Relationship between bedload and suspended sediment in the sand-bed Exu River, in the semi-arid region of Brazil Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Suspended sediment and bedload discharges in sand-bed rivers shape semi-arid landscapes and impact sediment delivery from these landscapes, but are still incompletely understood. Suspended sediment and bedload fluxes of the intermittent Exu River, Brazil, were sampled by direct measurements. The highest suspended sediment concentration observed was 4847.4 mg L-1 and this value was possibly associated with the entrainment of sediment that was deposited in the preceding year. The bedload flux was well related to the stream power and the river efficiently transported all available bedload with a mean rate of 0.0047 kg m-1 s-1, and the percentage of bedload to suspended sediment varied between 4 and 12.72. The bed sediment of Exu River was prone to entrainment and showed a proclivity for transport. Thus, sand-bed and gravel-bed rivers of arid environments seem to exhibit the same mobility in the absence of armour layer. 2013 IAHS Press.

published proceedings

  • HYDROLOGICAL SCIENCES JOURNAL-JOURNAL DES SCIENCES HYDROLOGIQUES

author list (cited authors)

  • Cantalice, J., Cunha Filho, M., Stosic, B. D., Piscoya, V. C., Guerra, S., & Singh, V. P.

citation count

  • 21

complete list of authors

  • Cantalice, Jose Ramon B||Cunha Filho, Moacyr||Stosic, Borko D||Piscoya, Victor Casimiro||Guerra, Sergio MS||Singh, Vijay P

publication date

  • November 2013