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USE OF FALLOUT Pb‐210 MEASUREMENTS TO INVESTIGATE LONGER‐TERM RATES AND PATTERNS OF OVERBANK SEDIMENT DEPOSITION ON THE FLOODPLAINS OF LOWLAND RIVERS
Author(s) -
HE Q.,
WALLING D. E.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
earth surface processes and landforms
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.294
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1096-9837
pISSN - 0197-9337
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9837(199602)21:2<141::aid-esp572>3.0.co;2-9
Subject(s) - overbank , floodplain , deposition (geology) , sedimentation , sediment , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , drainage basin , sampling (signal processing) , current (fluid) , geology , physical geography , geomorphology , geography , oceanography , fluvial , structural basin , cartography , geotechnical engineering , filter (signal processing) , computer science , computer vision
The potential for using fallout (unsupported) Pb‐210 ( 210 Pb) measurements to estimate rates of overbank sediment deposition on the floodplains of lowland rivers is explored. A model which distinguishes the contribution from direct atmospheric fallout and the catchment‐derived input associated with the deposition of suspended sediment has been developed to interpret the fallout Pb‐210 inventories at floodplain sampling sites and to estimate average sediment accumulation rates over the past 100 years. The approach has been successfully used to estimate rates of overbank sedimentation on the floodplains of the Rivers Culm and Exe in Devon, U.K. A detailed investigation of the pattern of longer‐term sedimentation rates within a small reach of the floodplain of the River Culm indicated a range of deposition rates between 0.07 and 0.59 g cm −2 a −1 , which was in close agreement with estimates of current sedimentation rates obtained using sedimentation traps.