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| Titel |
Suspended sediment, carbon and nitrogen transport in two impounded mountainous rivers |
| VerfasserIn |
Jose Andrés López-Tarazón, Pilar López, Gemma Lobera, Ramon J. Batalla |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
| Datensatznummer |
250126961
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2016-6758.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Impoundment alters rivers’ characteristics, transforming parts of them into lakes, and
affecting their hydrological, physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and dynamics.
Reservoirs are very effective retaining particulate materials, thereby avoiding the downstream
transport of suspended sediment and the chemical substances associated with it (e.g. Carbon,
C, or Nitrogen, N) so they have proven to be the most important sinks for organic carbon
among inland waters and have a potential significance as nitrogen sinks. Therefore, the
study of C and N transport by rivers is of great interest since river load represents a
major link to the global C and N cycles. Present work investigates the effects of the
Barasona reservoir on the runoff, suspended sediment, C and N derived from the highly
active mountainous Ésera and Isábena rivers. Main results indicate that the reservoir
reduces the Ésera–Isábena river fluxes dramatically as almost all the inputs are
retained within the reservoir. 300,000 t of suspended sediment were deposited into the
Barasona Reservoir, from which more than 16,000 were C (i.e. 2,200 t as organic C)
and 222 t were N, despite that the study year (2011–2012) can be considered as
very dry. These values may not be seen as remarkable in a wider global context but
figures would increase up to ca. 2.6 × 106 t of C (i.e. 360,000 t of organic C) and
35,000 t of N if it is assumes that around 30 hm3 of sediment are currently stored in
the reservoir. Nevertheless, these values are indicative and should be treated with
caution as there is incomplete understanding of all the processes which affect C
and N, hence further investigation to establish a more complete picture of C and
N yields and budgets by monitoring the different processes involved is essential. |
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