Effective Sediment-Transporting Discharge from Magnitude-Frequency Analysis

Effects of antecedent hydrologic conditions, time dependence, and climate cycles on the suspended sediment load of the Salinas River, California

“…In contrast, larger rivers with more continuous flow characteristics generally have lower Q(e) and Q 1/2 values, which are even closer to Q mean and more in line with the magnitude/frequency characteristics of water in those systems (Nash 1994).…”

“…Effective discharge Q(e), a concept coined by Wolman and Miller (1960), is the magnitude of discharge that produces the most of a given transported constituent over a given period. Effective discharge has been a measure of great interest in a wide range of environmental research including those concerned with fluvial geomorphic control (Andrews, 1980;Webb and Walling, 1982), terrestrial organic carbon flux to the oceans (Wheatcroft et al, 2010) and suspended sediment load behavior (Nash, 1994;Gao et al, 2007). Another useful method for examining discharge frequency control on water and water-transported constituents is the 'half-load discharge' (Q 1/2 ) (Vogel et al, 2003).…”

Applying bootstrap resampling to quantify uncertainty in fluvial suspended sediment loads estimated using rating curves

“…The question of whether, over the longer term, the total mass of sediment moved during periods of high flow (with their low frequency of occurrence) exceeds that transported by more frequently occurring, lower-flow conditions is a long-standing one in fluvial geomorphology [Wolman and Miller, 1960;Pickup and Warner, 1976;Nash, 1994]. Indeed, Pickup and Warner [1976] found that for bed load transport within a relatively small creek near Sydney, flows of moderate magnitude and frequency dominated net bed load transport.…”

Channel Restoration Design for Meandering Rivers

“…By coupling discharge and sediment transport, the flow which transports the greatest sediment load over a prolonged period is of particular interest to the applied geomorphologist and hydraulic engineer involved in understanding process-form relationships, such as downstream hydraulic geometry, and assessing stability and has been applied widely by : Schaffernak, 1922;Wolman and Miller, 1960;Benson and Thomas, 1966;Marlette and Walker, 1968;Prins and de Vries, 1971;Hey, 1975Hey, , 1997aPickup and Warner, 1976;Fisk, 1977;Andrews, 1980Andrews, , 1984Walling and Webb, 1982;Biedenharn et al, 1987;Nolan, Lisle and Kelsey, 1987;Ashmore and Day, 1988;Carling, 1988;Leopold, 1992;Lyons et al, 1992;Biedenharn and Thome, 1994;Nash, 1994;Andrews and Nankervis, 1995;Watson et al, 1997;Goodwin et al, 1998;Doyle et al, 1999;Sichingabula, 1999;Soar et al, 1999;Tilleard, 1999;and others. In theory, the effective discharge should equate to the bankfull discharge in a dynamically stable river. This can be explained in terms of energy considerations.…”