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Spectral fingerprinting: characterizing suspended sediment sources by the use of VNIR-SWIR spectral information

  • ANALYSIS AND MODELLING OF SEDIMENT TRANSFER IN MEDITERRANEAN RIVER BASINS
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Knowledge of sediment sources is a prerequisite for sustainable management practices and may furthermore improve our understanding of water and sediment fluxes. Investigations have shown that a number of characteristic soil properties can be used as “fingerprints” to trace back the sources of river sediments. Spectral properties have recently been successfully used as such characteristics in fingerprinting studies. Despite being less labour-intensive than geochemical analyses, for example, spectroscopy allows measurements of small amounts of sediment material (>60 mg), thus enabling inexpensive analyses even of intra-event variability. The focus of this study is on the examination of spectral properties of fluvial sediment samples to detect changes in source contributions, both between and within individual flood events.

Materials and methods

Sediment samples from the following three different origins were collected in the Isábena catchment (445 km2) in the central Spanish Pyrenees: (1) soil samples from the main potential source areas, (2) stored fine sediment from the channel bed once each season in 2011 and (3) suspended sediment samples during four flood events in autumn 2011 and spring 2012 at the catchment outlet as well as at several subcatchment outlets. All samples were dried and measured for spectral properties in the laboratory using an ASD spectroradiometer. Colour parameters and physically based features (e.g. organic carbon, iron oxide and clay content) were calculated from the spectra. Principal component analyses (PCA) were applied to all three types of samples to determine natural clustering of samples, and a mixing model was applied to determine source contributions.

Results and discussion

We found that fine sediment stored in the river bed seems to be mainly influenced by grain size and seasonal variability, while sampling location—and thus the effect of individual tributaries or subcatchments—seem to be of minor importance. Suspended sediment sources were found to vary between, as well as within, flood events; although badlands were always the major source. Forests and grasslands contributed little (<10 %), and other sources (not further determinable) contributed up to 40 %. The analyses further suggested that sediment sources differ among the subcatchments and that subcatchments comprising relatively large proportions of badlands contributed most to the four flood events analyzed.

Conclusions

Spectral fingerprints provide a rapid and cost-efficient alternative to conventional fingerprint properties. However, a combination of spectral and conventional fingerprint properties could potentially permit discrimination of a larger number of source types.

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Acknowledgments

This research was carried out within the project “Generation, transport and retention of water and suspended sediments in large dryland catchments: Monitoring and integrated modelling of fluxes and connectivity phenomena” funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The 4th and 5th authors were supported by the SCARCE-CONSOLIDER project (ref. CSD2009-00065) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. The authors would like to thank Arne Brauer, Benjamin Kayatz, Iris Kleine and Charlotte Wilczok from the University of Potsdam for their support of field work and Stefan Lips and Heide Kraudelt for their support of laboratory measurements. The authors also wish to thank the Ebro Water Authorities for the permission to install the measuring equipment at the Capella gauging station and for providing hydrological data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

    Arlena Brosinsky & Axel Bronstert

  2. GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 1.4 Remote Sensing, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    Arlena Brosinsky, Saskia Foerster & Karl Segl

  3. School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom St, L3 3AF, UK

    José Andrés López-Tarazón

  4. Fluvial Dynamics Research Group, Department of Environment and Soil Sciences, University of Lleida, Alcalde Rovira Roure 191, 25198, Lleida, Spain

    José Andrés López-Tarazón & Gemma Piqué

  5. Catalan Institute for Water Research, Emili Grahit 101, 17003, Girona, Spain

    Gemma Piqué

Authors
  1. Arlena Brosinsky
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  2. Saskia Foerster
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  3. Karl Segl
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  4. José Andrés López-Tarazón
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  5. Gemma Piqué
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  6. Axel Bronstert
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Correspondence to Arlena Brosinsky.

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Responsible editor: José Carlos de Araújo

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Electronic Supplementary Material 1

Discharge at Capella weir over the study period including sampling dates for resuspension samples (circle) and suspended sediments during storms (thick lines) (PDF 91 kb)

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Brosinsky, A., Foerster, S., Segl, K. et al. Spectral fingerprinting: characterizing suspended sediment sources by the use of VNIR-SWIR spectral information. J Soils Sediments 14, 1965–1981 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0927-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0927-z

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