The authors discussed the research history of sediment production, storage and transport in Japan. The results are as follows;
1) There are a number of long-term geomorphological research projects for understanding sediment movement in river basins in the United States. In Japan, however, most studies focus on short-term episodic events as a means of protecting residential areas from natural disasters.
2) Based on a hierarchical concept of scientific stage (phenomenalization, substantialization, and essential' ization), laboratory work to understand the mechanism of erosion processes is close to the stage of essential-ization, while field work to clarify dynamic processes in a river basin is still at the stage of phenomenaliza-tion.
3) Direct application of theories developed in the laboratory to basin-scale field work may lead to misunderstanding of actual phenomena. Long-term monitoring systems are needed to substantiate phenom-ena in the field. The authors believe that geomorphological research of mountain streams will play an important role to develop basin-scale theories, and give us new perspectives for understanding sediment movement in a river basin.
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