Dynamics of Sediment Transport in the Teles Pires River Basin in the Cerrado-Amazon, Brazil

Daniela Roberta Borella, Adilson Pacheco de Souza (), Frederico Terra de Almeida, Daniel Carneiro de Abreu, Aaron Kinyu Hoshide, Glauber Altrão Carvalho, Rafaela Rocha Pereira and Apoliano Francisco da Silva
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Daniela Roberta Borella: Postgraduate Program in Environmental Physics, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiabá 78060-900, MT, Brazil
Adilson Pacheco de Souza: Postgraduate Program in Environmental Physics, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiabá 78060-900, MT, Brazil
Frederico Terra de Almeida: Institute of Agrarian and Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Sinop 78557-287, MT, Brazil
Daniel Carneiro de Abreu: Institute of Agrarian and Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Sinop 78557-287, MT, Brazil
Aaron Kinyu Hoshide: AgriSciences Project, Institute of Agrarian and Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Avenida Alexandre Ferronato, 1200, Sinop 78555-267, MT, Brazil
Glauber Altrão Carvalho: Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Urbanism, and Geography, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande 79070-900, MS, Brazil
Rafaela Rocha Pereira: Institute of Agrarian and Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Sinop 78557-287, MT, Brazil
Apoliano Francisco da Silva: Institute of Agrarian and Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Sinop 78557-287, MT, Brazil

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-21

Abstract: The Teles Pires River basin is experiencing significant water challenges due to recent urban growth, expansion of irrigated agriculture, and the rise of hydroelectric power plants in Brazil’s forest and savanna regions, impacting water availability and sediment production. This study evaluated and estimated the production of suspended sediment ( Q ss ) and total sediment ( Q st ) in rivers and streams of the Teles Pires River basin, using different sampling methods for suspended-solid discharge: vertical sampling (reference), composite sampling (section), sampling along the standard vertical, and sampling along three verticals, collected using the equal-width increment method. The Q ss and Q st values varied from 0.31 to 39.35 metric tons (t) per day (d −1 ) and from 0.32 to 43.70 t d −1 , respectively. The average percentages of the entrained solid discharge varied from 3 to 5%, between the dry and rainy seasons, and across all hydrological sections. The different sampling methods of Q ss resulted in similar Q st in each of the monitoring sections. The statistical performance of the simple linear regression model was satisfactory with Willmott index of agreement greater than 0.8234 and 0.9455 for estimates of Q ss and Q st , respectively. The dynamics of sediment production and transport was influenced by land use and cover, drainage area, and the hydrological seasonality of the region. The different sampling methods of Q ss are compatible with obtaining suspended and total solid discharge; however, the standard vertical sampling is the most simplified and can be applied in a hydrological section with uniform hydraulic conditions.

Keywords: Amazon; equal-width increment sampling; hydro-sedimentology; suspended-solid discharge; Teles Pires River (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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