Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
(c)
(i)
(ii)
600
2
400
1
200
0
0
0
0.25
0.5
0.75
1.0
1.25
0
0.25
0.5
0.75
1.0
1.25
Elapsed time (days)
Elapsed time (days)
(iii)
1000
500
0
0
0.25
0.5
0.75
1.0
1.25
Elapsed time (days)
Case Fig. 6.2
(c) Discharge, suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) and suspended sediment load (SSL) for an urbanized
portion of the Bradford Beck, Aire-Calder catchment, eastern England. Note the high levels of SSC and SSL associated with this
single high-flow event. (Modified from Goodwin et al. 2003.)
period of 15 minutes, water discharge increased from 0.45 to 34.6 m
3
s
−1
. During the same
period suspended sediment concentrations reached a peak of 1360 mg L
−1
. At the peak of this
sediment discharge event the sediment flux reached 47 kg s
−1
. Old et al. (2003) concluded that
although the Bradford catchment represents only 3% of the catchment area of the River Aire,
it can at times be a major contributor of fine sediment. Given the high contamination of such
fine sediments, storm events are likely to have major impacts upon river quality downstream
of urban areas.
Relevant reading
Carter, J., Owens, P.N., Walling, D.E., et al. (2003) Fingerprinting suspended sediment sources in a large urban
river system.
The Science of the Total Environment
314 -316
, 513 -34.
Goodwin, T.H., Young, A.R., Holmes, M.G.R., et al. (2003) The temporal and spatial variability of sediment
transport and yields within the Bradford Beck catchment, West Yorkshire.
The Science of the Total Envir-
onment
314 -316
, 475 - 94.
Old, G.H., Leeks, G.J.L., Packman, J.C., et al. (2003) The impact of a convectional summer rainfall event on
river flow and fine sediment transport in a highly urbanised catchment: Bradford, West Yorkshire.
The Science
of the Total Environment
314 -316
, 495 -512.
