A review of source tracking techniques for fine sediment within a catchment

Guan, Zhuo, Tang, Xiang-Yu, Yang, Jae E., Sik Ok, Yong, Xu, Zhihong, Nishimura, Taku and Reid, Brian J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9613-979X (2017) A review of source tracking techniques for fine sediment within a catchment. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 39 (6). 1221–1243. ISSN 1573-2983

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Abstract

Excessive transport of fine sediment, and its associated pollutants, can cause detrimental impacts in aquatic environments. It is therefore important to perform accurate sediment source apportionment to identify hot spots of soil erosion. Various tracers have been adopted, often in combination, to identify sediment source type and its spatial origin; these include fallout radionuclides, geochemical tracers, mineral magnetic properties and bulk and compound-specific stable isotopes. In this review, the applicability of these techniques to particular settings and their advantages and limitations are reviewed. By synthesizing existing approaches, that make use of multiple tracers in combination with measured changes of channel geomorphological attributes, an integrated analysis of tracer profiles in deposited sediments in lakes and reservoirs can be made. Through a multi-scale approach for fine sediment tracking, temporal changes in soil erosion and sediment load can be reconstructed and the consequences of changing catchment practices evaluated. We recommend that long-term, as well as short-term, monitoring of riverine fine sediment and corresponding surface and subsurface sources at nested sites within a catchment are essential. Such monitoring will inform the development and validation of models for predicting dynamics of fine sediment transport as a function of hydro-climatic and geomorphological controls. We highlight that the need for monitoring is particularly important for hilly catchments with complex and changing land use. We recommend that research should be prioritized for sloping farmland-dominated catchments.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	fine sediment,tracking techniques,source identification,temporal markers,mixing models,sdg 15 - life on land ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_on_land
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Resources, Sustainability and Governance (former - to 2018) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Geosciences Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Geosciences and Natural Hazards (former - to 2017)
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	11 May 2017 05:05
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2022 02:37
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/63468
DOI:	10.1007/s10653-017-9959-9

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