Combining suspended sediment monitoring and fingerprinting to determine the spatial origin of fine sediment in a mountainous river catchment
- Evrard, O.
- Navratil, O.
- Ayrault, S.
- Ahmadi, M.
- Némery, J.
- Legout, C.
- Lefèvre, I.
- Poirel, A.
- Bonte, P.
- Esteves, M.
DOIAbstract
International audienceAn 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 maske...
Add to ORKG