Suspended sediment transport in a river basin estimated by chemical composition analysis

Abstract

Production and transportation of suspended sediment was investigated by sampling surface soils in 18 domains over an entire river basin. Particle size distributions alone suggested that all domains were a source of suspended sediment. Chemical composition analysis however showed that the transport rate of suspended sediment was more closely related to the type of surface soil than to land use. A method was developed which enables estimation of the relative suspended sediment transport rates from each domain of a river basin to its downstream end. The model’s validity was verified through good agreement with field sampling results.