Water-Surface Slope, Total Suspended Sediment and Particulate Organic Carbon Variability in the Parana River During Extreme Flooding

摘要

The relationship between sediment load and water discharge in large river systems is complicated by frequently unpredictable patterns of seasonal storage and remobilization. Sediment loads in the middle or lower reaches of continental-size rivers, for example, are often lower at peak water discharge than during rising or early falling stages. Such is the case of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers in which, due to peculiar morphological characteristics, sediment is stored at certain reaches during peak discharge and subjected to remobilization during lower stages of discharge.