Table Of ContentPeter Heininger · Johannes Cullmann
Editors
Sediment
Matters
Sediment Matters
Peter Heininger Johannes Cullmann
(cid:129)
Editors
Sediment Matters
123
Editors
Peter Heininger Johannes Cullmann
Federal InstituteofHydrology IHP/HWRP
Koblenz Federal InstituteofHydrology
Germany Koblenz
Germany
ISBN 978-3-319-14695-9 ISBN 978-3-319-14696-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-14696-6
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014959852
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
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Preface
Erosion,sedimentationprocessesandmanagementincatchments,riversystemsand
reservoirshavereachedglobalimportance.Sedimenttransportisavitalcomponent
of natural hydromorphological regimes. Contaminated sediments canhave adverse
effects on people, environment and economy. Sediment is a fundamentally
importantcomponentofaquaticecosystems.Wherehumanactivitiesinterferewith
sediment quantity or quality, sediment management becomes necessary. Sediment
processes and their socio-economic and environmental impacts are many and
varied, making it almost impossible to treat them all in the framework of a single
book. Rather, the purpose of this book is to provide exemplary insights into the
relevant aspects related to sediment and sediment management as they were pre-
sented and discussed during the 6th International Conference on Water Resources
and Environment Research in Koblenz, Germany in June 2013. The research
findingsincludedintheindividualchaptersofthispublicationwillallowreadersto
gain an overview of the relevant boundary conditions, drivers, processes and
consequences of erosion, sediment transport and sedimentation at different scales.
The inter-linkages of sediment dynamics and sediment quality with bio-geochem-
istry,ecologyandhumanactivitiesandtheirconsequencesforaneffectivesediment
management areshown exemplarily inthevariouschaptersofthis book andallow
to put individual questions and issues into a broader sediment perspective.
Our main acknowledgement goes to all authors of individual chapters. We also
acknowledge the help of the reviewers, the lector and all who have provided the
necessary support for this publication. We thank very much Mrs. B. Noll and
Mrs.A.M.CondeCorralfortheirtirelesspatienceandtechnicalsupportduringthe
writing and publishing of this book.
Koblenz, 2015 Peter Heininger
Johannes Cullmann
v
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Johannes Cullmann and Peter Heininger
Part I Sediment Transport Processes
Sediment Transport in Headwater Streams of the Carpathian
Flysch Belt: Its Nature and Recent Effects of Human
Interventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Tomáš Galia, Jan Hradecký and Václav Škarpich
Aspects of Sediment Transport in Single-Thread and Anabranching
River Channels in Flysch Carpathians (A Case Study
from the Czech Republic) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Václav Škarpich, Tomáš Galia and Jan Hradecký
Sediment Transport Processes Related to the Operation
of a Rapid Hydraulic Structure (Boulder Ramp)
in a Mountain Stream Channel: A Polish Carpathian Example. . . . . . 39
Karol Plesiński, Artur Radecki-Pawlik and Bartłomiej Wyżga
Part II Modelling Sediment Transfer in Rivers
Challenges in Modelling Sediment Matters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Hafzullah Aksoy
Suspended Sediment Estimation Using an Artificial
Intelligence Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Mustafa Demirci, Fatih Üneş and Sebahattin Saydemir
vii
viii Contents
Projected Climate Change Impact on Soil Erosion and Sediment
Yield in the River Elbe Catchment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Thorsten Pohlert
Part III Sediment Quality
Water Quality and Sediment Management in Brahmaputra
Basin of India: Impact of Agricultural Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Uttam C. Sharma and Vikas Sharma
Contamination of Sediments in the German North Sea
Estuaries Elbe, Weser and Ems and Its Sensitivity
to Climate Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Carmen Kleisinger, Holger Haase, Uwe Hentschke
and Birgit Schubert
Part IV Sediment Monitoring
Application of a New Monitoring Strategy and Analysis
Concept of Suspended Sediments in Austrian Rivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Petra Lalk, Marlene Haimann and Helmut Habersack
Investigation of the Metal Contamination in the Upper Olifants
Primary Catchment by Using Stream Sediment Geochemistry,
Witbank Coalfield, South Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Robert Netshitungulwana, Bisrat Yibas, Christoph Gauert,
Danie Vermeulen, Obed Novhe and Tshepa Motlakeng
Part V Sediment Managing in River Basins
An Approach to Simulating Sediment Management in the Mekong
River Basin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Thomas B. Wild and Daniel P. Loucks
Sediment Management on River-Basinscale: The River Elbe . . . . . . . . 201
Peter Heininger, Ilka Keller, Ina Quick, René Schwartz
and Stefan Vollmer
Introduction
Johannes Cullmann and Peter Heininger
1 Sediment as Part of the River Basin
Natural river basins are continuously evolving and adapting. Erosion, sediment
transport and sedimentation have been key factors for landscape development, the
genesisanddegradationofsoils,waterquality,theevolutionofaquatichabitatsand
theformationofriverdeltasforgeologicaleras.Bothsmallandsubstantialchanges
insedimentdistribution,erosion,deposition,andtransportarenaturalandnecessary
processesinaquaticecosystems.Themagnitudesofthesedimentloadstransported
byrivershaveimportantimplicationsforthefunctioningofthesystem;forexample
through their influence on material fluxes, geochemical cycling, water quality,
channel morphology, delta development, and the aquatic ecosystems and habitats
supported by the river.
Erosionandsedimentationprocessesinteractwithhumanusagesofriversystem
services. Often, as a consequence of river training, inputs of energy can act only
verticallyinthedirectionoftheriverbedthusencouragingthedeptherosionofthe
bed. Scouring increases where flow velocities are increased and is a frequent
phenomenondownstreamofsedimentsinks.Localscourandsedimentationeffects
may dramatically impact on dams and bridges, and balanced sediment conditions
are of paramount importance for the stability, reliability and functioning of
hydraulic infrastructure. This becomes evident when looking at reservoir sedi-
mentation, the silting of irrigation infrastructure or riverbed erosion of engineered
streams.Walling(2006)estimatesthetotallossofworldwidereservoirvolumedue
to sedimentation at a rate of 0.5–1 % per annum. Sediment trapping in reservoirs
J.Cullmann(&)(cid:1)P.Heininger
FederalInstituteofHydrology,AmMainzerTor1,56068Koblenz,Germany
e-mail:[email protected]
P.Heininger
e-mail:[email protected]
©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2015 1
P.HeiningerandJ.Cullmann(eds.),SedimentMatters,
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-14696-6_1
2 J.CullmannandP.Heininger
and check dams can lead to extremely dangerous situations like the failure of the
10.5 Mm3 Balin Dam in Taiwan in 2007 (Kondolf et al. 2014).
Engineered structures strongly affect the hydraulic conditions and the mor-
phologyofriversandestuaries.Thesedimentbudgetofariveriscloselyconnected
with its hydromorphology. Weakly developed hydromorphological features are
indicators of a disturbed sediment budget. Vice versa, the hydromorphological
characteristics of the river have influence on the sediment budget. The prevailing
hydromorphologicalconditions,inturn,arecrucialforthediversityofhabitatsand
biota (Bábek et al. 2008; Collins et al. 2011; Langhammer 2010). Floodplains and
marshes have been dramatically reduced worldwide, mainly due to dyke con-
struction. One of their widely acknowledged functions is the sequestration of
sedimentandassociatedsubstances.Thisecosystemfunctionisseverelyreducedby
the loss offloodplains (Ciszewski 2001; Walling et al. 1998, 2000).
Sedimentiscloselylinkedtowaterqualityissues.Highsedimentconcentrationin
water may call for a cost intensive purification process in order to guarantee the
desiredhumanuse.Historicalcontaminationfromindustrialandminingactivitiesas
wellaspresent-daypoint-andnon-pointemissionsmaybecomesourcesofsediment
contaminationwhatinevitablyleadstoconflictswithhumanactivitiessuchasagri-
cultureorfishingandcanposeageneralthreattoaquaticcommunities.Asalegacyof
the past, sediment contamination in many aquatic systems—lakes, estuaries, and
coastal oceans—represents a world-wide problem (Burton and Johnston 2010;
ChapmanandWang2001;Dagninoetal.2013;FörstnerandSalomons2010;Heise
2009; Lair et al. 2009; Liu et al. 2000). Contaminated sediments from still-water
zonescanbemobilizedduringfloodeventsandcontaminantreachesfardownstream
from the actual source, ultimately impacting the marine environment (Bopp et al.
1998;Groussetetal.1999;Heiningeretal.1998;Schwienteketal.2013).Generally,
thereisanincreasingrecognitionthatfinesedimentrepresentsanimportantdiffuse
pollutantsourceinsurfacewaters,duetoitsroleingoverningthetransportofcon-
taminants through fluvial systems and because of its impacts on aquatic ecology
(Owens2005).Anunderstandingofthesources,behaviour,andstorageofsediment-
associated contaminants in rivers istherefore needed, so that appropriate strategies
maybeimplementedtoreduceandcontrolbothcontaminantinputsintoriversandthe
detrimental effects associated with such contaminants within rivers and receiving
systems.Suspendedsedimentshouldbeconsideredinthiscontextaswellasflood-
plain deposits and channel bed sediment, when studying the temporal and spatial
patternsofcontaminantbehaviourinriversystems(Grabowskietal.2012;Huetal.
2014;Owens2005;Salomons2008).
2 Some Facts About Sediment Dynamics
Sediment influx into the oceans and related nutrient and pollutant fluxes are key
parameters for global bio-geochemical processes. Generally, human activity can
eitherenhanceordecreasesedimentdynamics.Innaturalsystems,sedimentbalance
Introduction 3
isoscillatingaroundastableoptimum.Virtuallyallsuspendedsedimentissupplied
to river systems either by terrestrial erosion or through the production of organic
matter. It may be released, for example, as a consequence of heavy rainstorms,
debris flow, collapse of local river banks and the continuous reshuffling of sedi-
mentsinriverchannels.Sedimentsareaccumulatedwherevershearstressisbelow
critical values and suspended sediments can be deposed with terminal velocity
when conditions allow.
Inriversystemswithanthropogenicimpactsedimentdynamicsareoftenaltered
comparedtothenaturalstatus.Syvitskyetal.(2005)showedthatabout26%ofthe
global sediment transit is trapped in reservoirs. The Yellow River in China is a
typical example for decreasing sediment dynamics. Suspended sediment load
delivered to the China Sea was recorded to be about 1.1 Gt per year in the 1950s.
Thisamounthasdecreasedtoabout 0.4Gtperyearin1990(Walling2009).More
recentdataindicatethattheloadmayevenbedownto0.15Gtperyear(Wangetal.
2007).Thisloadreductionisaccompaniedbyaproportionaldecreaseinriverflow
mainlyduetotheabstractionofwaterforeconomicactivities.Themainreasonfor
thedecreaseinsedimentloadisthetrappingofsedimentinreservoirs.Anexample
for increasing sediment dynamics can be found in Walling (2005). The Rio Mag-
dalena drains a 260,000 km2 river basin in the Andes. The sediment load to the
Carribean has increased by 40 % from 1975 to 1995. This is attributed to the fact
that forest clearance and intensification of agriculture enhance the degradation of
soils.Inaddition,miningactivitiescontributeheretoanincreasedsedimentloadof
the river. A further relevant impact on sediment balance may result where sand
extractionisamajorsourceofincome.Wangetal.(2007)estimatethatasmuchas
110MtsandisextractedannuallyintheYangtze catchment.Thesediment loadof
theYangtzeRiverhasdecreasedfromabout500Mtperyearinthe1960stoabout
200 Mt per year around the year 2000.
Generalconclusionscanbedrawnfromthese scenarios.Thesedimenttransport
intotheoceans isdecreasing onglobalscale.Intensificationofsilviculture,mining
and agricultural activities without appropriate soil conservation management will
inevitably lead to increased erosion and thus enhanced sediment supply to the
rivers. The free sediment flow is increasingly disturbed in river basins, and the
sediment storage in river system is increasing. Typically, hydraulic infrastructure
like dams and weirs trap sediment and thus decrease the sediment load of rivers,
even if erosion is accelerated at the same time. This phenomenon can be observed
in many rivers throughout the world such as Danube, Mississippi, and Indus.
3 Sediment Management
The above mentioned general facts and relations clearly show that sediment man-
agement concepts are indispensable tools for provident and sustainable planning
and operation of human activities in river basins today.
