Post‐wildfire changes in suspended sediment rating curves: Sabino Canyon,Arizona

Wildfire has been shown to increase erosion by several orders of magnitude, but knowledge regarding short‐term variations in post‐fire sediment transport processes has been lacking. We present a detailed analysis of the immediate post‐fire sediment dynamics in a semi‐arid basin in the southwestern USA based on suspended sediment rating curves. During June and July 2003, the Aspen Fire in the Coronado National Forest of southern Arizona burned an area of 343 km². Surface water samples were collected in an affected watershed using an event‐based sampling strategy. Sediment rating parameters were determined for individual storm events during the first 18 months after the fire. The highest sediment concentrations were observed immediately after the fire. Through the two subsequent monsoon seasons there was a progressive change in rating parameters related to the preferential removal of fine to coarse sediment. During the corresponding winter seasons, there was a lower supply of sediment from the hillslopes, resulting in a time‐invariant set of sediment rating parameters. A sediment mass‐balance model corroborated the physical interpretations. The temporal variability in the sediment rating parameters demonstrates the importance of storm‐based sampling in areas with intense monsoon activity to characterize post‐fire sediment transport accurately. In particular, recovery of rating parameters depends on the number of high‐intensity rainstorms. These findings can be used to constrain rapid assessment fire‐response models for planning mitigation activities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

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.     

Migration of channel heads following wildfire in the Colorado Front Range,USA

The High Park Fire burned ~35 300 ha of the Colorado Front Range during June and July 2012. In the areas of most severe burn, all trees were killed and the litter and duff layers of soil were completely removed. Post‐fire erosion caused channel heads to develop well upslope from pre‐fire locations. The locations of 50 channel heads in two burned catchments were documented and the range of drainage areas contributing to these channel heads to drainage areas of unburned channel heads in the region measured previously were compared. Mean drainage area above channel heads in the burned zone decreased by more than two‐orders of magnitude relative to unburned sites. Drainage area above channel heads between the two burned catchments does not differ significantly with respect to slope, likely as a result of differences in surface roughness between the two sites following the fire. Copyright © 2013 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.     

Water‐quality response to a high‐elevation wildfire in the Colorado Front Range

Water quality of the Big Thompson River in the Front Range of Colorado was studied for 2 years following a high‐elevation wildfire that started in October 2012 and burned 15% of the watershed. A combination of fixed‐interval sampling and continuous water‐quality monitors was used to examine the timing and magnitude of water‐quality changes caused by the wildfire. Prefire water quality was well characterized because the site has been monitored at least monthly since the early 2000s. Major ions and nitrate showed the largest changes in concentrations; major ion increases were greatest in the first postfire snowmelt period, but nitrate increases were greatest in the second snowmelt period. The delay in nitrate release until the second snowmelt season likely reflected a combination of factors including fire timing, hydrologic regime, and rates of nitrogen transformations. Despite the small size of the fire, annual yields of dissolved constituents from the watershed increased 20–52% in the first 2 years following the fire. Turbidity data from the continuous sensor indicated high‐intensity summer rain storms had a much greater effect on sediment transport compared to snowmelt. High‐frequency sensor data also revealed that weekly sampling missed the concentration peak during snowmelt and short‐duration spikes during rain events, underscoring the challenge of characterizing postfire water‐quality response with fixed‐interval sampling. Copyright © 2015 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.     

Turbidity and suspended sediment dynamics in small catchments in the Nepal Middle Hills

The Himalayan environment has, until recently, been perceived to be in a critical state of environmental decline, resulting from rapid population growth and associated land‐use change. Recent research, however, has emphasized the difficulty of developing an objective appraisal of the state of the environment in a region where empirical data are scarce and unstructured and where an understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of natural environmental processes remains highly uncertain. This paper presents results from an intensive three‐year project designed to help address the regional empirical deficit, establish detailed baseline environmental data and to gain an insight into storm period and seasonal suspended sediment dynamics. The instrumentation, calibration and analysis of high‐frequency infrared turbidimetric records from a number of small subcatchments in the Nepal Middle Hills are reported. Storm period and seasonal variation in turbidity and suspended sediment are examined and hysteresis patterns explored and explained. A variety of methods to estimate seasonal suspended sediment yield in a mixed land‐use catchment are examined, and found to vary by up to a factor of five. Despite the inherent uncertainty, all estimates of catchment sediment yield are found to be high with respect to erosion plot studies from the local area, and this suggests the importance of riparian and channel erosion as major sediment sources, a finding consistent with other regional studies. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A semi-physical sediment yield model for estimation of suspended sediment in loess region

Sediment yield is a complex function of many environmental factors including climate,hydrology,vegetation,basin topography,soil types,and land cover.We present a new semi-physical watershed sediment yield model for the estimation of suspended sediment in loess region.This model is composed by three modules in slope,gully,and stream phases.For slope sediment yield,a balance equation is established based on the concept of hydraulic erosion capacity and soil erosion resistance capacity.According to the statistical analysis of watershed characteristics,we use an exponential curve to approximately describe the spatial variability of watershed soil erosion resistance capacity.In gully phase,the relationship between gully sediment concentration and flow velocity is established based on the Bagnold'stream power function.In the stream phase,we assume a linear dependence of the sediment volume in the reach on the weighted sediment input and output.The proposed sediment yield model is operated in conjunction with a conceptual hydrologic model,and is tested over 16 regions including testing grounds,and small,medium and large watersheds in the loess plateau region in the mid-reach of Yellow River.Our results indicate that the model is reasonable in structure and is able to provide a good simulation of sediment generation and transportation processes at both flood event scale and inter-annual time scale.The proposed model is generally applicable to the watersheds with soil texture similar to that of the loess plateau region in the Yellow River basin in China.     

A new approach for linking event‐based upland sediment sources to downstream suspended sediment transport

In this study, we proposed a new approach for linking event sediment sources to downstream sediment transport in a watershed in central New York. This approach is based on a new concept of spatial scale, sub‐watershed area (SWA), defined as a sub‐watershed within which all eroded soils are transported out without deposition during a hydrological event. Using (rainfall) event data collected between July and November, 2007 from several SWAs of the studied watershed, we developed an empirical equation that has one independent variable, mean SWA slope. This equation was then used to determine event‐averaged unit soil erosion rate, Q_S/A, (in kg/km²/hr) for all SWAs in the studied watershed and calculate event‐averaged gross erosion E_ea (in kg/hr). The event gross erosion E_t (in kilograms) was subsequently computed as the product of E_ea and the mean event duration, T (in hours) determined using event hydrographs at the outlet of the studied watershed. Next, we developed two linear sediment rating curves (SRCs) for small and big events based on the event data obtained at the watershed outlet. These SRCs, together with T, allowed us to determine event sediment yield SY_e (in kilograms) for all events during the study period. By comparing E_t with SY_e, developing empirical equations (i) between E_t and SY_e and (ii) for event sediment delivery ratio, respectively, we revealed the event dynamic processes connecting sediment sources and downstream sediment transport. During small events, sediment transport in streams was at capacity and dominated by the deposition process, whereas during big events, it was below capacity and controlled by the erosion process. The key of applying this approach to other watersheds is establishing their empirical equations for Q_S/A and appropriately determining their numbers of SWAs. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combining suspended sediment monitoring and fingerprinting to determine the spatial origin of fine sediment in a mountainous river catchment

An excess of fine sediment (grain size <2 mm) supply to rivers leads to reservoir siltation, water contamination and operational problems for hydroelectric power plants in many catchments of the world, such as in the French Alps. These problems are exacerbated in mountainous environments characterized by large sediment exports during very short periods. This study combined river flow records, sediment geochemistry and associated radionuclide concentrations as input properties to a Monte Carlo mixing model to quantify the contribution of different geologic sources to river sediment. Overall, between 2007 and 2009, erosion rates reached 249 ± 75 t km^?2 yr^?1 at the outlet of the Bléone catchment, but this mean value masked important spatial variations of erosion intensity within the catchment (85–5000 t km^?2 yr^?1). Quantifying the contribution of different potential sources to river sediment required the application of sediment fingerprinting using a Monte Carlo mixing model. This model allowed the specific contributions of different geological sub‐types (i.e. black marls, marly limestones, conglomerates and Quaternary deposits) to be determined. Even though they generate locally very high erosion rates, black marls supplied only a minor fraction (5–20%) of the fine sediment collected on the riverbed in the vicinity of the 907 km² catchment outlet. The bulk of sediment was provided by Quaternary deposits (21–66%), conglomerates (3–44%) and limestones (9–27%). Even though bioengineering works conducted currently to stabilize gullies in black marl terrains are undoubtedly useful to limit sediment supply to the Bléone river, erosion generated by other substrate sources dominated between 2007 and 2009 in this catchment. Copyright © 2011 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.     

Factors affecting connectivity and sediment yields following wildfire and post-fire salvage logging in California's Sierra Nevada

Sediment delivery following post-fire logging is a concern relative to water quality. While studies have assessed the effect of post-fire logging on sediment yields at different spatial scales, none have explicitly identified sediment sources. Our goal was to quantify post-fire and post-salvage logging sediment yields and use rill patterns to identify sediment sources. We measured the extent and type of logging disturbance, length of rills per unit area or “rill density”, ground cover, and sediment yields in nine logged and five control small catchments or “swales”, 0.09 to 0.81 ha, for 5 years after the 2013 Rim Fire in California's Sierra Nevada. The logged swales had a mean ground disturbance of 31%. After the first wet season following logging, there was no difference in either mean rill density (0.071 and 0.088 m m⁻², respectively) or mean transformed, normalized sediment yields between the control and logged swales. Untransformed mean sediment yields across three sites ranged from 0.11–11.8 and 1.1–3.2 Mg ha⁻¹ for the controls and salvage-logged swales, respectively. Rill density was strongly related to sediment yield and increased significantly with the amount of high-traffic skid trail disturbance in logged swales. Rill density was not significantly related to the amount of bare soil despite a significant relationship between sediment yields and bare soil. Rills usually initiated in bare soil and frequently connected high traffic skid trails to the drainage network after being diverted by waterbars. Rill connectivity and sediment yields decreased in control and logged swales where vegetation or other surface cover was high, suggesting this cover disconnected rills from the drainage network. Increasing ground cover on skid trails and between areas disturbed by post-fire logging and stream channels may reduce sediment yields as well as the hydrologic connectivity between hillslopes and the drainage network.     

Initial hydrologic and geomorphic response following a wildfire in the Colorado Front Range

A wildfire in May 1996 burned 4690 hectares in two watersheds forested by ponderosa pine and Douglas fir in a steep, mountainous landscape with a summer, convective thunderstorm precipitation regime. The wildfire lowered the erosion threshold in the watersheds, and consequently amplified the subsequent erosional response to shorter time interval episodic rainfall and created both erosional and depositional features in a complex pattern throughout the watersheds. The initial response during the first four years was an increase in runoff and erosion rates followed by decreases toward pre‐fire rates. The maximum unit‐area peak discharge was 24 m³ s^?1 km^?2 for a rainstorm in 1996 with a rain intensity of 90 mm h^?1. Recovery to pre‐fire conditions seems to have occurred by 2000 because for a maximum 30‐min rainfall intensity of 50 mm h^?1, the unit‐area peak discharge in 1997 was 6.6 m³ s^?1 km^?2, while in 2000 a similar intensity produced only 0.11 m³ s^?1 km^?2. Rill erosion accounted for 6 per cent, interrill erosion for 14 per cent, and drainage erosion for 80 per cent of the initial erosion in 1996. This represents about a 200‐fold increase in erosion rates on hillslopes which had a recovery or relaxation time of about three years. About 67 per cent of the initially eroded sediment is still stored in the watersheds after four years with an estimated residence time greater than 300 years. This residence time is much greater than the fire recurrence interval so erosional and depositional features may become legacies from the wildfire and may affect landscape evolution by acting as a new set of initial conditions for subsequent wildfire and flood sequences. Published in 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of suspended sediment in Meltwater from Glaciers of Garhwal Himalaya

Glacierised basins are significant sources of sediments generated by glacial retreat. Estimation of suspended sediment transfer from glacierised basins is very important in reservoir planning for hydropower projects in Himalaya. The present study indicates that storage and release of sediment in proglacial streams may categorise the pattern of suspended sediment transfer from these basins. Assessment of suspended sediment concentration (SSC), suspended sediment load (SSL) and yield has been undertaken for Dunagiri Glacier basin located in Garhwal Himalaya (30^o33'20”N, 79^o53'36”E), and its results are compared with the Gangotri and Dokriani glaciers sharing close proximity. Out of the total drainage basin area, about 14.3 % of the area is glacierised. Data were collected for five ablation seasons (1984–1989, barring 1986). The mean daily SSCs for July, August and September were 333.9, 286.0 and 147.15 mg/l, respectively, indicating highest concentration of mean daily suspended sediment in July followed by August. SSL trends were estimated to be 93.0, 57.0 and 21.3 tonnes. About 59% of the total SSL of the melt period was transported during the months of August and September. Sediment yield for the study basin was computed to be 296.3 t km^?2 yr ^?1. It is observed that the cumulative proportion of SSC precedes the discharge throughout the melt season except in the year 1987. Release of SSL in terms of total load is less in the early part of melt season than in the later stage as compared to that of discharge. Diurnal variations in SSC reach their maximum at 2400 h, and therefore, SSC was found to be high during night (2000–0400 h). There was a good relationship between SSC and SSL with discharge for the ablation seasons (1988 and 1989). Mean monthly SSC and mean monthly SSL provide a good exponentional relationship with mean monthly temperature. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Basal sediment evacuation by subglacial meltwater: suspended sediment transport from Haut Glacier d'Arolla,Switzerland

Proglacial suspended sediment transport was monitored at Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland, during the 1998 melt season to investigate the mechanisms of basal sediment evacuation by subglacial meltwater. Sub‐seasonal changes in relationships between suspended sediment transport and discharge demonstrate that the structure and hydraulics of the subglacial drainage system critically influenced how basal sediment was accessed and entrained. Under hydraulically inefficient subglacial drainage at the start of the melt season, sediment availability was generally high but sediment transport increased relatively slowly with discharge. Later in the melt season, sediment transport increased more rapidly with discharge as subglacial meltwater became confined to a spatially limited network of channels following removal of the seasonal snowpack from the ablation area. Flow capacity is inferred to have increased more rapidly with discharge within subglacial channels because rapid changes in discharge during highly peaked diurnal runoff cycles are likely to have been accommodated largely by changes in flow velocity. Basal sediment availability declined during channelization but increased throughout the remainder of the monitored period, resulting in very efficient basal sediment evacuation over the peak of the melt season. Increased basal sediment availability during the summer appears to have been linked to high diurnal water pressure variation within subglacial channels inferred from the strong increase in flow velocity with discharge. Basal sediment availability therefore appears likely to have been increased by (1) enhanced local ice‐bed separation leading to extra‐channel flow excursions and[sol ]or (2) the deformation of basal sediment towards low‐pressure channels due to a strong diurnally reversing hydraulic gradient between channels and areas of hydraulically less‐efficient drainage. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Real-time prediction of the peak suspended sediment concentration and sediment yield of the Lao-Nung River during storms

Based on rainfall erosion of soil and suspended sediment transport in storm events, a method is proposed to predict peak suspended sediment concentration and suspended sediment yield in watersheds based on rainfall characteristics prior to peak rainfall intensity. The rainfall characteristics factors that dominate peak suspended sediment concentration C_p are rainfall erosion factor R_ef, first peak rainfall intensity of area-average rainfall i_p1 and antecedent precipitation index I_ap; the rainfall characteristics factors that dominate suspended sediment yield Y_ss in storm events are total rainfall P, suspended sediment yield factor R_sf and antecedent precipitation index I_ap. This research focuses on watersheds in Liau-Kwei observation station along Lao-Nung River in southern Taiwan as the research object, and adopts the PSED-model to simulate the discharge hydrograph, suspended sediment concentration hydrograph and suspended sediment yield in 11 storm events for analysis. The analytical results show that there is a good correlation between the above-mentioned rainfall characteristics factors and C_p as well as Y_ss, thus enabling C_p and Y_ss to be predicted by using Expressions (13) and (14). These two expressions are utilized to predict C_p and Y_ss of Typhoon Morakot in 2009, and the results are compared with those from simulation by using the PSED-model. The result of comparison shows there is a good capability in predicting. For the watersheds where it is necessary to predict C_p and Y_ss of a storm event for the benefit of effective operation of water resource facilities, the aforesaid rainfall characteristics factors can be utilized to establish applicable models for prediction.     

Modelling mean annual sediment yield using a distributed approach

In this paper a spatially distributed model for the calculation of sediment delivery to river channels is presented (SEDEM: SEdiment DElivery Model). The model consists of two components: (1) the calculation of a spatial pattern of mean annual soil erosion rates in the catchment using a RUSLE (Revised Soil Erosion Equation) approach; and (2) the routing of the eroded sediment to the river channel network taking into account the transport capacity of each spatial unit. If the amount of routed sediment exceeds the local transport capacity, sediment deposition occurs. An existing dataset on sediment yield for 24 catchments in central Belgium was used to calibrate the transport capacity parameters of the model. A validation of the model results shows that the sediment yield for small and medium sized catchments (10–5000 ha) can be predicted with an average accuracy of 41 per cent. The predicted sediment yield values with SEDEM are significantly more accurate than the predictions using a lumped regression model. Moreover a spatially distributed approach allows simulation of the effect of different land use scenarios and soil conservation techniques. Copyright © 2001 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.     

Fluvial suspended sediment transfer and lacustrine sedimentation of recent flood turbidites in proglacial Eklutna Lake,western Chugach Mountains,Alaska

Suspended sediment delivery and deposition in proglacial lakes is generally sensitive to a wide range of hydrometeorologic and geomorphic controls. High discharge conditions are of particular importance in many glaciolacustrine records, with individual floods potentially recorded as distinctive turbidites. We used an extensive network of surface sediment cores and hydroclimatic monitoring data to analyse recent flood turbidites and associated sediment transfer controls over instrumental periods at Eklutna Lake, western Chugach Mountains, Alaska. Close to a decade of fluvial data from primary catchment tributaries show a dominating influence of discharge on sediment delivery, with various interconnections with other related hydroclimatic controls. Multivariate fluvial models highlight and help quantify some complexities in sediment transfer, including intra-annual variations, meteorological controls, and the influence of subcatchment glacierization. Sediments deposited in Eklutna Lake during the last half century are discontinuously varved and contain multiple distinctive turbidites. Over a 30-year period of stratigraphic calibration, we correlate the four thickest flood turbidites (1989, 1995, 2006, and 2012) to specific regional storms. The studied turbidites correlate with late-summer and early-autumn rainstorms with a magnitude of relatively instantaneous sedimentation 3–15 times greater than annual background accumulation. Our network of sediment core data captured the broad extent and sediment variability among the study turbidites and background sediment yield. Within-lake spatial modelling of deposition quantifies variable rates of downlake thinning and sediment focusing effects, and highlights especially large differences between the thickest flood turbidites and background sedimentation. This we primarily relate to strongly contrasting dispersion processes controlled by inflow current strength and turbidity. Sediment delivery is of interest for this catchment because of reservoir and water supply operations. Furthermore, although smaller floods may not be consistently represented, the lake likely contains a valuable proxy record of regional flooding proximal to major population centers of south-central Alaska including Anchorage.