Physics‐based numerical modelling of large braided rivers dominated by suspended sediment

Physics‐based models have been increasingly developed in recent years and applied to simulate the braiding process and evolution of channel units in braided rivers. However, limited attention is given to lowland braided rivers where the transport of suspended sediment plays a dominant role. In the present study, a numerical model based on the basic physics laws of hydrodynamics and sediment transport is used to simulate the evolution process of a braided river dominated by suspended load transport. The model employs a fractional method to simulate the transport of graded sediments and uses a multiple‐bed‐layer approach to represent the sediment sorting process. An idealized braided river has been produced, with the hydrodynamic, sediment transport and morphological processes being analysed. In particular, the formation process of local pool–bar units in the predicted river has been investigated. A sensitivity analysis has also been undertaken to investigate the effects of grid resolution and an upstream perturbation on the model prediction. A variety of methods are applied to analyse the geometrical and topographical properties of the modelled river. Self‐organizing characteristics related to river geometry and topography are analysed by state‐space plots, which indicate a close relationship with the periodical erosion and deposition cycles of braiding. Cross‐sectional topography and slope frequency display similar geometries to natural rivers. Scaling characteristics are found by correlation analysis of bar parameters. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Storage,properties and seasonal variations in fine‐grained bed sediment within the main channel and headwaters of the River Sanginjoki,Finland

Lowland catchments in Finland are intensively managed, promoting erosion and sedimentation that negatively affects aquatic environments. This study quantified fine‐grained bed sediment in the main channel and upstream headwaters of the River Sanginjoki (399.93 km²) catchment, Northern Finland, using remobilization sediment sampling during the ice‐free period (May 2010–December 2011). Average bed sediment storage in river was 1332 g m^?2. Storage and seasonal variations were greater in small headwater areas (total bed sediment storage mean 1527 g m^?2, range 122–6700 g m^?2 at individual sites; storage of organic sediment: mean 414 g m^?2, range 27–3159 g m^?2) than in the main channel (total bed sediment storage: mean 1137 g m^?2, range 61–4945 g m^?2); storage of organic sediment: mean 329 g m^?2, range 13–1938 g m^?2). Average reach‐specific bed sediment storage increased from downstream to upstream tributaries. In main channel reaches, mean specific storage was 8.73 t km^?1, and mean specific storage of organic sediment 2.45 t km^?1, whereas in tributaries, it was 126.94 and 34.05 t km^?1, respectively. Total fine‐grained bed sediment storage averaged 563 t in the main channel and 6831 t in the catchment. The proportion of mean organic matter at individual sites was 15–47% and organic carbon 4–455 g C m^?2, with both being highest in small headwater tributaries. Main channel bed sediment storage comprised 52% of mean annual suspended sediment flux and stored organic carbon comprised 7% of mean annual total organic carbon load. This indicates the importance of small headwater brooks for temporary within‐catchment storage of bed sediment and organic carbon and the significance of fine‐grained sediment stored in channels for the suspended sediment budget of boreal lowland rivers. Copyright © 2013 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.     

Complex behaviour of natural sediment‐carrying streamflows and the geomorphological implications

Based on the data from alluvial rivers in China, the complex mechanical behaviour of sediment‐carrying streamflow of natural rivers has been observed. Channel geometry also exhibits complex behaviour in response to variation in suspended concentration. With the increase in suspended concentration, channel width : depth ratio increases, reaches a maximum and then decreases. The inverse is true for channel sinuosity. When suspended concentration is low, a meandering pattern is dominant. The increase in suspended concentration leads to a transformation from a meandering to a braided pattern. But when the suspended concentration increases further and enters the range of hyperconcentrated flows, the meandering pattern appears. The complex behaviour of channel pattern change may be regarded as a reflection of the complex behaviour of sediment‐carrying streamflows at the river reach scale. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling transport dynamics of contaminated sediments in the headwater of a hydropower plant at the Upper Rhine River

Sediments are an essential habitat compartment in rivers, which is a subject to dynamic transport processes. In many rivers, the fine deposited sediments are contaminated with heavy metals and organic compounds. Contaminated deposits are considered as potential hot spots because of the risk of the mobilization under erosive hydraulic conditions. Numerical models for particulate contaminant transport are then necessary and can be applied to estimate and predict the potential impact of mobilized contaminants as an important contribution to sediment management. This paper focuses on the quantification of the amount of contaminated sediments resuspended during the extreme flood event in 1999 and the prediction of deposition one year after the flood event. To assess such erosive flood event, a 2D numerical transport model was developed to analyse the dynamics of erosion and sedimentation processes in the headwater of a cross dam at the Upper Rhine River. The dam consists of a weir, a hydropower plant, and a navigation lock. As the weir is operating only for flood management, a huge amount of sediment highly contaminated with the hexachlorobenzene (HCB) was deposited in the weir zone. Therefore, numerical simulations were performed to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of deposited contaminated sediments as depending on the river discharge and its distribution to the hydraulic structures. The numerical investigation presented here is taken as a retrospective analysis of the contaminated sediment dynamics in the headwater to improve future sediment management.     

Empirical and conceptual modelling of the suspended sediment dynamics in a large tropical African river: the Upper Niger river basin

A 7-year sediment transport monitoring on the Upper Niger rivers was used to study the relationship between suspended sediment concentration and river discharge. During annual floods, these relationships show positive hysteresis. This paper presents the results of two models that estimate the time evolution of suspended sediment concentration using water discharge data only. The first model is based on a statistical approach using two relationships, one for the rising stage period of the flood and one for the recession period of the annual flood; the second model is a lumped conceptual one; it supposes that the sediment flux observed in the river comes from two different sources of sediment and that these two sources may be regarded as two different reservoirs. The erosion of the first reservoir represents hillslope erosion observed during the runoff season. Sediment supply from this ‘reservoir’ is limited in time because depletion occurs during the runoff season. The second reservoir is unlimited in time and quantity and its erosion represents contributions coming from bank erosion and mobilisation of deposits in the channel network.

Both of the models are compared with a simple rating curve based model. The model results show that the conceptual model has the highest efficiency to reproduce from weekly discharge only the time evolution of weekly suspended sediment concentrations, the time evolution of weekly sediment fluxes, and the global annual sediment yields.     

Study of deposition of fine sediment within the pores of a coarse sediment bed stream

Elaborate experiments were performed in a 30 m long, 0.5 m deep and 0.2 m wide laboratory flume to study the process of infiltration of fine sediment into the pores of coarse sediment forming the channel bed material. Different concentrations of suspended load of fine sediment of size 0.064 mm were passed over the channel bed made up of three different types of coarse sediments; two uniform and one nonuniform. The proportion of fine sediment infiltrated into the pores of bed material for each equilibrium concentration of suspended load of fine sediment in the flow was studied during several experimental runs. The proportion of fine sediment within the pores of bed material increased with an increase in the equilibrium concentration of suspended load of fine sediment in the flow. This process continued till the pores within the coarse sediment bed were filled up to the capacity with the fine sediment transported by the flow in suspension. The theoretical value was identified for limit for maximum proportion of fine sediment that can be present within the pores of bed material. On further increase in the concentration of suspended load of fine sediment in the flow, deposition of fine sediment occurs on the surface of the flume bed in the form of ripples of the fine sediment. This condition is defined as 'depositional condition'. Experimental observations on these and related aspects are presented herein.     

Sediment yield of the lower Tana River,Kenya, is insensitive to dam construction: sediment mobilization processes in a semi‐arid tropical river system

Dam construction in the 1960s to 1980s significantly modified sediment supply from the Kenyan uplands to the lower Tana River. To assess the effect on suspended sediment fluxes of the Tana River, we monitored the sediment load at high temporal resolution for 1 year and complemented our data with historical information. The relationship between sediment concentration and water discharge was complex: at the onset of the wet season, discharge peaks resulted in high sediment concentrations and counterclockwise hysteresis, while towards the end of the wet season, a sediment exhaustion effect led to low concentrations despite the high discharge. The total sediment flux at Garissa (c. 250 km downstream of the lowermost dam) between June 2012 and June 2013 was 8.8 Mt yr^‐1. Comparison of current with historical fluxes indicated that dam construction had not greatly affected the annual sediment flux. We suggest that autogenic processes, namely river bed dynamics and bank erosion, mobilized large quantities of sediments stored in the alluvial plain downstream of the dams. Observations supporting the importance of autogenic processes included the absence of measurable activities of the fall‐out radionuclides ⁷Be and ¹³⁷Cs in the suspended sediment, the rapid lateral migration of the river course, and the seasonal changes in river cross‐section. Given the large stock of sediment in the alluvial valley of the Tana River, it may take centuries before the effect of damming shows up as a quantitative reduction in the sediment flux at Garissa. Many models relate the sediment load of rivers to catchment characteristics, thereby implicitly assuming that alterations in the catchment induce changes in the sediment load. Our research confirms that the response of an alluvial river to external disturbances such as land use or climate change is often indirect or non‐existent as autogenic processes overwhelm the changes in the input signal. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FINE SEDIMENT OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI AND ILLINOIS RIVERS AND THE DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES

IINTRODUCTIONLanddevelopmentandlandusepatternsinthewatershedcaninduceincreasedsedimentloadsinriversandstreams.AGREATIllstudy(1982)illustratedthatsedimentyieldsfromagriculturallandcouldbeseveralfoldsmorethanothertypeoflandusesanderosionsources.ThesamestudyalsodemonstratedthatfinesedimentsweretheheaviestportionoftotalsoillossesfromeachtypeoflandusesinthetwelvehydrologicareasitinvestigatedintheUMRS.Thesamecouldbetrueforotheruplandareasalso.Howeverfinesediments,formthewashloadofthestream…     

A reach‐scale biogeochemical model for temporary rivers

The RS‐tempQ Model ( r each– s cale t emporary flow biogeochemical model) is a conceptual model that can describe the hydrologic, sediment transport and biogeochemical processes of temporary rivers at the reach scale. The model takes into account the expansion–contraction of the inundated area of the river. It simulates the sediment transport and the nutrient fluxes that are transferred to the coastal area due to the first flash flood and during extreme rain events. The RS‐tempQ Model simulates the in‐stream processes during the wet and dry cycles as the river corridor expands and contracts. The model was used to assess and quantify the hydrologic and geochemical processes occurring in a temporary river reach (Krathis River) in Greece. Since the conventional gauging techniques cannot measure the flow in rivers that are split into small braided streams, discharge measurements could not be obtained in order to calibrate and verify the model. Other field measurements such as infiltration losses and sediment accumulation were used for model calibration. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating fine sediment mobilization and storage in a gravel‐bed river using controlled reservoir releases

Two controlled flow events were generated by releasing water from a reservoir into the Olewiger Bach, located near Trier, Germany. This controlled release of near bank‐full flows allowed an investigation of the fine sediment (<63 µm) mobilized from channel storage. Both a winter (November) and a summer (June) release event were generated, each having very different antecedent flow conditions. The characteristics of the release hydrographs and the associated sediment transport indicated a reverse hysteresis with more mass, but smaller grain sizes, moving on the falling limb. Fine sediment stored to a depth of 10 cm in the gravels decreased following the release events, indicating the dynamic nature and importance of channel‐stored sediments as source materials during high flow events. Sediment traps, filled with clean natural gravel, were buried in riffles before the release of the reservoir water and the total mass of fine sediment collected by the traps was measured following the events. Twice the mass of fine sediment was retained by the gravel traps compared with the natural gravels, which may be due to their altered porosity. Although the amount of fine sediment collected by the traps was not significantly related to measures of gravel structure, it was found to be significantly correlated to measures of local flow velocity and Froude number. A portion of the traps were fitted with lids to restrict surface exchange of water and sediment. These collected the highest amounts of event‐mobilized sediments, indicating that inter‐gravel lateral flows, not just surface infiltration of sediments, are important in replenishing and redistributing the channel‐stored fines. These findings regarding the magnitude and direction of fine sediment movement in gravel beds are significant in both a geomorphic and a biological context. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sediment transport at the network scale and its link to channel morphology in the braided Vjosa River system

In this article we apply the CASCADE network-scale sediment connectivity model to the Vjosa River in Albania. The Vjosa is one of the last unimpaired braided rivers in Europe and, at the same time, a data scarce environment, which limits our ability to model how this pristine river might respond to future human disturbance. To initialize the model, we use remotely sensed data and modeled hydrology from a regional model. We perform a reach-by-reach optimization of surface grain size distribution (GSD) and bedload transport capacity to ensure equilibrium conditions throughout the network. In order to account for the various sources of uncertainty in the calculation of transport capacity, we performed a global sensitivity analysis. The modeled GSD distributions generated by the sensitivity analysis generally match the six GSDs measured at different locations within the network. The modeled bedload sediment fluxes increase systematically downstream, and annual fluxes at the outlet of the Vjosa are well within an order of magnitude of fluxes derived from previous estimates of the annual suspended sediment load. We then use the modeled sediment fluxes as input to a set of theoretically derived functions that successfully discriminate between multi-thread and single-thread channel patterns. This finding provides additional validation of the model results by showing a clear connection between modeled sediment concentrations and observed river morphology. Finally, we observe that a reduction in sediment flux of about 50% (e.g., due to dams) would likely cause existing braided reaches to shift toward single thread morphology. The proposed method is widely applicable and opens a new avenue for application of network-scale sediment models that aid in the exploration of river stability to changes in water and sediment fluxes.     

Estimation of suspended sediment loads and delivery in an incised upland headwater catchment,south‐eastern Australia

Historically upland headwater catchments in south‐eastern Australia have undergone extensive gully erosion that has removed large amounts of sediment to lowlands. Recent research suggests these upland areas may continue to dominate fine sediment loads in lowland rivers. Improved understanding of sediment transfer through upland headwater catchments may have implications for interpreting downstream sediment supply. In this study a nested catchment design was utilized to examine suspended sediment yields and delivery from a small tributary sub‐catchment (1·64 km²) to the study catchment outlet (53·5 km²). Monitoring of suspended sediment concentration and discharge was undertaken for a period of nearly two years and used to estimate suspended sediment loads. Estimated total suspended sediment exports over the period of monitoring were 24·16 t from the sub‐catchment and 550·3 t from the catchment, which are generally less than previous reported small catchment yields in south‐eastern Australia. The extent of sediment delivery was examined using between‐site ratios of specific sediment yield per unit area and incised channel length. Sediment delivery was high under average rainfall conditions, but seasonally dependent. Both suspended sediment yields and the extent of delivery peaked over spring months, supplemented by remobilization of sediment stored during summer months in the main catchment channel. The findings of this study suggest much of the suspended sediment exported from small incised upland sub‐catchments (1–2 km²) may be delivered to downstream reaches under average rainfall conditions, which, in conjunction with the findings of previous research supports the potential importance of contributions from these areas to suspended sediment loads in lowland rivers during high flow periods. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamics of suspended sediment transport and yield in a large agricultural catchment,southwest France

The dynamics of suspended sediment transport were monitored continuously in a large agricultural catchment in southwest France from January 2007 to March 2009. The objective of this paper is to analyse the temporal variability in suspended sediment transport and yield in that catchment. Analyses were also undertaken to assess the relationships between precipitation, discharge and suspended sediment transport, and to interpret sediment delivery processes using suspended sediment‐discharge hysteresis patterns. During the study period, we analysed 17 flood events, with high resolution suspended sediment data derived from continuous turbidity and automatic sampling. The results revealed strong seasonal, annual and inter‐annual variability in suspended sediment transport. Sediment was strongly transported during spring, when frequent flood events of high magnitude and intensity occurred. Annual sediment transport in 2007 yielded 16 614 tonnes, representing 15 t km^?2 (85% of annual load transport during floods for 16% of annual duration), while the 2008 sediment yield was 77 960 tonnes, representing 70 t km^?2 (95% of annual load transport during floods for 20% of annual duration). Analysis of the relationships between precipitation, discharge and suspended sediment transport showed that there were significant correlations between total precipitation, peak discharge, total water yield, flood intensity and sediment variables during the flood events, but no relationship with antecedent conditions. Flood events were classified in relation to suspended sediment concentration (SSC)–discharge hysteretic loops, complemented with temporal dynamics of SSC–discharge ranges during rising and falling flow. The hysteretic shapes obtained for all flood events reflected the distribution of probable sediment sources throughout the catchment. Regarding the sediment transport during all flood events, clockwise hysteretic loops represented 68% from river deposited sediments and nearby source areas, anticlockwise 29% from distant source areas, and simultaneity of SSC and discharge 3%. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A field investigation of the sediment transport characteristics of a high sediment load intermittent river in Taiwan

Most rivers in Taiwan are intermittent rivers with relatively steep slopes and carry rapid sediment‐laden flows during typhoon or monsoon seasons. A series of field experiments was conducted to collect suspended load data at the Tzu‐Chiang Bridge hydrological station of the lower Cho‐Shui River, which is a major river with the highest sediment yield in Taiwan. The river reach was aggrading with a high aspect ratio during the 1980s. Because of sand mining and extreme floods, it was incised and has had a relatively narrow main channel in recent years. The experimental results indicated that typical sediment transport equations can correctly predict the bed material load for low or medium sediment transport rates (e.g. less than about 1000 tons/day‐m). However, these equations far underestimate the bed material load for high sediment transport rates. The effects of cross‐sectional geometry change (i.e. river incision) and earthquakes on the sediment load were investigated in this study. An empirical sediment transport equation with consideration of the aspect ratio was also derived using the field data collected before and after river incision. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transport and deposition of fine sediment in open channels with different aspect ratios

This paper investigates by means of several large eddy simulations how the channel aspect ratio affects the transport and settling of suspended sediments. The numerical method is successfully validated using data of a physical experiment of fine sediment net deposition in an open channel flow. The channel aspect ratio, A, is known to be the determining factor for the development, strength and distribution of the turbulence‐driven secondary flow, and it is demonstrated that A influences the primary flow, turbulence quantities and the transport and fate of fine sediments. The secondary flow locally supports or hinders the falling of fine sediment particles in a turbulent flow, which results in a non‐uniform deposition of fine sediments over the cross‐section. While the channel aspect ratio has a large influence on the distribution of suspended sediments within the cross‐section, its effect on the cross‐sectional averaged deposition is negligibly small. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sources and sediment yield from a rural catchment in humid temperate environment,northwest Spain

A study was carried out on a rural catchment located in northwest Spain to examine the sediment yield from the catchment by measuring suspended sediments during rainfall events. Within the catchment regular surveys were conducted to obtain data on the suspended sediment sources. Important variations in sediment load were detected at event scale (0·3–21·0 Mg); some of these can be explained in terms of event size, antecedent conditions, rainfall distribution and soil surface erosion. To study the variables controlling suspended sediment yield during the events in the catchment, several event and pre‐event variables were calculated for all events. The sediment load is strongly influenced by discharge variables. During the events discharge–suspended sediments were also analysed. When the soil surface was unprotected, the formation of rills and ephemeral gullies on agricultural land at the catchment head was an important source of suspended sediments in the catchment. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sediment transport in a highly regulated fluvial system during two consecutive floods (lower Ebro River,NE Iberian Peninsula)

The transfer of sediment through a highly regulated large fluvial system (lower Ebro River) was analysed during two consecutive floods by means of sediment sampling. Suspended sediment and bedload transport were measured upstream and downstream of large reservoirs. The dams substantially altered flood timing, particularly the peaks, which were advanced downstream from the dams for flood control purposes. The suspended sediment yield upstream from the dams was 1 700 000 tonnes, which represented nearly 99 per cent of the total solid yield. The mean concentrations were close to 0·5 g l^?1. The sediment yield downstream from the dams was an order of magnitude lower (173 000 tonnes), showing a mean concentration of 0·05 g l^?1. The dams captured up to 95 per cent of the fine sediment carried in suspension in the river channel, preventing it from reaching the lowermost reaches of the river and the delta plain. Total bedload transport upstream from the dams was estimated to be about 25 000 tonnes, only 1·5 per cent of the total load. The median bedload rate was 100 gms^?1. Below the dams, the river carried 178 000 tonnes, around 51 per cent of the total load, at a mean rate of 250 g ms^?1. The results of sediment transport upstream and downstream from the large dams illustrate the magnitude of the sediment deficit in the lower Ebro River. The river mobilized a total of 350 000 tonnes in the downstream reaches, which were not replaced by sediment from upstream. Therefore, sediment was necessarily entrained from the riverbed and channel banks, causing a mean incision of 33 mm over the 27 km long study reach, altogether a significant step towards the long‐term degradation of the lower Ebro River. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Suspended sediment in the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers in Bangladesh: observation from TM and AVHRR data

Remote sensing was used to understand the seasonal and spatial variation of suspended sediment in the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers in Bangladesh for two different discharge periods. Suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in these rivers was estimated from the reflectance of Landsat TM band 3. During the high discharge period, SSC in the Ganges is higher than that in the Brahmaputra. But in the low discharge period, this is reversed. Both erosional and depositional processes are active on their flood plains. Significant fluctuations in SSC and in suspended sediment load were observed along their courses because of river bank erosion and deposition and/or scouring and aggradation of river beds. Owing to scouring and turbulence, SSC increases markedly at the confluence of these rivers. Reflectance of AVHRR band 1 data was also analysed to study the distribution of suspended sediment along other reaches of these rivers. Like SSC, reflectance at the confluence zone increases compared with that in the Brahmaputra. However, this increase is not marked compared with the Ganges. The influence of their tributaries on the suspended sediment load could be inferred from the pattern of reflectance. Remote sensing data used in this study was corrected for atmospheric effects. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sediment dispersal from a typical Mediterranean flood: The Têt River,Gulf of Lions

This paper describes an integrated study of a typical Mediterranean flood event in the Gulf of Lions. A flood with a 5-year return interval occurred in the Têt River basin and adjacent inner-shelf in the Gulf of Lions, northwest Mediterranean, during April 2004. Data were collected during this flood as part of event-response investigations of the EU-funded Eurostrataform (European Margin Strata Formation) project. Southeasterly storm winds led to a flood which directly modified the inner-shelf hydrodynamics. Sediment delivery to the coastal zone during this flood represented more than half of the mean annual discharge of the Têt River to the Gulf of Lions. This river transported a large amount of sand in suspension, representing 25% of the total suspended load, and as bedload representing 8% of the total load, during this event. Sand introduced in the nearshore was transported northwards during the peak storm and nourished a small delta. Fine sediments were separated from coarse sediments at the river mouth, and were advected southwards and seawards by the counter-clockwise general circulation. Fine-grained sediments were transported via a hypopycnal plume along the coast towards the southern tip of the Gulf of Lions and the Cap Creus canyon. The along-shore currents, which intensified from north to south of the Gulf of Lions, particularly between the Cap Creus promontory and the Cap Creus canyon, favoured the transfer of fine-grained sediments from the continental shelf of the Gulf of Lions towards the continental slope. Our results show that floods with a few-year return interval in small coastal rivers can play a significant role in the transport of sediments on microtidal continental margins and their export from the shelf through canyons.