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International audience; Spectrocolorimetric properties provide a quick, low-cost and non-destructive alternative to the measurement of geochemical and organic matter parameters. Their potential to discriminate between forest, cultivated and subsoil sources was tested in soils and sediment collected in coastal catchments draining the main radioactive pollution plume of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Fifteen spectrocolorimetric properties were determined in potential source (n=37) and sediment (n=400) samples collected during 13 campaigns from 2011-2017 in two catchments (covering a total surface area of 450 km$^2$) draining the main radioactive pollution plume. Potential sources included topsoil from forest and cropland sources along with subsoil material originating from landslides, channel banks and the decontamination of cultivated areas. The optimum set of parameters used in the mixed linear model to calculate the sediment source contributions was obtained through the use of a range test, the Kruskal-Wallis H-test, and a linear discriminant analysis. Nine colour parameters correctly classified 100% of the source samples (forest, subsoil and cultivated sources). The results illustrate that cultivated landscapes were the main source of sediment to these river systems (mean 56%, SD 34%) followed by subsoil (mean 26%, SD 16%) and forest sources (mean 21%, SD 24%). However, these contributions strongly varied over time, with a peak of subsoil contributions (mean 57%, SD 17%) in Fall 2015, coinciding with the occurrence of a typhoon after the remediation works. These original results demonstrate that spectrocolorimetric measurements provide a powerful tool for the monitoring of the effectiveness of remediation works in this post-accidental context.

International audience; The definition of the Anthropocene boundary is being discussed across various disciplines. In this study, we have focused our research on the sedimentary responses of landscape to human activity, as a response to agricultural changes over the 20th century in Europe. In the absence of long-term records of sediment transported by river systems, sediment deposited in lakes may represent a powerful archive for reconstructing the evolution of sediment yields in response to global changes. Accordingly, sedimentary fluxes were reconstructed in 10 ponds located at the outlet of small agricultural headwater catchments distributed across the Loire Basin, in Western France. These study sites were selected in order to represent a large variety of land cover/land use changes, landscape morphologies and agriculture dynamics. The objective was to investigate whether a common evolution of sediment yields was observed. The results obtained show the occurrence of a general transition in the sediment production during the second half of the 20th century (between 1945 and 1960), with two contrasting trajectories. On the one hand, sediment delivery decreased in catchments witnessing a decline of agriculture, with a 70% decrease of sediment delivery. On the other hand, in lowland areas affected by intensification of land management after WWII (land consolidation, stream redesign, edge removal or agricultural drainage implementation), sediment deposits record a sharp acceleration, by one order of magnitude. The recent sediment dynamics therefore emphasizes a significant change associated to the post-1950 period, with a sharp positive or negative trend. These local observations are in agreement with data compiled from other countries across the Northern Hemisphere (Europe, USA, Japan). In contrast, there is a lack of similar data from catchments located in the Southern Hemisphere (e.g. in South America, developing countries).

International audience

International audience; Following the shift towards more intensive agriculture in cultivated lowlands in Europe, field sizes have increased and stream valley meanderings have been removed and realigned along new straight field borders. These modifications have led to profound alterations of the hydromorphology of the streams. To test the impact of these modifications, the long-term and current volumes of sediment originating from stream banks were calculated as they provided potential sources of sediment in a large pond located at the outlet of a small agricultural lowland basin under strong anthropogenic pressure. Bank erosion was measured using several methodologies, i) over a short period using a set of erosion pins along a small stream (1400 m long) to quantify the material exported during a single winter season (2012/2013); ii) over the last 69 years using an original approach involving the comparison of a compilation of three-dimensional historical stream redesign plans from 1944 vs. new measurements conducted in 2013 (DGPS and LiDAR data); iii) over several decades by using tracers (137Cs) that can differentiate between surface and subsoil erosion. At the catchment scale, total sediment exports were estimated from 1945 to 2013 combining seismic imagery and core dating in the lake. Sediment exports decreased with time, from 300 t. km–2.yr–between 1954 and 1980 to 95 t. km–2.yr–1 between 1980 and 2013. Today, erosion rates recorded at the outlet of the catchment vary between 90–102 t.km–2.yr–1. Therefore, the order of magnitude of the mean export rate is approximately 180 t. km–2.yr–1 for the last 70 years.The contribution of channel banks to this sediment export was the highest (~30%) between 1954 and 1980 when the ditches were constructed. For the entire period since the landscape modification, the contribution of bank erosion is lower but still reaches 20%. Bank erosion can therefore be considered as a significant contributor to the sediment budget of the lowland catchments that have been redesigned after the 2nd world war in Western Europe.

International audience; Fieldwork was conducted every 6 months between 2011 and 2017 to monitor the dispersion of sediment contaminated with radionuclides in rivers draining the main Fukushima radioactive pollution plume (~500 km²). Fine sediment was systematically collected at the same locations (n=47) and analysed for gamma-emitting radionuclides (including 137Cs and 110mAg). A selection of samples was also analysed for carbon/nitrogen concentrations and isotopes. Organic matter analyses showed that paddy fields provided the main source of contaminated sediment to the rivers shortly after the accident. The spatial variations of the 110mAg:137Cs activity ratio in soils were used to demonstrate the very rapid export of sediment to the Pacific Ocean. However, this tool could only be used during the first campaigns, because of the quick decay of 110mAg. Overall, radiocesium concentrations measured in sediment deposits decreased by ~90% between 2011 and 2017. This may be explained by remediation works, by a massive export of material during typhoons and by the occurrence of landslides or channel bank erosion that supply material sheltered from the Fukushima fallout to the river network. Consequently, 6 years after the accident, most of the residual radioactive contamination is found in forests and in dam reservoirs. The analysis of sediment cores collected in a reservoir confirmed the significant storage of contaminated material in these lakes and that paddy fields provided their main source. Ongoing research focuses on the development of a soil erosion model and on the quantification of the impact of remediation works.

International audience; Soil erosion is recognized as one of the main processes triggering the physical and chemical degradation of water bodies. Although erosive dynamics have been widely described in morphogenic areas, much less is known about this process in lowland agricultural catchments.To address this issue, a multidisciplinary study was carried out at the scale of a small agricultural lowland catchment (Louroux catchment, France, 25 km (2)) to reconstruct the evolution of the soil erosion rates and sources, from the hillslopes to the deposition areas in the water bodies. This study's goal is specifically to understand the impact of changes in land use and agricultural practices after 1950 (field re-design, ditch creation, drainage) on sediment dynamics For this purpose, sediment cores were collected in a medieval pond (870AD) located at the outlet of the catchment. These cores have been dated and used to reconstruct the temporal variations in sediment fluxes over time (from 1954 to 2013). In addition, sediment sources were identified using fallout radionuclide measurements (cesium-137 and beryllium7 / excess lead-210 ratios). These results will contribute to the implementation of effective management measures to reduce the transfer of sediments from the hillslopes to the hydrosystems.; 14 15 L'érosion des sols est reconnue comme étant l'un des principaux processus à l'origine de la dégradation physico-16 chimique des masses d'eau. Les phénomènes érosifs, largement décrits en contexte morphogène, restent pourtant 17 peu étudiés en contexte de plaine. 18 Pour combler ce manque, une étude pluridisciplinaire a été menée à l'échelle d'un petit bassin versant (25 km²) 19 de plaine agricole drainée pour reconstruire l'évolution des taux et des sources d'érosion, depuis les zones 20 d'accumulation de matière jusqu'aux zones sources. Cette étude vise ainsi à comprendre l'impact des 21 aménagements intervenus dans le bassin après 1950 (remembrements, création de fossés, drainage) sur la 22 dynamique sédimentaire actuelle et passée. 23 À cette fin, des carottages ont été réalisés dans un étang médiéval (870AD) localisé à l'exutoire du bassin versant 24 du Louroux (France). Les carottes ont été datées et ont permis de reconstruire les variations temporelles du flux 25 sédimentaire (de 1954 à 2013), mais aussi de les associer avec les changements d'usage des sols. Par ailleurs, les 26 sources de sédiments ont été identifiées à partir de mesures de radionucléides (césium 137 et rapport béryllium 27 7/plomb 210 en excès). Ces résultats vont permettre de guider la mise en place d'aménagements pour lutter contre 28 le départ de matière sur les versants. 29 MOTS CLEFS : érosion, sédiment, colmatage, archive sédimentaire, traçage 30 31 Increase of erosion source contributions to rivers and lakes (1950-2010): 32 the case of the Louroux Pond (Central France) 33 Soil erosion is recognized as one of the main processes triggering the physical and chemical degradation of water 34 bodies. Although erosive dynamics have been widely described in morphogenic areas, much less is known about 35 this process in lowland agricultural catchments. 36 To address this issue, a multidisciplinary study was carried out at the scale of a small agricultural lowland 37 catchment (Louroux catchment, France, 25 km²) to reconstruct the evolution of the soil erosion rates and sources, 38 from the hillslopes to the deposition areas in the water bodies. This study's goal is specifically to understand the 39 impact of changes in land use and agricultural practices after 1950 (field redesign , ditch creation, drainage) on 40 sediment dynamics 41 For this purpose, sediment cores were collected in a medieval pond (870AD) located at the outlet of the 42 catchment. These cores have been dated and used to reconstruct the temporal variations in sediment fluxes over 43 time (from 1954 to 2013). In addition, sediment sources were identified using fallout radionuclide measurements 44 (cesium-137 and beryllium7 / excess lead-210 ratios). These results will contribute to the implementation of 45 effective management measures to reduce the transfer of sediments from the hillslopes to the hydrosystems. 46 KEY WORDS: erosion, sediment, siltation, lake deposits, sediment fingerprinting 47 48 49

International audience; Intensification of agriculture after WWII increased soil erosion and sediment supply to rivers in Northwestern Europe. The Louroux Pond catchment (25 km 2), located in the Loire River basin (central France), is representative of these intensively cultivated environments and subject to severe soil erosion and river siltation. This catchment was equipped with an extensive network of tile drains that were installed after 1945 to produce crops in this former wetland. In order to decrease the deleterious impacts induced by accelerated soil erosion in this region, there is a need to better understand sediment dynamics during flood events. To this end, natural fallout radionuclides were analysed in both sediment sources and suspended matter transiting the river network to quantify the respective proportions of recently eroded vs. resuspended material. Accordingly, 7Be and 210Pbxs concentrations were measured in overland flow and suspended sediment collected in the pond tributaries during a succession of floods that occurred during winter in 2013-2014 and in 2016. The results show that the mean fraction of recently eroded material transiting these rivers increased from 40 ± 20% to 80 ± 20 in 2013-2014, and from 65 ± 20% to 80 ± 20% in 2016. These results demonstrate an initial flush of sediment previously accumulated in the river channel during the first winter floods. Then, the fraction of sediment recently eroded from the hillslopes significantly increased during subsequent events. This research illustrates the added value of combining continuous river monitoring and fallout radionuclide analyses to improve our knowledge of sediment dynamics and to protect soil and water resources in these environments.

International audience; Soil erosion is recognized as one of the main processes of land degradation in agricultural areas. High suspended sediment loads, often generated from eroding agricultural landscapes, are known to degrade downstream environments. Accordingly, there is a need to understand soil erosion dynamics during flood events. Suspended sediment was therefore sampled in the river network and at tile drain outlets during five flood events in a lowland drained catchment in France. Source and sediment fallout radionuclide concentrations (Be-7, Pb-210(xs)) were measured to quantify both the fraction of recently eroded particles transported during flood events and their residence time. Results indicate that the mean fraction of recently eroded sediment, estimated for the entire Louroux catchment, increased from 45 +/- 20% to 80 +/- 20% between December 2013 and February 2014, and from 65 +/- 20% to 80 +/- 20% in January 2016. These results demonstrate an initial flush of sediment previously accumulated in the river channel before the increasing supply of sediment recently eroded from the hillslopes during subsequent events. This research highlights the utility of coupling continuous river monitoring and fallout radionuclide measurements to increase our understanding of sediment dynamics and improve the management of soil and water resources in agricultural catchments.

International audience; The phenomena of erosion and sediment transport are often observed with a time lag and / or space within a watershed, especially between the upstream and downstream areas. This difference between runoff and erosion assessments that depends on the size of observation is commonly called the "scale effect". This effect has often been studied globally and reduced runoff and erosion rates are generally reported as one moves from the local to the regional level.To quantify the scale effect, local erosion models are often linked to the empirical concept of SDR (Sediment Delivery Ratio): the ratio of exported sediment at the outlet of a drainage system on the gross erosion that occurred locally. This empirical parameter is used as a connectivity factor to estimate the contribution of net soil losses to sedimentary basins exports. A recent renewed interest on these topics has led the development of more or less elaborate variants that propose a conceptualization of the (es) connectivity (s) of the landscape to describe the sedimentary flows within watersheds.In general, these concepts allow apprehending the spatial variability of flow in heterogeneous environments and for events / climates not too extreme. Their use is more difficult when the flows are constrained by the production process. A limit also appears when trying to cover too large a range of spatial scales, because beyond a spatial succession of (re) detachment and deposition processes a new nature of process can emerge. We will rely on several measured database of erosion / sediment transport at different scales and in diverse geomorphological contexts to illustrate and discuss the relevance of these concepts.

International audience; Introduction: In France, since the beginning of 20th century, rural landscapes have been completely modified by human activities. These practices have resulted in profound sedimentary and morphological alterations (channel bed incision, deposition of fine sediment, bank erosion, etc.), detrimental to the achievement of good water status [1].Several research efforts have already investigated either global budgets at the river basin or continental scale or local detailed budget at the plot to the field scale. However, very few studies have tried to analyse the connectivity between fluxes and storages and to draw the links between temporal and spatial scales. In this broad context, the purpose of this study is to examine source-to-sink dynamic of the sediment cycle for the Loire River Basin. This project is broken down into two steps: the first step’s aim is to understand poorly studied processes such as sediment production by agricultural drainage or bank erosion by catchment monitoring. The second step is to elaborate a distributed model of sediment connectivity from hillslopes to basin outlet. Methods:.for the first step, two catchment sites are studied, using historical data or monitoring: the linear (21 km) of two small streams (“La Ligoire”) and the Louroux lake catchment. Most of those two catchments are intensively cultivated and have been extensively submitted to subsurface drainage using drain tiles. The objectives of this part are threefold: 1) quantify incision and deposition processes since the channelization of the streams (1970), (2) quantify in-channel deposition rates of fine sediments, and, (3) explain the spatial distribution of these deposits. For the second step, the modeling approach is based on the use of indicators to describe hillslope processes, potential downstream retention, attempting to link river basin characteristics to a prediction of sediment exports in rivers. It provides insight in the identification of the most influent sediment redistribution processes on the total sediment fluxes and on the differences between various basin typologies [2] [3].Results and discussion: The Ligoire study shows an important stream incision (around 30 cm in 40 years) and the influence of water obstacles on sediment distribution. The Louroux monitoring permits to differentiate between the different sources of sediment and highlight the importance of surface erosion during flood events and of bank erosion during low flows within small intensively cultivated plain catchments. The increased export of the sediment is primarily due to the very high human-made connectivity of these landscapes that was originally created to evacuate the excess water during the humid seasons.For the second step, the analysis of particulate sediment and dissolved fluxes datasets at different spatial and temporal scales permits to identify some of the dominant processes, and also to distinguish natural from anthropogenic influences. Concerning upland physical soil surface erosion rates, we find that the average travel distance of eroded particles may be limited, implying a strong decrease in physical erosion rates when moving from the local scale (m²) to the river basin scale (> 103 km²). Chemical erosion rates are less sensitive to scale and can either decrease or increase with increasing area in function of lithology, land management and topography. The results also highlight the predominant role of surface connectivity to characterize the fraction of sediment exported out of river drainage areas by physical soil surface erosion. For the export of dissolved sediment originating from weathering processes, the catchment physiography and connectivity does no longer play the dominant role.

International audience; Soil erosion is one of the major drivers of landscape evolution in Western Europe. However, depending on the land use characteristics and on the geological and topographical settings, miscellaneous forms of erosion may lead to a very diverse morphological evolution. To understand these landscape evolutions different scientific questions remain to be answered or quantified. The main difficulty arises from the nonlinear interactions between different erosional processes that act at different temporal and spatial scales. This study proposes to investigate different datasets describing particulate and dissolved sediment fluxes within a French River basin (The Loire River) at different spatial scales and at temporal scales ranging from the flood event to several decades.The particulate sediment load values at the outlet of the catchments range from 2.5 102 to 8.6 105 t yr-1, and the sediment yield values range from 2.9 to 32.4 t km 2 yr-1. Sediment exports from the Loire and Brittany river basins are low compared with mountainous regions and European exports. However, a strong spatial variability within this territory exists. The expected results on the sediment yield spatial pattern distribution and the correlation between SY values and basin sizes are not observed. An analysis of the sediment yield values at different time steps shows a strong effect of the seasonal availability of detached particles to be transported. High concentrations of suspended sediments during the winter and lower values during the summer and autumn are observed. Inter-annual variations are also observed, with export values varying by a factor 2 to 10 between years for one catchment. The influence of rainfall on the sediment exports is predominant, but investigations on physical characteristics of each catchment (e.g., lithology, slope, land use) are required to better understand the production and transfer processes within a drainage basin. These inter-annual variations imply that long-term data are required to provide mean SY values representative of the catchment functioning. From our calculations, 18 complete years of data are required to obtain a mean sediment yield value with less than 10% of variation on average around the mean.The specific dissolved fluxes vary from 13.7 to 199.9 t.km-2. t yr-1. Contrary to particulate matters, the impact of the lithology is illustrated by higher total dissolved solid fluxes on limestone catchments compared with graniteous or schisteous catchments. Nitrates and ammonium are indicators of anthropogenic perturbation and their fluxes vary respectively from 0.4 to 31.4 t.km-2. yr-1 and from 7.8*10-3 to 7.7 t.km-2. yr-1 and evolve differently according to land uses: nitrates fluxes are lower in the upstream Loire and higher downstream in the region where agricultural pressure is higher.The analysis of these datasets at different spatial and temporal scales permits to identify some of the dominant processes, and also to distinguish natural from anthropogenic influences. Concerning upland physical soil surface erosion rates, we find that the average travel distance of eroded particles may be limited, implying a strong decrease in physical erosion rates when moving from the local scale (m²) to the river basin scale (> 103 km²). Chemical erosion rates are less sensitive to scale and can either decrease or increase with increasing area in function of lithology, land management and topography. The results also highlight the predominant role of surface connectivity to characterize the fraction of sediment exported out of river drainage areas by physical soil surface erosion. For the export of dissolved sediment originating from weathering processes, the catchment physiography and connectivity does no longer play the dominant role. A direct link between soil production rates and exported dissolved fluxes tends to show that, contrary to the suspended particles, which are transport-limited, the dissolved matter seems to be supply-limited.

International audience; Change of land use or agricultural practices are known to have high impacts on sediment transfer in catchments and rivers. Numerous studies have particularly illustrated these effects in sloping land in tropical areas undergoing deforestation. Much less attention has been paid to lowland humid areas, where permanent land uses have been plowed more recently. However recent studies reported significant erosion rates in these environments despite the gentle topography and the temperate climate. In order to quantify these changing fluxes of sediment, several instrumentation and historical database analyses were carried out in various catchments of the Loire Valley, France. More particularly, a multiparameter analysis was conducted on sedimentary deposits of a pond created in the 11th century in a catchment representative of cultivated and drained lowland environments where an intensification of agricultural practices has occurred during the last 60 years. The results showed that the initial land consolidation period (1954-1960) was characterized by a dominance of allochtonous material input to the pond. This input represents an erosion of 1900 to 2300 t.km-$^2$ .yr-1 originating from the catchment. Then, between 1970-1990, terrigenous material flow decreased progressively and tended to stabilize, whereas eutrophication and associated primary production increased in the pond. In addition to these temporal changes, material input across the pond during the last 10 years corresponds to a loss of material in the catchment ranging between 90 and 102 t.km-$^2$.yr-1. While a strong decrease is observed, it still represents a 60-fold increase of the sediment fluxes to the pond compared to the preintensification period. Subsequent research monitoring studies permitted to differentiate between the different sources of sediment and highlight the importance of surface erosion during flood events and of bank erosion during low flows. The increased export of the sediment is primarily due to the very high human-made connectivity of these landscapes that was originally created to evacuate the excess water during the humid seasons.

International audience; Soil erosion is recognized as one of the main processes of land degradation in agricultural areas. It accelerates the supply of sediment to the rivers and degrades water quality. To limit those impacts and optimize management programs in such areas, sources of sediment need to be identified and sediment transport to be controlled. Here, we determined the sources of suspended sediment in the Louroux (24 km$^2$ , French Loire River basin), a small catchment representative of lowland cultivated environments of Northwestern Europe. In this catchment, channels have been reshaped and 220 tile drain outlets have been installed over the last several decades. As a result, soil erosion and sediment fluxes have increased drastically. The variation of 87Sr/86Sr ratios, driven by the weathering of rocks with different ages and chemical composition , may reflect the mixing of different sediment sources. Strontium isotopic ratios (87Sr/86Sr) were therefore determined in potential soil sources, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and a sediment core sampled in the Louroux Pond at the catchment outlet.

International audience; The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) accident in March 2011 led to the fallout of predominantly radiocesium ($^{137}$Cs and $^{134}$Cs) on soils of the Fukushima Prefecture. This radiocesium was primarily fixated to fine soil particles. Subsequently, rainfall and snow melt runoff events result in significant quantities of radioce-sium being eroded and transported throughout the coastal catchments and ultimately exported to the Pacific Ocean. Erosion models, such as the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), relate rainfall directly to soil erosion in that an increase in rainfall one month will directly result in a proportional increase in sediment generation. Understanding the rainfall regime of the region is therefore fundamental to modelling and predicting long-term radiocesium export. Here, we analyze rainfall data for ∼40 stations within a 100 km radius of the FDNPP. First we present general information on the rainfall regime in the region based on monthly and annual rainfall totals. Second we present general information on rainfall erosivity, the R-factor of the USLE equation and its relationship to the general rainfall data. Third we examine rainfall trends over the last 100 years at several of the rainfall stations to understand temporal trends and whether ∼20 years of data is sufficient to calculate the R-factor for USLE models. Fourth we present monthly R-factor maps for the Fukushima coastal catchments impacted by the FDNPP accident. The variability of the rainfall in the region, particularly during the typhoon season, is likely resulting in a similar variability in the transfer and migration of radiocesium throughout the coastal catchments of the Fukushima Prefecture. Characterizing the region's rainfall variability is fundamental to modelling sediment and the concomitant radiocesium migration and transfer throughout these catchments and ultimately to the Pacific Ocean.