High bedload transport rates in relation to stream power Wadi Mikeimin, Sinai

Abstract

Summary A reconstruction of a low-frequency high-magnitude flood event, which occurred in January 1971 in the watershed of Wadi Mikeimin in the arid southeastern Sinai mountains, enabled the evaluation of bedload transport rates in relation to flow characteristics. Unit transport rates between 20 and 100 kg/ms, i.e. at least one order of magnitude higher than nearly all data previously reported, are compatible with data on other rivers. The proportionality of bedload transport rate to unit stream power in excess of that necessary for initial motion, raised to the power of 3/2, has been validated for these very high transport rates, which approach debris flows in character.