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Sediment source fingerprinting as an aid to catchment management: a review of the current state of knowledge and a methodological decision-tree for end-users

Collins, A. L., Pulley, S., Foster, I. D. L., Gellis, A., Porto, P. and Horowitz, A. J. (2017) Sediment source fingerprinting as an aid to catchment management: a review of the current state of knowledge and a methodological decision-tree for end-users. Journal of Environmental Management. 194 0301-4797.

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Abstract:
The growing awareness of the environmental significance of fine-grained sediment fluxes through catchment systems continues to underscore the need for reliable information on the principal sources of this material. Source estimates are difficult to obtain using traditional monitoring techniques, but sediment source fingerprinting or tracing procedures, have emerged as a potentially valuable alternative. Despite the rapidly increasing numbers of studies reporting the use of sediment source fingerprinting, several key challenges and uncertainties continue to hamper consensus among the international scientific community on key components of the existing methodological procedures. Accordingly, this contribution reviews and presents recent developments for several key aspects of fingerprinting, namely: sediment source classification, catchment source and target sediment sampling, tracer selection, grain size issues, tracer conservatism, source apportionment modelling, and assessment of source predictions using artificial mixtures. Finally, a decision-tree representing the current state of knowledge is presented, to guide end-users in applying the fingerprinting approach.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
Suspended sediment sources, source fingerprinting, source tracing, mixing model
Creators:
Collins, A. L., Pulley, S., Foster, I. D. L., Gellis, A., Porto, P. and Horowitz, A. J.
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:
Faculties > Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology > Environmental Science
Date:
1 June 2017
Date Type:
Publication
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Environmental Management
Volume:
194
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.09.075
ISSN:
0301-4797
Status:
Published / Disseminated
Refereed:
Yes
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