Drivers of erosion and suspended sediment transport in three headwater catchments of the Mexican Central Highlands

Abstract

International audienceQuantifying suspended sediment exports from catchments and understanding suspended sediment dynamics within river networks is important, especially in areas draining erodible material that contributes to the siltation of downstream reservoirs and to the degradation of water quality. A one-year continuous monitoring study of water and sediment fluxes was conducted in three upland subcatchments (3.0, 9.3, and 12.0 km2) located within the Cointzio basin, in the central volcanic highlands of Mexico (Michoacán state). Two subcatchments generated high sediment exports (i.e., Huertitas, 900-1500 t km− 2 y− 1 and Potrerillos, 600-800 t km− 2 y− 1), whereas the third subcatchment was characterized by a much lower sediment yield (i.e., La Cortina, 30 t km− 2 y− 1). Such disparities in subcatchment behaviours were associated with the presence of severely gullied areas in Huertitas and Potrerillos rather than with rainfall erosivity indices. An adapted classification of hysteretic patterns between suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and discharge was proposed because 42% of flood events contributing to 70% of sediment export were not discriminated by the classical clockwise/anticlockwise typology. This new classification allowed the identification of relationships in the hydrosedimentary responses of successive floods. A stream transport capacity limit was also detected during hydrograph recession phases. Overall, hydrosedimentary processes proved to be seasonally dependent: sediment export was repeatedly limited by the stream transport capacity during the first part of the rainy season, whereas a channel minimum erosivity threshold was frequently reached at the end of the season

Suspended sediment transport dynamics in rivers: Multi-scale drivers of temporal variation

“…Therefore, different parameters such as total discharge, peak discharge, water yield, time of rise and fall of hydrograph, total duration of a precipitation event, maximum 30-minute rainfall, mean rainfall intensity and antecedent rainfall are commonly included in models to estimate sediment transfer from the catchment to the river (e.g. Dominic et al, 2015;Duvert et al, 2010;Onderka et al, 2012;Seeger et al, 2004;Tena et al, 2014). In addition, snowmelt has been shown to be a dominant driver for SS transport in many parts of the world (e.g.…”

“…Duvert et al, 2010;Lloyd et al, 2016;Sun et al, 2015;Tananaev, 2015). The most common patterns are anti-clockwise and clock-wise loops ( Figure 3) (Horowitz et al, 2014;Williams, 1989).…”

“…In recent data-mining studies, a range of significant variables have been identified, including antecedent rainfall, duration of the rainfall event, maximum rainfall over 30-minutes, mean rainfall intensity of the event, time of rise and fall of the hydrograph, runoff duration, peak discharge and total runoff (e.g. Dominic et al, 2015;Duvert et al, 2010;Fang et al, 2015;Perks et al, 2015;Seeger et al, 2004;Tena et al, 2014).…”

Water erosion vulnerability and sediment delivery rate in upper Iguaçu river basin – Paraná

“…In this context, Li et al (2004) proposed the use of an erosion runoff index over the use of a rainfall erosivity index in order to estimate the solid discharge in basins of up to 200 km 2 , whileas for Duvert et al (2010), the peak outflow represents a better answer for the estimation of this variable due to the fact that runoff characteristics translate the basin's behavior in a more efficient manner.…”

Inoculación con hongos micorrízicos y fertilización con urea de plantas de Fraxinus uhdei en acrisoles provenientes de sitios degradados

“…No esterilizar el sustrato potencialmente permitiría a las plantas asociarse con bacterias presentes en el mismo aunque podría también implicar que las plantas adquirieran otras especies de hongos micorrízicos. Esta localidad se caracteriza por tener un alto grado de erosión y numerosas cárcavas, formadas en suelos de tipo acrisol ócrico (Duvert et al, 2010). En las condiciones actuales de degradación, el suelo de la localidad contiene muy poca materia orgáni-ca (0.78 %), es muy bajo en nitrógeno total aprovechable (19.60 kg/Ha) y extremadamente pobre en fósforo asimilable (0.347 mg/kg).…”