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Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Mobilising fine sediment in a highly regulated upland snowmelt river using hydrological scaled experimental floods

Daniel Coleman A B and Simon Williams A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A DPI Water, PO Box 53, Wollongong, NSW 2500, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: daniel.coleman@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 68(1) 146-158 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF15231
Submitted: 16 June 2015  Accepted: 15 December 2015   Published: 9 March 2016

Abstract

Significant water diversion, flow variability, and the lack of high flow events can result in altered channel surfaces and morphology through the accumulation of fine sediments within the riverbed. Mitigation of this issue using environmental water often involves single large annual flushing floods as peak discharge is often regarded as the critical hydrological metric for river habitat recovery. We assess the performance of a hydrological scaled flow strategy of five intra-annual experimental floods to mobilise fine sediment below a large reservoir in the Snowy River, Australia. Suspended sediment was measured using a high frequency sampling regime; before, during and post-flood along a longitudinal gradient of 2.2, 24 and 92 km. Substantial sediment loads and high peak total suspended solid (TSS) concentrations were produced by the five experimental floods. The first (61.7 m3 s–1) and fourth (largest at 148.5 m3 s–1) experimental floods were by far the most effective, producing more than 70% of the total sediment load at each site. The effectiveness of each experimental flood was related to the peak discharge rate, time since flood, and the magnitude increase from the previous event. This study illustrates how a hydrological scaled flood regime can produce effective fine sediment mobilisation within the channel of a highly regulated lotic system.

Additional keywords: channel maintenance, environmental flood, flow magnitude, particle size, total suspended solids.


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