Transient response in longitudinal grain size to reduced gravel supply in a large river

Abstract

The first extensive dataset on subaqueous bed material grain size in a large river subject to reduced sediment supply is investigated alongside bathymetry, modeled flow, and sediment flux. Results suggest that following sediment supply decline and a shift to a finer sediment supply, the gravel‐sand transition (GST) in fluvial systems extends and subsequently migrates upstream. The non‐abrupt (∼125 km) GST in the Sacramento River corresponds with a hump in the long profile, indicating recent downstream redistribution of sediment that impacts grain sizes. The hump is composed of sediments winnowed from upstream gravel beds that accumulate downstream where slope declines. This increases local sorting values and coarse sediment flux rates in the GST, leading to further gravel loss by burial and net efflux. Thus, in a transient response to sediment supply changes, whether anthropogenic or natural, the GST extends upstream as a longitudinally patchy bed modulated by bedload sheet transport that favors the loss of gravel.