Purpose: Quantifying suspended sediment fluxes and dynamics across mountains, and identifying the origin of sediment in severely eroded areas, are of primary importance for the management of water resources. This contribution aims to generalise previous results from suspended sediment fingerprinting obtained during 2007–2009 in a mesoscale Alpine catchment (the Bléone River; 905 km22^2) in France, and to assess variability in sediment sources throughout the second half of the twentieth century.
Materials and methods: Sediment fingerprinting, based on elemental geochemistry and radionuclide measurements, was conducted on a sediment core collected in an alluvial floodplain at the basin outlet. This technique was combined with hydro-sedimentary time-series to reconstruct the origin of suspended sediment deposited at this location over the last 50 years.
Results and discussion: Interpretation of sedimentation based on historical hydrological databases corroborates core dating obtained with 137137^{137}Cs and 210210^{210}Pbxsxs_{xs} activity measurements. Black marls and (marly) limestone sources provided the main fraction of sediment throughout the sequence (40 and 22 %, respectively). However, we also found evidence for the occurrence of major floods carrying large quantities of sediment originating from Quaternary deposits and conglomerates (25 and 16 %, respectively). The variability of sediment sources throughout the sequence may reflect the spatial variability of rainfall within the catchment, which in turn reflects its origin. However, the relatively homogeneous sediment composition throughout the sequence confirms that core-derived information is representative of widespread flood events.
Conclusions : These results are consistent with those obtained in previous studies. They also outline the need to take into
account the entire grain size range of fine sediment in order to provide an overall picture of sediment sources and transfers
within highly erosive catchments. This study also emphasizes the importance of using archival data to validate the results of
sediment fingerprinting studies conducted during short contemporary monitoring programmes, and to extend fingerprinting of sediment sources over longer time-scales which include large and widespread floods.
Core-derived historical records of suspended sediment origin in a mesoscale mountainous catchment: the Bléone River French Alpas
Résumé
en
Purpose: Quantifying suspended sediment fluxes and dynamics across mountains, and identifying the origin of sediment in severely eroded areas, are of primary importance for the management of water resources. This contribution aims to generalise previous results from suspended sediment fingerprinting obtained during 2007–2009 in a mesoscale Alpine catchment (the Bléone River; 905 km22^2) in France, and to assess variability in sediment sources throughout the second half of the twentieth century.
Materials and methods: Sediment fingerprinting, based on elemental geochemistry and radionuclide measurements, was conducted on a sediment core collected in an alluvial floodplain at the basin outlet. This technique was combined with hydro-sedimentary time-series to reconstruct the origin of suspended sediment deposited at this location over the last 50 years.
Results and discussion: Interpretation of sedimentation based on historical hydrological databases corroborates core dating obtained with 137137^{137}Cs and 210210^{210}Pbxsxs_{xs} activity measurements. Black marls and (marly) limestone sources provided the main fraction of sediment throughout the sequence (40 and 22 %, respectively). However, we also found evidence for the occurrence of major floods carrying large quantities of sediment originating from Quaternary deposits and conglomerates (25 and 16 %, respectively). The variability of sediment sources throughout the sequence may reflect the spatial variability of rainfall within the catchment, which in turn reflects its origin. However, the relatively homogeneous sediment composition throughout the sequence confirms that core-derived information is representative of widespread flood events.
Conclusions : These results are consistent with those obtained in previous studies. They also outline the need to take into
account the entire grain size range of fine sediment in order to provide an overall picture of sediment sources and transfers
within highly erosive catchments. This study also emphasizes the importance of using archival data to validate the results of
sediment fingerprinting studies conducted during short contemporary monitoring programmes, and to extend fingerprinting of sediment sources over longer time-scales which include large and widespread floods.
Auteur(s)
O. Navratil1
, O. Evrard2, 3
, Michel Esteves4
, Sophie Ayrault2, 3
, Irene Lefevre2, 3
, Cédric Legout4
, Jean-Louis Reyss2, 5
, Nicolas Gratiot4
, Julien Nemery4
, Nicolle Mathys1
, Alain Poirel6
, Philippe Bonté2, 3
1
UR ETGR (ETNA) -
Erosion torrentielle neige et avalanches
( 182213 )
- 2 rue de la Papeterie-BP 76, F-38402 Saint-Martin-d'Hères
- France
Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture UR1457 ( 302049 )
2
LSCE -
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
( 518 )
- Bât. 12,
avenue de la Terrasse,
F-91198 GIF-SUR-YVETTE CEDEX
- France
Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines UMR8212 ( 81173 )
;
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers UMR8212 ( 300045 )
;
Université Paris-Saclay ( 419361 )
;
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR8212 ( 441569 )
;
Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) ( 465913 )
;
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives ( 300016 )
3
GEDI -
Géochimie Des Impacts
( 1007948 )
- LSCE. CEA Paris-Saclay. Orme des merisiers. 91190 Saint-Aubin.
- France
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette] DRF/LSCE ( 518 )
;
Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines UMR8212 ( 81173 )
;
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers UMR8212 ( 300045 )
;
Université Paris-Saclay ( 419361 )
;
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR8212 ( 441569 )
;
Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) ( 465913 )
;
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives ( 300016 )
4
LTHE -
Laboratoire d'étude des transferts en hydrologie et environnement
( 732 )
- ENSHMG - Domaine Universitaire 1023-1025 Rue de la piscine - BP 53 38041 GRENOBLE CEDEX 9
- France
Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble ( 1850 )
;
Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 ( 51016 )
;
Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology ( 89889 )
;
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( 300045 )
;
Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture UMR1484 ( 302049 )
;
Université Savoie Mont Blanc ( 432896 )
;
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMS832 ( 441569 )
;
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement UMR012 ( 67872 )
;
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers ( 300045 )
;
Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble ( 300275 )
;
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR5564 / URA1512 ( 441569 )
5
OCEANIS -
Océan et Interfaces
( 1007945 )
- LSCE. CEA Paris-Saclay. Orme des merisiers. 91190 Saint-Aubin.
- France
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette] DRF/LSCE ( 518 )
;
Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines UMR8212 ( 81173 )
;
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers UMR8212 ( 300045 )
;
Université Paris-Saclay ( 419361 )
;
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR8212 ( 441569 )
;
Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) ( 465913 )
;
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives ( 300016 )
6
Electricité de France - Division Technique Générale (EDF DTG)
( 553922 )
- France
Comité de lecture
Oui
Audience
Internationale
Date de publication
2012-10
Volume
12
Numéro
9
Page/Identifiant
1463-1478
Vulgarisation
Non
Nom de la revue
Journal of Soils and Sediments
(ISSN : 1439-0108, ISSN électronique : 1614-7480)
Publié par Springer Verlag
Revue non référencée dans Sherpa-Romeo
O. Navratil, O. Evrard, Michel Esteves, Sophie Ayrault, Irene Lefevre, et al.. Core-derived historical records of suspended sediment origin in a mesoscale mountainous catchment: the Bléone River French Alpas. Journal of Soils and Sediments, 2012, 12 (9), pp.1463-1478. ⟨10.1007/s11368-012-0565-2⟩. ⟨halshs-01222790⟩