What are the different types of sediment load?

What are the different types of sediment load?

When particles are eroded and transported by wind, water, or ice, they become part of the transport medium’s sediment load. There are three categories of load that may be transported by an erosional agent: dissolved load, suspended load, and bedload.

What is the bed load of a stream?

The term bed load or bedload describes particles in a flowing fluid (usually water) that are transported along the stream bed. Bed load is complementary to suspended load and wash load. Bed load moves by rolling, sliding, and/or saltating (hopping).

What are the three types of sediment load in a river?

There are 3 types of sediment load in the river: dissolved, suspended, and bed load. The dissolved load is made up of the solutes that are generally derived from chemical weathering of bedrock and soils. Fine sands, clay, and silt are typically transported as suspended load.

What determines how much load a stream can carry?

The ability of streams to carry a load is determined by 2 factors: Competence and Capacity. Competence of a stream measures the largest PARTICLES it can transport.

How does a stream carry its load?

Streams transport their load of sediment in three ways: in solution (dissolved load), in suspension (suspended load), or scooting or rolling along the river bottom (bed load).

What are the three loads of a stream?

The total load (quantity of sediment) of a stream can be described as consisting of three components:

• the bed load – materials bounced along the stream bottom.
• the suspended load – material carried in suspension in the stream water.
• the dissolved load – material carried as dissolved solids in the stream water.

What factors increase stream load?

Flood Erosion and Deposition: As flood waters rise, the slope of the stream as it flows to its base level (e.g., the ocean or a lake) increases. Also, as stream depth increases, the hydraulic radius increases thereby making the stream more free flowing. Both of these factors lead to an increase in stream velocity.

What are the three types of loads carried by streams?

Stream load is broken into three types: dissolved load, suspended load, and bed load (Ritter, 2006).

What are the three parts of a streams load?

What are the different types of stream load?

Mineral materials of many different shapes and particle sizes erode and contribute to overall stream load. Differences in the size of those materials determine how they will be transported down stream. Stream load is broken into three types: dissolved load, suspended load, and bed load (Ritter, 2006).

Sediment Load 1 dissolved load. It is usually contributed by groundwater. 2 Suspended load. The suspended load is the fine‐grained sediment that remains in the water during transportation. 3 Bed load. The heavier, coarser‐grained earth material that travels along the bottom of the stream is the bed load. 4 Capacity and competence.

How is the sediment load of a stream related to its capacity?

Sediment Load. Capacity is directly proportional to the discharge: the greater the amount of water flowing in the stream, the greater the amount of sediment it can carry. A stream’s competence is a measure of the largest‐sized particle it can transport; competence is directly proportional to a stream’s velocity, which can vary seasonally.

What kind of material does a stream carry?

Streams such as this carry solid material as a result of erosion. Stream load is a geologic term referring to the solid matter carried by a stream (Strahler and Strahler, 2006). Erosion and bed shear stress continually remove mineral material from the bed and banks of the stream channel, adding this material to the regular flow of water.