Thousands of stream miles in the southern Piedmont region are impaired because of high levels of suspended sediment. It is unclear if the source is upland erosion from agricultural sources or bank erosion of historic sediment deposited in the flood plains between 1830 and 1930 when cotton farming was extensive. The objective of this study was to determine the source of high stream suspended sed...

The alluvial flood plains of lowland Britain contain thick sequences of fine-grained sediment that result from the deposition of suspended sediment during flood events. These environments constitute important storage zones for a wide range of sediment-associated nutrients and con­ taminants and many of the geochemical properties of the deposited sediment are strongly related to particle size. R...

Non-point source (NPS) pollution contributes greatly to the contamination of surface water quality and has aroused widespread concerns. NPS pollution is influenced by a multitude of site-related factors whose effects are complicated. We estimated NPS pollution with a soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model in China’s Fan River watershed. A new method, boosted regression tree (BRT), was prop...

A benthic-pelagic mesocosm experiment was performed to study how the benthic macrofaunal community responds to a eutrophication gradient. The novel experimental setup allowed the induction of an eutrophication gradient in the water column and the detailed documentation of the response of the benthos in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Nine mesocosms were deployed in the facilities...

Sediment management is guided by both technology and local so-cioeconomic conditions.llpstreaa management in China emphasizesgully control. Warping of land is practiced wherever conditionspermit. Both make use of sediment as an asset. Sediment is alsoused to enlarge Yellov River levees to 50 to 70 m wide.Useful storage capacity of a large reservoir may be preservedpe...

The polychaete Capitella sp. I has been described as an enrichment opportunist and is one of very few species able to thrive in highly organic sediments heavily contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and other organic pollutants. We examined 3 plausible explanations for the success of Capitella sp. 1: (1) worms prevent uptake of PAH across body surfaces, (2) worms take up PAH ...

The piñon (Pinus edulis Engelm.)-juniper [Juniperus monosperma (Engelm.) Sarg.] woodlands of Bandelier National Monument are experiencing accelerated erosion. Earlier studies suggest that causes of these rapidly eroding woodlands are related to an unprecedented rapid transition of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa C. Lawson) savanna to piñon-juniper woodlands as a result of cumulative historical ...

Experiments combining fluorescent particle tracer techniques with time-lapse video recording demonstrated that the gastropod Hydrobia truncata decreases crawling rate on patches rich in chlorophyll-a, while maintaining a constant feedng rate as sedimentary chlorophyll-a content varies. In contrast, H. truncata decreases feeding rate but does not change crawling rate upon encounter with patches ...

Soil loss rates from construction sites can be 1000 times the average of natural soil erosion rates and 20 times that from agricultural lands. Silt fence (SF) is the current industry standard used to control sediment originating from construction activities. Silt fences are designed to act as miniature detention ponds. Research has indicated that SF sediment filtering efficiency is related to i...

Development and promulgation of sediment quality criteria represents a substantial challenge for water quality agencies. Unlike water quality programs that rely on individual chemical thresholds to assess water quality, the complex processes affecting contaminant bioavailability in sediments preclude the use of contaminant concentrations to independently assess impacts or identify cause. Variou...