Sediment response to catchment disturbances

Owens, Philip N.; Petticrew, Ellen L.; Perk, Marcel van der

doi:10.1007/s11368-010-0235-1

Cited by 31 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The responses of SY to disturbances are, however, difficult to assess, both in magnitude and response time, as the link between disturbance and response may not be straightforward (Owens et al 2010). This seems especially the case in (semi)-arid environments.…”

Section: Ii2 the Catchment Response To Disturbances In Land Use Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is generally expressed as the response time. After this response time, a new average SY is reached, which is in equilibrium with the catchment characteristics (Owens et al 2010). The response to catchment disturbances is often complex and difficult to predict, as this depends on specific conditions and tresholds, and as this is not necessarily linked to the responses at the hillslope scale.…”

Section: Cost Effectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…climate changes or human interventions) is generally known to be complex and difficult to predict (e.g. Schumm et al 1976;Walling & Kleo 1979;Church & Slaymaker 1989;Walling 2006;Owens et al 2010;Trimble 2010). SY at the catchment scale and its response to changes are, however, of great importance as it relates to many environmental and management issues (see Owens et al 2005 for an overview) and are also of great relevance in the framework of desertification assessment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This type of sediment transport is rarely measured at gauging stations, although it can be very important, certainly in Mediterranean and mountainous regions (Verstraeten et al 2006). Owens et al 2010;Vanmaercke et al 2010b). As discussed in a previous section, the response of catchment SY to disturbances can differ significantly over time and in magnitude from the response at the hillslope scale.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Sediment yield as a desertification risk indicator

Vanmaercke

Poesen

Maetens

et al. 2011

Science of The Total Environment

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Soil erosion is often regarded as one of the main processes of desertification. This has lead to the use of various desertification indicators that are related to soil erosion. Most of these indicators focus, however, on small spatial units, while little attention has been given to the amount of sediment exported at the catchment scale. Such a small spatial unit approach neglects the transfer of sediment through catchments as well as the scale-dependency of erosion processes. Furthermore, this approach does not consider important off-site impacts of soil erosion, such as sediment deposition in reservoirs, flooding as well as ecological impacts.This study aims to illustrate the importance of also considering catchment sediment yield (SY, t km -2 y -1 ) in desertification assessment studies. Based on recently established databases of SY and soil loss rates in Europe and examples from previous studies, we illustrate that soil erosion rates at the plot scale are not representative for catchment SY, as they are often several orders of magnitude smaller. Also, the erosion response of catchments to changes in land use or climate often differs strongly from responses to those changes at the plot scale.We further discuss several of the impacts of SY and their link with desertification: i.e. the sedimentation of reservoirs, problems related to flooding, catchment hydrology, export of nutrients and ecological implications.Using earlier established criteria we evaluate the potential for using catchment SY as a desertification indicator and conclude that this could give an important added value to desertification studies. SY, used in combination with other indicators, allows the identification of other sediment sources than those considered at the plot scale and can reflect the results of desertification processes over longer time periods than periods over which assessments at the plot scale have been made. We argue therefore, that SY is a strong complementary indicator of desertification providing valuable information on the catchment response to changes in drivers of desertification.

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Section: Ii2 the Catchment Response To Disturbances In Land Use Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cost Effectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Sediment yield as a desertification risk indicator

Vanmaercke

Poesen

Maetens

et al. 2011

Science of The Total Environment

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“…However, the dynamics of sediment and contaminant transfer are highly variable in space and time due to the complex and often non-linear processes involved. The responses of sediment and contaminant transport to environmental change or disturbance are therefore not straightforward (Owens et al 2010), which hampers an adequate evaluation and prediction of such responses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preface

2017

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Erosion dynamics following localized permafrost slope disturbances

Lamoureux

Lafrenière

Favaro

2014

Geophysical Research Letters

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Slope disturbances are key sources of sediment, and the impact and recovery of disturbance on downslope erosion is poorly understood. We measured the erosional response of varying extents of slope disturbance in small permafrost catchments for 5 years following disturbance by active layer detachments. Initial erosion rates increased with the size of disturbance, but subsequent fluxes depended on specific morphological evolution of disturbances. Varying degrees of (i) channel density within the disturbances, (ii) downstream channel connectivity, and (iii) geomorphic evolution of disturbances lead to significant differences in catchment response to disturbance. Our results indicate that new equilibrium states of sediment erosion are achieved within the most disturbed and channelized catchments and contribute to greater heterogeneity of erosion on the landscape.

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Sediment response to catchment disturbances

Cited by 31 publications

References 29 publications

Sediment yield as a desertification risk indicator

Sediment yield as a desertification risk indicator

Preface

Erosion dynamics following localized permafrost slope disturbances

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