Setting Up of an Experimental Site for the Continuous Monitoring of Water Discharge, Suspended Sediment Transport and Groundwater Levels in a Mediterranean Basin. Results of One Year of Activity

Stefano Giorgio Pagano,Francesco Gentile,Davide Prato,Donato Sollitto,Giovanni Francesco Ricci,Marco Colucci,Fabio Milillo

doi:10.3390/w12113130

Stefano Giorgio Pagano, Francesco Gentile + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/w12113130

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Abstract

The study of suspended sediment transport requires continuous measurement of water discharge to better understand the sediment dynamics. Furthermore, a groundwater monitoring network can support the stream discharge measures, as it reveals how the interactions between surface water and groundwater may affect runoff and consequently sediment transport during flood events. An experimental site for the continuous monitoring of water discharge, suspended sediment transport and groundwater levels was set up in the Carapellotto basin (27.17 km2), which is located in Apulia, Southern Italy. Seven flood events that occurred in the operation timespan were covered with a full record of both water discharge and sediment concentration. Some monitoring problems, largely due to the clogging of the float by mud, suggested to improve the experimental set up. The results show high values of suspended sediments concentration which indicate the sub-basin’s key role in the sediment delivery to the whole river system, while counter-clockwise hysteresis loops are the most frequent due to the basin characteristics. The effects of the interaction between surface water and groundwater are related not only to the flood magnitude but also to the hydrogeological features in the hyporheic zone.

Highlights

Suspended sediment dynamics in rivers involves erosion, transport, deposition and resuspension processes that occur within basins
This paper aims at analyzing the results of one year of activity of the new experimental site for the continuous monitoring of Q, suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and groundwater levels installed on the Carapellotto basin (1) to describe the efficiency of the measuring station in operating mode and the operations carried out to adapt the instrumentation to the site conditions and (2) to analyze the data obtained during the first year of activity in order to study (i) the Q–SSC relations at the event scale by means of the analysis of the hysteretic loops and (ii) the surface water–groundwater interactions during flood events
This study analyses the continuous monitoring of water discharge, suspended sediment concentration and groundwater levels in a Mediterranean basin, Southern Italy

Summary

Introduction

Suspended sediment dynamics in rivers involves erosion, transport, deposition and resuspension processes that occur within basins. The suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in streams may evolve over time, in response to the basin morphology, climate and human disturbances [1,2,3,4]. The study of suspended sediment transport at the basin scale is useful for the assessment of water quality associated with fluvial sediments [5], for restoration purposes [6], for estimating erosion processes, sediment production and the effectiveness of control measures [7,8,9]. SSC monitoring in a basin is usually based on water sampling in different locations to measure solid transport within the river network.

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