The spatio-temporal invariability of sediment concentration and the flow–sediment relationship for hilly areas of the Chinese Loess Plateau

Auteur(s) et Affiliation(s)

ZHENG, M.

Key Lab. of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Inst. of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, Chine

QIN, F.

College of Environment and Planning, Henan Univ., Kaifeng, Chine

YANG, J.

Yellow River Inst. of Hydraulic Research, YRCC, Zhengzhou, Chine

CAI, Q.

Key Lab. of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Inst. of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, Chine

Description :
Ten experimental sites of entire slope and sub-watershed and 580 flood events at 3 locations in the hilly areas of the Chinese Loess Plateau are involved in this study. The analysis at the intra-event time scale shows that the instantaneous sediment concentrations in runoff can generally approach the detach-limited maximum sediment concentration since the active massing wasting ensures an abundant sediment supply. Consequently, the event mean sediment concentration does not only remain fairly constant among flow events but also among the experimental sites despite the possible differences in topography, soil management or land cover, water source, soil surface properties, etc. This observation also holds at the annual time scale. The result implies that a single proportional function is adequate to fit the flow–sediment relationship for any entire slope or sub-watershed, where eroded sediments are primarily sourced, over a considerable areal extent unless soil property has changed or check dams are installed.

Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Catena (Giessen), issn : 0341-8162, 2013, vol. 109, p. 164-176, nombre de pages : 13, Références bibliographiques : 1 p.

Date :
2013

Editeur :
Pays édition : Allemagne, Cremlingen-Destedt, Catena

Langue :
Anglais