Sediment Trap (sediment + trap)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Characteristics and rehabilitation of the spawning habitats of the sea trout, Salmo trutta, in Gotland (Sweden)

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2004
J.-F. Rubin
Abstract Characteristics of the natural spawning habitat of sea trout, Salmo trutta L., were studied in Själsöån, a small stream of Gotland, Sweden, from 1992 to 1999. Each year, trout spawned on 17 ± 7 different areas (156 places ha,1). Most of the spawning grounds were used every year. Overcutting was evident for at least 60% of the spawning grounds. Fish spawned on a gravel of 19 ± 7 mm in diameter. From 1978 to 1992, 242 artificial spawning grounds were constructed by the Gotland Sport Fishermen Association in four Gotland streams. A sediment trap was dug upstream to the spawning grounds. The artificial spawning ground comprised of a downstream V-shape stream deflector of large stones with a log weir at the narrowest point of the deflector. Upstream of the dam, 15,60 mm diameter gravel was deposited to constitute the spawning ground substratum. To keep the installation efficient, maintenance is needed every year before the spawning season. [source]


Geoarchaeological study of the Phoenician cemetery of Tyre-Al Bass (Lebanon) and geomorphological evolution of a tombolo

GEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2008
Pilar Carmona
The geoarchaeological record of the Phoenician necropolis of Al Bass (Lebanon) provides information concerning the geomorphological evolution of a late Holocene tombolo. Physical and chemical analysis of sediments indicates that the cemetery (9th century B.C.) was located near a littoral lagoon, between the dunes of a cuspate spit pointing toward the island of Tyre. From the sea apex of this spit, the moles mentioned in historical chronicles were constructed. Once mainland and island were connected, at the northern coast (where the port of Sidon was located), a sediment trap was formed, which quickly filled with silt. Afterwards, an extensive field of sand dunes buried all the archaeological remains from Phoenician to Roman times. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Runoff and suspended sediment yields from an unpaved road segment, St John, US Virgin Islands

HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 1 2007
Carlos E. Ramos-Scharrón
Abstract Unpaved roads are believed to be the primary source of terrigenous sediments being delivered to marine ecosystems around the island of St John in the eastern Caribbean. The objectives of this study were to: (1) measure runoff and suspended sediment yields from a road segment; (2) develop and test two event-based runoff and sediment prediction models; and (3) compare the predicted sediment yields against measured values from an empirical road erosion model and from a sediment trap. The runoff models use the Green,Ampt infiltration equation to predict excess precipitation and then use either an empirically derived unit hydrograph or a kinematic wave to generate runoff hydrographs. Precipitation, runoff, and suspended sediment data were collected from a 230 m long, mostly unpaved road segment over an 8-month period. Only 3,5 mm of rainfall was sufficient to initiate runoff from the road surface. Both models simulated similar hydrographs. Model performance was poor for storms with less than 1 cm of rainfall, but improved for larger events. The largest source of error was the inability to predict initial infiltration rates. The two runoff models were coupled with empirical sediment rating curves, and the predicted sediment yields were approximately 0·11 kg per square meter of road surface per centimetre of precipitation. The sediment trap data indicated a road erosion rate of 0·27 kg m,2 cm,1. The difference in sediment production between these two methods can be attributed to the fact that the suspended sediment samples were predominantly sand and silt, whereas the sediment trap yielded mostly sand and gravel. The combination of these data sets yields a road surface erosion rate of 0·31 kg m,2 cm,1, or approximately 36 kg m,2 year,1. This is four orders of magnitude higher than the measured erosion rate from undisturbed hillslopes. The results confirm the importance of unpaved roads in altering runoff and erosion rates in a tropical setting, provide insights into the controlling processes, and provide guidance for predicting runoff and sediment yields at the road-segment scale. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Tectono-sedimentary processes along an active marine/lacustrine half-graben margin: Alkyonides Gulf, E. Gulf of Corinth, Greece

BASIN RESEARCH, Issue 1 2002
M. R. Leeder
ABSTRACT The Alkyonides half-graben is separated from the Gerania Range to the south by active faults whose offshore traces are mapped in detail. The East Alkyonides and Psatha Faults have well-defined, Holocene-active tip zones and cannot be extrapolated from the onshore Skinos Fault into a single continuous surface trace. During the late Quaternary, catchments draining the step-faulted range front have supplied sediment to alluvial fans along a subsiding marine ramp margin in the hangingwall of the Skinos Fault, to shelf ledge fans on the uplifting footwall to the East Alkyonides Fault and to the Alepochori submarine fan in the hangingwall of the latter. During late Pleistocene lowstand times (c. 70,12 ka), sediment was deposited in Lake Corinth as fan deltas on the subsiding Skinos shelf ramp which acted as a sediment trap for the adjacent 360 m deep submarine basin plain. At the same time, the uplifting eastern shelf ledge was exposed, eroded and bypassed in favour of deposition on the Alepochori submarine fan. During Holocene times, the Skinos bajada was first the site of stability and soil formation, and then of substantial deposition before modern marine erosion cut a prominent cliffline. The uplifting eastern shelf ledge has developed substantial Holocene fan lobe depositional sequences as sediment-laden underflows have traversed it via outlet channels. We estimate mean Holocene displacement rates towards the tip of the Psatha Fault in the range 0.7,0.8 mm year,1. Raised Holocene coastal notches indicate that this may be further partitioned into about 0.2 mm year,1 of footwall uplift and hence 0.5,0.6 mm year,1 of hangingwall subsidence. Holocene displacement rates towards the tip of the active East Alkyonides Fault are in the range 0.2,0.3 mm year,1. Any uplift of the West Alkyonides Fault footwall is not keeping pace with subsidence of the Skinos Fault hangingwall, as revealed by lowstand shelf fan deltas which show internal clinoforms indicative of aggradational deposition in response to relative base-level rise due to active hangingwall subsidence along the Skinos Fault. Total subsidence here during the last 58 kyr lowstand interval of Lake Corinth was some 20 m, indicating a reduced net displacement rate compared to estimates of late Holocene (< 2000 bp) activity from onshore palaeoseismology. This discrepancy may be due to the competition between uplift on the West Alkyonides Fault and subsidence on the onshore Skinos Fault, or may reflect unsteady rates of Skinos Fault displacement over tens of thousands of years. [source]


A sediment budget for a cultivated floodplain in tropical North Queensland, Australia

EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 10 2007
Fleur Visser
Abstract Sugarcane is grown on the floodplains of northern Queensland adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Sediment and nutrient loss from these sugarcane areas is considered a potential threat to coastal and marine ecosystems. To enable sugarcane cultivation, farmers have structured the landscape into different elements, comprising fields, water furrows, ,headlands' and drains. In order to apply appropriate management of the landscape and reduce export of sediment, it is important to identify which of these elements act as sediment sources or sinks. In this study erosion and deposition rates were measured for the different landscape elements in a subcatchment of the Herbert River and used to create a sediment budget. Despite large uncertainties, the budget shows that the floodplain area is a net source of sediment. Estimated sediment export varies between 2 and 5 t ha,1 y,1. The relative importance of the landscape elements as sediment sources could also be determined. Plant cane is identified as the most important sediment source. Water furrows generate most sediment, but are a less important source of exported sediment due to their low connectivity. Headlands and minor drains act as sediment traps. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Wave and sediment dynamics along a shallow subtidal sandy beach inhabited by modern stromatolites

GEOBIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008
J. E. ECKMAN
ABSTRACT To help define the habitat of modern marine stromatolites, wave-dominated flow and sediment transport were studied in the shallow subtidal region (1,2 m depth) along the slightly concave, windward face of Highborne Cay, Exuma, Bahamas , the only face of the cay that includes a population of stromatolites concentrated near the region of highest curvature of the beach. Wave energy impacting this island's most exposed beach was driven by local wind forcing which increases largely in response to the passage of atmospheric disturbances that typically affect the region for periods of a few days. Although some wave energy is almost always noted (maximum horizontal orbital speeds at the bottom are rarely <10 cm s,1), wave conditions remain comparatively calm until local winds increase above speeds of ,3,4 m s,1 at which point maximum wave speeds rapidly increase to 50,80 cm s,1. Stromatolites, which are largely restricted to the shoreward side of a shallow platform reef, are sheltered by the reef beyond which wave speeds are one to four times higher (depending on tidal stage). Moreover, stromatolite populations are predominantly found along a region of this wave-exposed beach that experiences comparatively reduced wave energy because of the curved morphology of the island's face. Maximum wave speeds are 1.4 to 2 times higher along more northern sections of the beach just beyond the locus of stromatolite populations. A quantitative model of sediment transport was developed that accurately predicted accumulation of suspended sediment in sediment traps deployed in the shallow subtidal zone along this beach. This model, coupled with in situ wave records, indicates that gross rates of suspended sediment deposition should be two to three times higher northward of the main stromatolite populations. Regions of the beach containing stromatolites nevertheless should experience significant rates of gross suspended sediment deposition averaging 7,10 g cm,2 day,1 (,4,6 cm day,1). Results suggest that one axis of the habitat of modern marine stromatolites may be defined by a comparatively narrow range of flow energy and sediment transport conditions. [source]


The geomorphological impact of Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial plateau icefields in the central Lake District, northwest England

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 6 2001
Derek A. McDougall
Abstract Detailed geomorphological mapping has revealed evidence for the development of plateau icefields in the central fells of the English Lake District during the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stadial (ca. 12.9,11.5 ka). The largest plateau icefield system, which covered an area of approximately 55 km2 (including outlet glaciers), was centred on High Raise. To the west, smaller plateau icefields developed on Grey Knotts/Brandreth and Dale Head, covering areas of 7 km2 and 3 km2 respectively. The geomorphological impact of these plateau icefields appears to have been minimal on the summits, where the survival of blockfields and other frost-weathered debris (mostly peat-covered) implies the existence of at least patches of protective, cold-based ice. Ice-moulded bedrock at some plateau edges, however, documents a transition to wet-based, erosive conditions. Prominent moraine systems were produced by outlet glaciers, which descended into the surrounding valleys where their margins became sediment traps for supraglacial debris and inwash. In some valleys, ice-marginal moraines record successive positions of outlet glaciers, which actively backwasted towards their plateau source. This interpretation differs from that of previous workers, who assumed an alpine style of glaciation, with reconstructed glaciers emanating from corries and valley heads. It is likely that plateau icefields were more common at this time in upland Britain than hitherto has been appreciated. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


The potential for soluble and transport loss of particulate aquaculture wastes

AQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 10 2000
M F Tlusty
The relative potential for soluble and transport losses of aquaculture waste was examined. The waste was collected at four junctures between introduction to the environment and the culmination of settlement, including samples of feed, faeces, particulate matter in the water column obtained from sediment traps, and the benthos. Organic matter was used as a model system to investigate the fate of these components because it was simple to analyse and previous research has found it to be correlated to carbon and nutrient levels in the samples. A narrow definition of each loss was considered. Soluble losses were examined by measuring change in organic matter content while the samples were in a stationary water field. The potential for transport losses was examined by determining if light and heavy fractions of a sample differed in their amount of organic matter. Faecal matter had a very high solubility potential, and lost approximately 50% of its organic matter in 12 days. No other sample had losses >,10%. The benthic samples gained organic matter while sitting in the stationary water field. There was no discernible trend to the samples' potential for transport losses. However, for all replicates combined, the smaller the proportion of the lighter fraction, the greater the difference (+) in the organic matter content between the light and heavy fractions. Thus, lighter material is the last to settle and thus more prone to be transported further afield. The implications of this study include the need for model studies to examine different types of loss and also elucidation of divergent degradation properties of each component. This study also points to a functional mechanism behind greater environmental impacts associated with poorly managed farms. [source]