Document Type
Article
Abstract
The vertical sorting of streambed grains is a key control on river channel stability and sediment transport rates. In this study, we report on burial depths and mobility characteristics of coarse sediment in a small gravel-bed stream using an extensive data set of nearly 1,500 magnetically tagged tracer grains, deployed and annually surveyed between 2004 and 2018. We observe that sediment burial correlates with grain size and event magnitude, and we identify correlations between the burial depths of coarse grains and their mobility, residence time, and travel distance characteristics. A particularly large event in 2007 produced significant vertical sorting which affected tracer mobility and travel distance for the remaining study duration, despite numerous subsequent sediment-mobilizing events. These insights into the linkages between grain size, event magnitude, sediment burial, and sediment transport have potential to improve our ability to predict sediment transport rates and channel stability characteristics using tracer studies.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Publication Info
Published in Water Resources Research, Volume 61, Issue 10, 2025.
Rights
© 2025 The Author(s).
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
APA Citation
Hassan, M. A., Xing, T., McDowell, C., Pierce, K. J., Turley, M., Leader‐Cole, S., & Viparelli, E. (2025). Vertical Sorting of Bed Material in Gravel‐Bed Streams‐‐ Insights From Long‐Term Observations in East Creek, British Columbia. Water Resources Research, 61(10).https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR041119