Predicting sediment yield from climate and topography

Abstract

Linear regression models relating annual average sediment yield with a number of climatic and topographic variables, are developed for rivers (basin area >5,000 km2) in bach of the world's major climatic zones. The models are seen to be of value as a predictive cool to assess the scale of the sediment problem in rivers where no sediment data exist. Despite the limitations imposed by the use of numerical optimisation in their development, the relative significance of different climatic and topographic factors is demonstrated, and an estimate of the annual global denudation, based on the equations, compares satisfactorily with existing figures. © 1974 North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam.