Premium
The transport of heavy metals during flood events in the polluted river Geul (the Netherlands)
Author(s) -
Leenaers H.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/hyp.3360030404
Subject(s) - sediment , hydrology (agriculture) , flood myth , environmental science , sediment transport , rating curve , alluvion , heavy metals , geology , environmental chemistry , geomorphology , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , geography , archaeology
Abstract For a specific flood on the polluted River Geul in March 1988, the relationships between river discharge, sediment concentration, and associated metal levels have been investigated. It was found that river discharge has only a limited influence on the transport of sediment and Pb, Zn, and Cd. During flood peaks its role is prominent, but at the intermediate stages between peaks, the quantity and quality of transported sediment depend on the variable activity of various sediment sources upstream. Nevertheless, when data from more floods are assembled, sediment and metal rating curves are obtained, which provide correlation coefficients of 0‐63‐0‐92. Using these curves, mass transport calculations were carried out which demonstrate that the bulk of the annual transport of sediments and heavy metals occurs during a limited number of major floods.