Flood stratigraphies in lake sediments: A review

Schillereff, Daniel; Chiverrell, Richard; Macdonald, Neil; Hooke, Janet

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.03.011

Cited by 128 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 185 publications

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“…As discharge and flow velocity increase during a flood event, large grains are added to the suspended oad and dynamically exchanged with the deposited load during transportation. Therefore, grain-size characteristics preserved in sedimentary archives in combination with discharge measurements have been conventionally used as effectively tracing proxies to infer the timing, frequency, and magnitude of historical floods (Draut and Rubin, 2013;Schillereff et al, 2014). Coarser-grained laminations preserved in sedimentary archives are indicative of the occurrence of historical floods based on the theory that fluvial discharge with higher hydrodynamic energy is capable of mobilizing and transporting coarser particles, leading to the concomitant sedimentation of coarser particles in fluvial depressions and stores (Toonen et al, 2015).…”

Section: The Potential Of Absolute Grain-size Seasonality For Stratigmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow regulation manipulates contemporary seasonal sedimentary dynamics in the reservoir fluctuation zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

Tang

Bao

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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• Hydrological regime in the reservoir fluctuation zone has been significantly altered.• Grain-size variations are diagnostic for sedimentary stratigraphy differentiation.• Post-dam sedimentation processes were reproduced by chronology determination.• Regular flow regulation controls contemporary seasonal sedimentary dynamics. Since the launch of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, a distinctive reservoir fluctuation zone has been created and significantly modified by regular dam operations. Sediment redistribution within this artificial landscape differs substantially from that in natural fluvial riparian zones, due to a specific hydrological regime comprising steps of water impoundment with increasing magnitudes and seasonal water level fluctuation holding a range of sediment fluxes. This study reinterpreted post-dam sedimentary dynamics in the reservoir fluctuation zone by stratigraphy determination of a 345-cm long sediment core, and related it to impact of the hydrological regime. Seasonality in absolute grain-size composition of suspended sediment was applied as a methodological basis for stratigraphic differentiation. Sedimentary laminations with relatively higher proportions of sandy fractions were ascribed to sedimentation during the dry season when proximal subsurface bank erosion dominates source contributions, while stratigraphy with a lower proportion of sandy fractions is possibly contributed by sedimentation during the wet season when distal upstream surface erosion prevails. Chronology determination revealed non-linear and high annual sedimentation rates ranging from 21.7 to 152.1 cm/yr. Although channel geomorphology may primarily determine the spatial extent of sedimentation, seasonal sedimentary dynamics was predominantly governed by the frequency, magnitude, and duration of flooding. Summer inundation by G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Contents lists available at ScienceDirectScience of the Total Environment j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / s c i t o t e n v natural floods with enhanced sediment loads produced from upstream basins induced higher sedimentation rates than water impoundment during the dry season when distal sediment supply was limited. We thus conclude that flow regulation manipulates contemporary seasonal sedimentary dynamics in the reservoir fluctuation zone, though little impact on total sediment retention rate was detected. Ongoing reductions in flow and sediment supply under human disturbance may have profound implications in affecting sedimentary equilibrium in the reservoir fluctuation zone. The results herein provide insights of how big dams have disrupted the sediment conveyance processes of large scale fluvial systems.

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Section: The Potential Of Absolute Grain-size Seasonality For Stratigmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow regulation manipulates contemporary seasonal sedimentary dynamics in the reservoir fluctuation zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

Tang

Bao

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

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“…Company documents indicate processing was moved to Greenside Mine and more efficient and mechanised ore extraction techniques were employed, capable of harvesting a greater proportion of the ore from the host rock and leaving less surface waste (Tyler 1992). Pb continued to fluctuate after the cessation of mining in 1942: subsequent peaks probably relate to the remobilisation of mining waste during flood events in the 1960s (Schillereff et al 2014(Schillereff et al , 2016. Any atmospheric signal from leaded petrol in automobiles during 1950-1970(von Storch et al 2003 was likely masked by the particulate flux from the catchment.…”

Section: Controls and Conditioning Of Metal Fluxesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying system disturbance and recovery from historical mining-derived metal contamination at Brotherswater, northwest England

et al. 2016

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Metal ore extraction in historical times has left a legacy of severe contamination in aquatic ecosystems around the world. In the UK, nationwide surveys of present-day pollution discharged from abandoned mines are ongoing but few assessments of the magnitude of contamination and impacts that arose during historical metal mining have been made. We report one of the first multi-centennial records of lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) fluxes into a lake (Brotherswater, northwest England) from pointsources in its catchment (Hartsop Hall Mine and Hogget Gill processing plant) and calculate basin-scale inventories of those metals. The pre-mining baseline for metal contamination has been established using sediment cores spanning the past 1500 years and contemporary material obtained through sediment trapping. These data enabled the impact of 250 years of local, small-scale mining to be quantified and an assessment of the trajectory towards system recovery to be made. The geochemical stratigraphy displayed in twelve sediment cores show strong correspondence to the documented history of metal mining and processing in the catchment. The initial onset in 1696 was detected, peak Pb concentrations ([10,000 lg g -1 ) and flux (39.4 g m -2 year -1 ) corresponded to the most intensive mining episode (1863-1871) and twentieth century technological enhancements were reflected as a more muted sedimentary imprint. After careful evaluation, we used these markers to augment a Bayesian agedepth model of the independent geochronology obtained using radioisotope dating ( 14 C, 210 Pb, 137 Cs and 241 Am). Total inventories of Pb, Zn and Cu for the lake basin during the period of active mining were 15,415, 5897 and 363 kg, respectively. The postmining trajectories for Pb and Zn project a return to pre-mining levels within 54-128 years for Pb and 75-187 years for Zn, although future remobilisation of metal-enriched catchment soils and floodplain sediments could perturb this recovery. We present a transferable paleolimnological approach that highlights flux-based assessments are vital to accurately establish the baseline, impact and trajectory of mining-derived contamination for a lake catchment.

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“…For instance, in Montcortés Lake (north-eastern Spain), a varved sediment core accumulating since the 14th century contains detrital layers associated with intense rainfalls (> 80 mm day −1 ) recording higher storm frequency during AD 1347-1400 and AD 1844-1894; both periods coincide with severe floods from the nearby River Segre (Corella et al, 2014). In non-varved lake systems, palaeoflood stratigraphy can be compared to historically documented flood records, as a mean to improve the age-depth model of the stratigraphic log (Schillereff et al, 2014). Another group of palaeoflood techniques suitable to combine with documentary sources are those based on botanical and ecological evidence (Bodoque et al, 2014).…”

Section: Multi-proxy Analysis Of Past Hydrological Extremesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative historical hydrology in Europe

Benito

Brázdil

Herget

et al. 2015

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. In recent decades, the quantification of flood hydrological characteristics (peak discharge, hydrograph shape, and runoff volume) from documentary evidence has gained scientific recognition as a method to lengthen flood records of rare and extreme events. This paper describes the methodological evolution of quantitative historical hydrology under the influence of developments in hydraulics and statistics. In the 19th century, discharge calculations based on flood marks were the only source of hydrological data for engineering design, but were later left aside in favour of systematic gauge records and conventional hydrological procedures. In the last two decades, there has been growing scientific and public interest in understanding long-term patterns of rare floods, in maintaining the flood heritage and memory of extremes, and developing methods for deterministic and statistical application to different scientific and engineering problems. A compilation of 46 case studies across Europe with reconstructed discharges demonstrates that (1) in most cases present flood magnitudes are not unusual within the context of the last millennium, although recent floods may exceed past floods in some temperate European rivers (e.g. the Vltava and Po rivers); (2) the frequency of extreme floods has decreased since the 1950s, although some rivers (e.g. the Gardon and Ouse rivers) show a reactivation of rare events over the last two decades. There is a great potential for gaining understanding of individual extreme events based on a combined multiproxy approach (palaeoflood and documentary records) providing high-resolution time flood series and their environmental and climatic changes; and for developing non-systematic and non-stationary statistical models based on relations of past floods with external and internal covariates under natural low-frequency climate variability.

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Flood stratigraphies in lake sediments: A review

Cited by 128 publications

References 185 publications

Flow regulation manipulates contemporary seasonal sedimentary dynamics in the reservoir fluctuation zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

Flow regulation manipulates contemporary seasonal sedimentary dynamics in the reservoir fluctuation zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

Quantifying system disturbance and recovery from historical mining-derived metal contamination at Brotherswater, northwest England

Quantitative historical hydrology in Europe

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