Sediment transport is an important component of the material flux from hillslopes to rivers, lakes and seas. Sediment also plays a crucial role in catchment ecosystems as it controls water quality and biogeochemical cycles by supplying or removing nutrients and contaminants, providing substrate for organisms, and directly influencing light climate in surface waters. The extent to which sediments affect catchment ecosystems is largely determined by the rate at which sediments are supplied to and the time they reside in the catchment and their physico-chemical composition.
This session focuses on transport pathways, storage and remobilisation, and travel times of sediments and associated substances in catchment systems across temporal and spatial scales. We particularly invite contributions that address the following issues:
- measurement and modelling of sediment budgets in river basins on various temporal and spatial scales;
- determination of sediment travel times;
- tracing of sediment sources and transport pathways;
- storage of sediment and associated substances on hill slopes, river channels, or floodplains;
- transport, retention and remobilisation of particle-bound nutrients and contaminants;
- factors and structures controlling transport and retention of sediments and associated substances in river basins;
- sediment impacts on floodplain, riparian, hyporheic and other in-stream ecosystems.