Exploring suspended sediment delivery dynamics of two Mediterranean nested catchments
Issue date
2016Suggested citation
López Tarazón, José Andrés;
Estrany, Joan;
.
(2016)
.
Exploring suspended sediment delivery dynamics of two Mediterranean nested catchments.
Hydrological Processes, 2016, p. 1-18.
https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.11069.
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Show full item recordAbstract
This paper investigates suspended sediment transport and dynamics of two nested agricultural
lowland Mediterranean catchments with a difference of two orders of magnitude in the surface
area (i.e., 1 and 264 km2). The effects of the drainage catchment area over the specific suspended
sediment yield are assessed by using the nested approach over various timeframes. A detailed
analysis of the rainfall–runoff–sediment transport relationships during the 2‐year study period
shows that the hydrological and sedimentological responses were extremely variable for both
catchments. Very low or no correlations were observed between the rainfall intensity and the
selected hydrological variables and sediment loads. However, remarkable or high correlations
were obtained between the rainfall intensity and the maximum and average suspended sediment
concentrations, indicating that rainfall per unit time has little control on the hydrological
response, but that, simultaneously, its high‐erosive power triggers sediment production,
increasing the sedimentary response of the catchments. This study also illustrates how sediment
is mainly transported during floods, producing predominantly clockwise hysteretic loops.
Moreover, the small headwater catchment exerts a reduced (or even negligible) effect over the
hydro‐sedimentary response of the larger downstream catchment, caused by the reduced
sediment availability in a landscape with an inherent disconnection of the sediment pathways.