calculated for each grabbed sample. Electrical conductivity, pH and flow velocity were measured during sampling. Statistical analyses showed significant differences between the northern, southern and converged stream parts, especially for NO3− concentrations with average values between 1.4 mg N l−1 and 9.6 mg N l−1. Furthermore, throughout the sampling period DON concentrations increased to 2.8 mg N l−1 in the northern stream contributing up to 81% to TDN. Multiple-linear regression analyses performed between chemical data and landscape characteristics showed a significant negative influence of organic soils on instream N concentrations and corresponding losses in spite of their overall minor share of the agricultural land (12.9%). On the other hand, organic soil frequency was positively correlated to the corresponding DOC concentrations. Croplands also had a significant influence but with weaker correlations. For our case study we conclude that the fractions of coarse textured and organic soils have a major influence on N and DOC export in this intensively used landscape. Meanwhile, the contribution of DON to the total N losses was substantial.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1179-1220
Author(s):  
M. T. Perks ◽  
J. Warburton

Abstract. This paper describes the implementation of a novel mitigation approach and subsequent adaptive management, designed to reduce the transfer of fine sediment in Glaisdale Beck; a small upland catchment in the UK. Hydro-meteorological and suspended sediment datasets are collected over a two year period spanning pre- and post-diversion periods in order to assess the impact of the channel reconfiguration scheme on the fluvial suspended sediment dynamics. Analysis of the river response demonstrates that the fluvial sediment system has become more restrictive with reduced fine sediment transfer. This is characterised by reductions in flow-weighted mean suspended sediment concentrations from 77.93 mg L−1 prior to mitigation, to 74.36 mg L−1 following the diversion. A Mann–Whitney U test found statistically significant differences (p < 0.001) between the pre- and post-monitoring median SSCs. Whilst application of one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) on the coefficients of sediment rating curves developed before and after the diversion found statistically significant differences (p < 0.001), with both Log a and b coefficients becoming smaller following the diversion. Non-parametric analysis indicates a reduction in residuals through time (p < 0.001), with the developed LOWESS model over-predicting sediment concentrations as the channel stabilises. However, the channel is continuing to adjust to the reconfigured morphology, with evidence of a headward propagating knickpoint which has migrated 120 m at an exponentially decreasing rate over the last 7 years since diversion. The study demonstrates that channel reconfiguration can be effective in mitigating fine sediment flux in upland streams but the full value of this may take many years to achieve whilst the fluvial system, slowly readjusts.


Author(s):  
Hamish Biggs ◽  
Arman Haddadchi ◽  
Murray Hicks

Aquatic vegetation, hydraulics and sediment transport have complex interactions that are not yet well understood. These interactions are important for sediment conveyance, sediment sequestration, phasing of sediment delivery from runoff events, and management of ecosystem health in lowland streams. To address this knowledge gap detailed field measurements of sediment transport through natural flexible aquatic vegetation are required to supplement and validate laboratory results. This paper contributes a field study of suspended sediment transport through aquatic vegetation and includes mechanical removal of aquatic vegetation with a weed cutting boat. It also provides methods to quantify vegetation cover through remote sensing with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and estimate biomass from ground truth sampling. Suspended sediment concentrations were highly dependent on aquatic vegetation abundance, and the distance upstream that had been cleared of aquatic vegetation. When the study reach was fully vegetated (i.e. cover >80%), the maximum recorded SSC was 14.6 g/m (during a fresh with discharge of 2.47 m/s), during weed cutting operations SSC was 76.8 g/m at 0.84 m/s (weedcutting boat 0.5-1 km upstream from study reach), however following weed cutting operations (4.6 km cleared upstream), SSC was 139.0 g/m at a discharge of 1.52 m/s. The data indicates that fine sediment was being sequestered by aquatic vegetation and likely remobilised after vegetation removal. Investigation of suspended sediment spatial dynamics illustrated changes in particle size distribution due to preferential settling of coarse particles within aquatic vegetation. Hydraulic resistance in the study reach (parameterized by Manning’s n) dropped by over 70% following vegetation cutting. Prior to cutting hydraulic resistance was discharge dependent, while post cutting hydraulic resistance was approximately invariant of discharge. Aerial surveying captured interesting changes in aquatic vegetation cover, where some very dense regions of aquatic vegetation were naturally removed leaving behind unvegetated riverbed and fine sediment.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Droujko ◽  
Peter Molnar

Abstract Fine sediment transport in rivers is important for catchment nutrient fluxes, global biogeochemical cycles, water quality and pollution in riverine, coastal and marine ecosystems. Monitoring of suspended sediment in rivers with current sensors is challenging and expensive and most monitoring setups are restricted to few single site measurements. To better understand the spatial heterogeneity of fine sediment sources and transport in river networks there is a need for new smart water turbidity sensing that is multi-site, accurate and affordable. In this work, we have created such a sensor, which detects scattered light from an LED source using two detectors in a control volume, and can be placed in a river. We compare several replicates of our sensor to different commercial turbidity probes in a mixing tank experiment using two sediment types over a wide range of typical concentrations observed in rivers. Our results show that we can achieve precise and reproducible turbidity measurements in the 0-4000 NTU or 0-16g/L range. Our sensor can also be used directly as a suspended sediment sensor and bypass an unnecessary calibration to Formazin. The developed turbidity sensor is much cheaper than existing options of comparable quality and is especially intended for distributed sensing across river networks.


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