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The choice of areas for nature conservation involves the attempt to maximize the benefits, whether by carrying out an economic activity or by the provision of Ecosystem Services. Studies are needed to improve the understanding of the effect of the extent and position along the watershed of restored areas on soil and water conservation. This study aimed to understand how different restoration strategies might reflect in soil conservation and sediment retention. Using InVEST tool, sediment transport was simulated in a small 12 km2 watershed (Posses River, in Southeast Brazil), where one of first Brazilian Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) projects is being carried out, comparing different hypothetical restoration strategies. With 25% of restoration, sediment export decreased by 78% for riparian restoration, and 27% for the steepest slopes restoration. On the other hand, the decrease in soil loss was lower for riparian restoration, with a 16% decrease, while the steepest slopes restoration reduced it by 21%. This mismatch between the reduction of sediment export and soil loss was explained by the fact that forest not only reduces soil loss locally but also traps sediment arriving from the upper parts of the watershed. While the first mechanism is important to provide soil stability, decreasing the risk of landslip, and to maintain agricultural productivity, the second can improve water quality and decrease the risk of silting, with positive effects on the water reservoirs at the outlet of the watershed. This suggests that Riparian and the Steepest Slopes restoration strategies are complementary in the sense of preventing sediments from reaching the water bodies as well as protecting them at their origin (with the reduction of erosion), so it will be advisable to consider the two types of restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on bedload data and acoustic impulse measurements due to particle impact from the Pitzbach in Austria. It shows that the impulse counts can be viewed as a measure of the energy delivered to the bed by moving particles. Impulse counts show a large scatter even for the same discharge and bedload supply. The article discusses how this scatter is due to varying grain size distribution, grain shape, mode of transport of the sediment particles and spatial and temporal distribution of the sediment load.

A laboratory characterization of cohesive sediment has been carried out in which data obtained from standard sedimentation and rheological measurements were combined in a determination of the critical solid concentration for the detection of elasticity in a weakly cohesive suspension. The corresponding storage modulus and shear stress are very critical in any in situ rheometry of sediments, especially in the study of mud-water surface erosion in a flume. Sedimentation results showed that particle size distribution rather than surface treatment controlled the rheological behavior of the suspension while the critical solid concentration for the appearance of three-dimensional space-filling network, showing some measurable elasticity in the suspension, occurred in the region of 0.015. This parallel between the consolidation behavior and shear rheology development for the flocculating system has been established. This technique could be an adjunct to the laboratory characterization of cohesive sediments for the estimation of critical shear stress for surface erosion, especially in a typical flume experiment under water wave pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original derivation of the Einstein bed-load formula involves several oversimplified assumptions concerning step length of a particle, exchange time, and probability of being lifted into motion. A modified version of the Einstein formula that relaxes these assumptions and incorporates a nonuniform sediment model is proposed and tested with both field and laboratory data. The modified formula shows promise as being more reliable than the original version in estimating bed-load transport rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: An approximate analytic solution is given for the first time to previously published equations describing the characteristics of dynamic soil erosion caused by overland flow. The solution describes both the variation in time in total sediment concentration since the commencement of uniform overland flow, and also the dynamic change in the settling velocity characteristics (and size distribution) of eroding sediment. Following calibration for each of the three soils investigated in order to determine unknown but physically-defined model parameters, prediction based on this theory was found to provide good agreement with experimental data. Under steady-state conditions achieved at long time, the solution agrees with the exact solution for transport limiting conditions, and provides a simple expression for sediment concentration in other situations where soil strength affects the sediment concentration ultimately achieved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A total of 121 bed sediment samples were collected from a 5.8-km stretch of Manoa Stream, Hawaii. Samples were physically partitioned into two grain-size fractions, <63 μm and 63–125 μm, acid digested and analyzed by ICP-AES and FAAS. Non-parametric matched-pair statistical testing and correlation analysis were used to assess differences and strengths of association between the two fractions for Al, Ba, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Ti and Zn. Results indicated statistically significant differences between fractions for all elements except Mn. Concentrations were significantly greater in the <63 μm fraction for Al, Cu, Pb, Ti and Zn, while Ba, Fe and Ni were higher in the 63–125 μm fraction. Though some elements had statistically significant differences between fractions (Al, Ba, Fe and Zn) percentage differences were in the range of analytical precision of the instrument and thus differences were not practically significant. Correlation analysis indicated strong positive associations for all elements between the two fractions (p<0.0001). Three contamination indices indicated similar degrees of pollution for each size fraction for four elements having an anthropogenic signal (Ba, Cu, Pb and Zn). The environmental information obtained from the 63–125 μm fraction was essentially equivalent to that from the <63 μm fraction. In this system it is clear that both bed sediment fractions indicate anthropogenic enrichment of trace metals, especially Pb, and further supports previous research that has found that aquatic sediments are critical median for tracing sources of pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]