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.     

Separation of phytoplanktonic pigments by HPLC for the study of phyto-zooplankton trophic relationships

Phyto-zooplankton trophic relationships were studied using phytoplanktonic pigments (chlorophylls and carotenoids) as organic natural markers. Pigments were separated by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC).Comparison of pigment profiles from monospecific cultures of various taxonomic groups (Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and Cyanobacteria) and from Cladocera crustaceans (Daphnia magna) fed with these cultures, showed that the characteristic pigment associations of the different taxa are conserved during their transfer from primary producers to secondary consumers.Chromatographic profiles of the Bacillariophyceae and Chlorophyceae type were obtained fromDaphnia respectively fed with mixtures of a Chlorophyceae and a diatom species and mixture of a Chlorophyceae and a Cyanobacterium. This showed the importance of this method in demonstrating a possible selective feeding by the herbivorous zooplankton.The observation of pigment profiles of the Dinophyceae type following feeding of a zooplankton assemblage from Lake Pavin within this natural medium (phytoplankton dominated by a Dinophyceae) and of a Chlorophyceae type profile as the same assemblage was fed in the laboratory on phytoplankton from Lake Villerest (composed of about 80% Cyanobacteria and 20% Chlorophyceae), suggested that this method could be applied to the natural environment.