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Purpose: Erosion and its spatial distribution in three agricultural headwater catchments were assessed in the border of the volcanic plateau in Southern Brazil. We analyzed terrain, hydrological processes, and land use influence to provide a comprehensive assessment of the catchments' sensitivity to erosion. Methods: Topographic attributes were acquired from a digital elevation map, WaterSed model was parameterized to simulate runoff, diffuse erosion, and sediment yield, and sediment source contributions were estimated using sediment fingerprinting based on near-infrared spectroscopy. Results: According to the modeled results, areas covered by crop fields, grasslands, and those adjacent to the drainage network are the most sensitive to erosion. Short distances from the source to the river network and the occurrence of high magnitude rainfall events (80 mm) promoted increases in connectivity for runoff/sediment transfer. Erosion simulations show that areas of low infiltration, such as unpaved roads, were important runoff generators during lower volume rainfall events (25 mm). Sediment fingerprinting provided satisfactory results to quantify the contributions of unpaved roads to sediment (~ 39%). Topsoil and stream channels were also significant sediment sources for the set of analyzed samples, corresponding to average contributions of 38 and 23%, respectively. Conclusion: Areas sharing geomorphological similarities did not lead to similar sediment contributions. Vegetation cover controlled erosion in topographically sensitive areas. Unpaved roads provide a significant sediment source, followed by topsoil and stream channels. The complementary results provide useful insights to better coordinate planning environmental conservation strategies in these fragile landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive sediment discharge in karstic regions can be highly disruptive to water treatment plants. It is essential for catchment stakeholders and drinking water suppliers to limit the impact of high sediment loads on potable water supply, but their strategic choices must be based on simulations integrating surface and groundwater transfers and taking into account possible changes in land use. Karstic environments are particularly challenging as they face a lack of accurate physical descriptions for the modelling process, and they can be particularly complex to predict due to the non-linearity of the processes generating sediment discharge. The aim of the study was to assess the sediment discharge variability at a water treatment plant according to multiple realistic land use scenarios. To reach that goal, we developed a new cascade modelling approach with an erosion-runoff geographic information system (GIS) model (WaterSed) and a deep neural network. The model was used in the Radicatel hydrogeological catchment (106 km 2 in Normandy, France), where karstic spring water is extracted to a water treatment plant. The sediment discharge was simulated for five design storms under current land use and compared to four land use scenarios (baseline, ploughing up of grassland, eco-engineering, best farming practices, and coupling of eco-engineering/best farming practices). Daily rainfall time series and WaterSed modelling outputs extracted at connected sinkholes (positive dye tracing) were used as input data for the deep neural network model. The model structure was found by a classical trial-and-error procedure, and the model was trained on 2 significant hydrologic years. Evaluation on a test set showed a good performance of the model (NSE = 0.82), and the application of a monthly backward-chaining nested cross-validation revealed that the model is able to generalize on new datasets. Simulations made for the four land use scenarios suggested that ploughing up 33 % of grasslands would increase sediment discharge at the water treatment plant by 5 % on average. By contrast, eco-engineering and best farming practices will significantly reduce sediment discharge at the water treatment plant (respectively in the ranges of 10 %–44 % and 24 %–61 %). The coupling of these two strategies is the most efficient since it affects the hydro-sedimentary production and transfer processes (decreasing sediment discharge from 40 % to 80 %). The cascade modelling approach developed in this study offers interesting opportunities for sediment discharge prediction at karstic springs or water treatment plants under multiple land use scenarios. It also provides robust decision-making tools for land use planning and drinking water suppliers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long‐term records are needed to investigate the impact of extreme events in the current framework of global change. Sedimentary reconstruction with a high resolution remains difficult without conducting expensive, destructive and/or time‐consuming analyses. In this study, high resolution CT‐scan profiles (0·6 mm resolution) were used to investigate their potential for detecting flood deposits induced by heavy rainfall events. This method was applied to a sediment core dated with fallout radionuclides – covering a 120 year period – collected in a pond draining a small forested catchment (French Massif Central – Central France). Between 1960 and 2017, 28 layers were deposited. Seventy‐six percent of these deposits were correlated to the occurrence of heavy rainfall (>50 mm) recorded during one or two consecutive days. The remainder of the deposits detected with the Computer Tomography (CT) scanner (n = 5) were not correlated to weather events. They mainly occurred in response to landscape management operations (for example, afforestation works as a result of the major 1999 storm). This period was indeed characterized by an increase in the delivery of 137Cs‐enriched sediment, demonstrating a greater topsoil contribution to sediment during major forest management operations. The intensity of detrital layers has significantly decreased throughout time after a major land use change that took place in 1948 and land abandonment. The frequency of heavy rainfall and associated detrital deposits has nevertheless increased by 60% and 75%, respectively, between the years 1960 and 2017. These results outline the potential of CT‐scan for reconstructing long‐term flood deposits associated with heavy precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Spectrocolourimetric measurements provide a relatively inexpensive, quick and non-destructive alternative to the analysis of geochemical and organic matter properties. When used in the analysis of sediments and their potential sources, these colour parameters may provide important information on the dominant processes (i.e. erosion) occurring in the Critical Zone. Here, they are used to investigate whether eroded sediment is derived from forest (i.e. natural), cultivated (i.e. anthropogenic) or subsoil sources in order to assess their potential to monitor the effect of decontamination in regions impacted by fallout from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. Materials and methods: Fifteen spectrocolourimetric properties (L*, a*, b*, C*, h, x, y, z, L, a, b, u*, v*, u', v') were measured in potential source (n = 37) and sediment (n = 400) samples collected during 13 campaigns from 2011 to 2017 after major flood events in two catchments (total surface area of 450 km2) draining the main FDNPP radioactive pollution plume. Potential sources included topsoil from forest and cultivated 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. Results and discussion: Nine selected colour parameters correctly classified 100% of the source samples (i.e. 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 varied strongly 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 results were consistent with monitoring studies conducted in the same area that showed the major impact of typhoon Etau in September 2015 on sediment and radiocaesium fluxes. Conclusions: These original results demonstrate that spectrocolourimetric measurements may contribute to the routine monitoring of the effectiveness of remediation works in this post-accidental context. Owing to the inexpensive, rapid and non-destructive analyses, spectrocolourimetric-based tracing methods have significant potential to provide information on the dominant erosion processes occurring in the Critical Zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Sediment connectivity at the landscape scale has gained interest in the last few decades. Distributed approaches, such as topographic indices, are widely used to evaluate this connectivity. However, most of the research efforts are concentrated in mountainous areas while little work has been done in lowland areas where evidence of high connectivity has been reported. The objectives of this study are as follows: (i) to integrate landscape infiltration/runoff properties in the assessment of connectivity to account for lowland processes and (ii) to apply this approach to a large territory with both mountainous and lowland areas. Materials and methods: The topographic index of connectivity ( IC) of Borselli et al. () was computed for the Loire-Brittany River Basin (>10 km). A distributed parameter ( IDPR) that reflects landscape infiltration and saturation properties due to underlying geological formation characteristics is introduced. We integrated this parameter in a revised index ( IC) as an indicator of landscape hydrologic connectivity. Results at the pixel scale are aggregated at the watershed scale. Results and discussion: Two maps of connectivity are produced, considering the initial IC and the revised form ( IC). As expected, the IC gives the highest connectivity in the steepest areas and does not reflect the existing connectivity in lowland areas. On the contrary, the IC computed in this study profoundly modifies the sediment connectivity values. These changes are evenly distributed over the entire territory and affected 51.5 % of the watersheds. As a result, we obtained a better correlation between calculated connectivity and the observed drainage density (which reflects the actual connections between hillslopes and rivers) in areas where slopes are gentle (<7 %). Conclusions: Topographic indices do not reflect the real sediment connectivity in lowland areas, but their adaptation by considering runoff processes of such areas is possible. The IC presents an interesting perspective to define other highly connected areas at the country scale, as 17 % of the French territory is characterized by very gentle slopes with high runoff capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • MUSLE is able to predict sedimentary response and mitigation measures in burnt areas. • High-severity fire increase soil erosion and sediment load at the basin scale. • Emergency stabilization and soil erosion barriers are effective to reduce soil erosion. • SWAT model may be a post-fire management decision tool. The present paper contributes to bridging the gaps in modelling post-fire impact and mitigation measures on soil erosion. The specific aims were to predict the effects of forest fires and post-fire mitigation measures on runoff and specific sediment yield (SSY) in a river basin (Celone, S-E Italy). The Soil and Water Assessment Tool model, calibrated with field observations, was used to evaluate runoff and SSY for the current land use (baseline) and six post-fire scenarios. From 1990 to 2011, at the basin scale, the average annual SSY was 5.60 t ha- 1yr−1 (SD = 3.47 t ha-1yr−1). 20% of the total drainage area showed a critical value of SSY (>10 t ha−1 yr−1). The effects of different fire-severity levels were predicted for one year after the fire, acting on a limited area (2.3% of the total basin area). At the basin scale, the post-fire effect on surface runoff was negligible for all scenarios (<0.4%), and the impact on SSY increased from 5.86 t ha−1 yr−1 up to 12.05 t ha−1 yr−1. At the subbasin scale, the post-fire logging scenario showed the highest increase of soil loss (SSY increased from 9.48 t ha−1 yr−1 to 57.40 t ha−1 yr−1). Post-fire mitigation treatments like straw mulching and erosion barriers effectively reduced soil erosion in high- and moderate-severity fires (19.12 t ha-1yr−1 and 20.93 t ha−1 yr−1, respectively). At the hydrological response unit level, the SSY estimated for the forest in the baseline ranged from 1.18 t ha- 1yr−1 to 2.04 t ha−1 yr−1. SSY increased more than one order of magnitude for the high-severity fire scenarios and ranged from 4.33 to 6.74 t ha−1 yr−1 in the very low-severity fire scenario, underlining the scale effect from the HRU to the basin scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: 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. A key element is the connection between the hillslope and the river. In this context, the objective of this study is to investigate to what extent eroded soil particles contribute to river sediment exports for the major French basins. The hillslope erosion rates are deduced from a distributed pan-European assessment of hillslope, rill, and interrill erosion by water, which was quantified by interpolation of erosion plot data as a function of topographical, land use, and pedological parameters. Sediment fluxes were mainly assessed from the French river quality database using an improved rating curve approach from the daily discharge data (IRCA), which allows estimation of the mean annual suspended sediment load. A similar approach based on the same datasets was used to calculate the mean annual dissolved load over the same period. The resulting mean annual suspended sediment loads show that French rivers export approximately 50 Mt of sediments per year to the seas, including ca. 17 Mt as particulate matter, corresponding to a specific sediment yield of ca. 0.4tha−1 yr−1. No relationship was found between the mass of the exported sediment and the size of the drainage basins, but large differences were observed between the different basins. For the Seine river basin and the Rhône river basin, the estimated average gross erosion rates are comparable, with ca. 1.14tha−1 yr−1 for the Rhone and ca. 1.80tha−1 yr−1 for the Seine. In contrast, the Rhône exports ca. 10 times more than the Seine River. The ratio of gross erosion to sediment exports calculated in this work ranges from 6.8% for the Seine to more than 100% for the Rhône. To explain these variations, we propose the use of indices that represent the landscape patchiness and connectivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

ABSTRACT Knowledge of sediment exports from continental areas is essential for estimating denudation rates and biogeochemical cycles. However, the estimation of current sediment fluxes to the sea is often limited by the availability and quality of sediment discharge data. This study aims to quantify the relative contributions of French rivers to the sediment discharge to the ocean. Sediment fluxes were assessed using the French river quality database, which is characterized by a low temporal resolution but long-term measurement periods. An improved rating curve approach (IRCA) using daily discharge data, which allows the estimation of mean annual sediment loads from infrequent sediment concentration data, was used to calculate sediment fluxes. The resulting mean annual sediment loads show that French rivers export c. 16.21 Mt yr-1 of sediments to the sea. Among the 88 defined French rivers flowing to the sea, the four largest basins (Loire, Rhone, Garonne and Seine) export 13.2 Mt yr-1, which corresponds to 81.3% of total exports. No relationship was found between the mass of exported sediment and the size of the drainage basins. This is due to the variety of river basin typologies among these rivers, including lowland rivers in temperate climates, such as the Seine on the one hand and rivers draining mountainous areas in Alpine/Mediterranean areas on the other hand, such as the Rhone. The latter contributes 60% to the total sediment export for France while its drainage area is only 19% of the total area considered. Differences between the river basins considered are also shown by temporal indicators describing the duration of the exports, which may be linked with sediment production processes over drained areas. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Indices of connectivity are critical means for moving from qualitative to (semi-)quantitative evaluations of material (e.g., water, sediment and nutrients) transfer across the building blocks of a terrestrial system. In geomorphology, compared to closely related disciplines like ecology and hydrology, the development of indices has only recently started and as such presents opportunities and challenges that merit attention. In this paper, we review existing indices of sediment connectivity and suggest potential avenues of development for meeting current basic and applied research needs. Specifically, we focus on terrestrial geomorphic systems dominated by processes that are driven by hydro-meteorological forcing, neglecting seismically triggered events, karstic systems and environments controlled by eolian processes. We begin by setting a conceptual framework that combines external forcings (drivers) and system (intrinsic) structural and functional properties relevant to sediment connectivity. This framework guides our review of response variables suitable for sediment connectivity indices. In particular, we consider three sample applications concerned with sediment connectivity in: (i) soil studies at the plot scale, (ii) bedload transport at the reach scale, and (iii) sediment budgets at the catchment scale. In relation to the set of response variables identified, we consider data availability and issues of data acquisition for use in indices of sediment connectivity. We classify currently available indices in raster based, object or network based, and indices based on effective catchment area. Virtually all existing indices address the degree of static, structural connectivity only, with limited attention for process-based, functional connectivity counterparts. Most recent developments in indices of sediment connectivity deal, to some extent, with different styles of anthropogenic and hydro-meteorological forcings and with the temporal variability of sediment connectivity, by incorporating additional variables and parameters in existing indices. We believe that, in order to use structural connectivity as explanatory or predictive tool, indices need to be interpretable in relation to geomorphic processes, material properties, and forcing styles and magnitude-frequency spectra. Improvements in this direction can be made through studies shaped to constrain structural-functional correlations across a range of hydro-meteorological scenarios, for example employing field-based techniques such as particle tracking and sediment provenance analysis, as well as numerical simulations. We further consider existing indices in relation to spatial and temporal scales. The latter have immediate implications on the distinction and application between indices and models of sediment connectivity. In this context, we suggest that sediment connectivity over millennial or longer time scales should be dealt with models, as opposed to indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Soil erosion leads to important environmental problems (e.g. muddy floods, reservoir sedimentation) in cultivated areas of the European loess belt. This study aimed to determine the impact of rainfall seasonality and land use change on soil erosion over the last 40 years in a 94-ha cultivated catchment of Normandy (France). To this end, scenarios representative of the different land use conditions were simulated using the STREAM expert-based erosion model. A 13 years long sequence of rainfall events was run with this model. Results showed that erosion increased dramatically after land consolidation (+168% on average). Interannual variability of erosion is important. After land consolidation, 79% of erosion was observed in summer and autumn, even though these seasons only accounted for 58% of annual rainfall kinetic energy. The bulk of erosion was hence produced by a few intense thunderstorms during this period. Thunderstorms correspond to 5% of rainfall events and to 15% of the total rainfall depth, but they generate 51% of total annual erosion after land consolidation (and up to 57% of erosion before land consolidation). Confrontation of the STREAM model outputs with the erosion rates modelled based on Cs-137 measurements suggested that soil redistribution within the catchment was very high but that sediment exports from the catchment remained limited (sediment delivery ratio between 1% and 10%). Local erosion rates derived from Cs-137 measurements showed an important and organised spatial variability, but erosion rates integrated over larger areas remained in the same order of magnitude as those simulated by the STREAM model or were slightly higher. Water erosion would hence not be the only process generating erosion within this catchment. In this context, our results show that tillage erosion cannot be neglected to calculate the sediment budget over several decades. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Fukushima nuclear accident inMarch 2011 generated a 3000 km² plume of soils heavily contaminated with 137Cs. Decontamination was completed early in 2019. Typhoon Hagibis was the first extreme event that occurred in the region after decontamination. Its impact on sediment sources and sediment 137Cs contamination was investigated through the application of a sediment fingerprinting procedure using spectrocolorimetry and geochemical properties. Sediment deposits (n = 24) were collected in the Mano and Niida River catchments after the 2019 typhoons, and their signature was compared to that of potential sources (e.g., cropland, forests, and subsurface; n = 57). Results demonstrate the dominance of cropland as the main source of sediment (mean: 54%) followed by forests (41%) with much lower contributions of subsurface material (5%). Overall, 137Cs concentrations in sedimentwere on average 84%--93%lower than the levels recorded after the accident in 2011, which demonstrates the effectiveness of cropland decontamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil erosion is one of the main factors influencing land degradation and water quality at the global scale. Identifying the main sediment sources is therefore essential for the implementation of appropriate soil erosion mitigation measures. Accordingly, caesium-137 ( 137 Cs) concentrations were used to determine the relative contribution of surface and subsurface erosion sources in a lowland drained catchment in France. As 137 Cs concentrations are often dependent on particle size, specific surface area ( SSA ) and novel thorium ( Th ) based particle size corrections were applied. Surface and subsurface samples were collected to characterize the radionuclide properties of potential sources. Sediment samples were collected during one hydrological year and a sediment core was sampled to represent sediment accumulated over a longer temporal period. Additionally, sediment from tile drains was sampled to determine the radionuclide properties of sediment exported from the drainage network. A distribution modelling approach was used to quantify the relative sediment contributions from surface and subsurface sources. The results highlight a substantial enrichment in fine particles and associated 137 Cs concentrations between the sources and the sediment. The application of both correction factors reduced this difference, with the Th correction providing a more accurate comparison of source and sediment samples than the SSA correction. Modelling results clearly indicate the dominance of surface sources during the flood events and in the sediment core. Sediment exported from the drainage network was modelled to originate predominantly from surface sources. This study demonstrates the potential of Th to correct for 137 Cs particle size enrichment. More importantly, this research indicates that drainage networks may significantly increase the connectivity of surface sources to stream networks. Managing sediment transferred through drainage networks may reduce the deleterious effects of suspended sediment loads on riverine systems in similar lowland drained agricultural catchments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connectivity has been embraced by the geosciences community as a useful concept to understand and describe hydrological functioning and sediment movement through catchments. Mathematical modelling has been used for decades to quantify and predict erosion and transport of sediments, e.g. in scenarios of land use change or conservation measures. Being intrigued by both models and the connectivity concept, as a group of modellers we aimed at investigating what different models could tell us about connectivity. Therefore, we evaluated the response of contrasted spatially-distributed models to landscape connectivity features and explained the differences based on different model structures. A total of 53 scenarios were built with varying field sizes and orientations, as well as the implementation of soil conservation measures. These scenarios were simulated, for two rainfall intensities, with five event- and process-based water and soil erosion models – EROSION3D, FullSWOF_2D, LandSoil, OpenLISEM and Watersed. Results showed that rainfall amount plays the most important role in determining relative export and connected area of runoff and sediment in all models, indicating that functional aspects of connectivity were more important than structural connectivity. As for the role of structural landscape elements, there was no overall agreement between models regarding the effects of field sizes, crop allocation pattern, and conservation practices; agreement was also low on the spatial patterns of connectivity. This overall disagreement between models was unexpected. The results of this exercise suggest that the correct parameterization of runoff and sediment production and of routing patterns may be an important issue. Thus, incorporating connectivity functions based on routing would help modelling forward. Our results also suggest that structural connectivity indices may not suffice to represent connectivity in this type of catchment (relatively simple and monotonous land cover), and functional connectivity indices should be applied. • First model comparison study to evaluate connectivity within models • No overall agreement between models for land use scenarios • Functional connectivity (rainfall forcing) more important than structural connectivity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]