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Estimation of sediment load and erosion of different geological units: A case study from a basin of north-eastern Iran

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Abstract

Erosion of geological units and sediment load in rivers can be considered as the serious problems in recent decades. Increasing sediment loads generate major hazards for water resources development, particularly in terms of loss of reservoir storage due to sedimentation and siltation of water distribution systems. In this paper, the performance of four sediment rating curve (SRC) development methods was evaluated for the Shirin Darreh River (SDR) basin (1750 km2), located in North Khorasan Province, Iran. Data of flow discharge (Q) and suspended sediment flux (SSF) (Q-SSF pairs, N=957) and daily flow discharge, recorded by the Regional Water Company of North Khorasan (RWCNK) at the Qaleh-Barbar (QB) gauging site during 1989–2018 were used. The flow discharge classification method performed best by meeting the desired criteria of most statistical indices, including normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), mean bias error (MBE), mean absolute error (MAE), index of agreement (d), and coefficient of determination (R2). Based on the optimized method, the rate of suspended sediment transportation at the study site was estimated about 2.7×106 ton year−1. Erodibility of the exposed formations in the study area was estimated based on a factorial scoring model (FSM). Three indices, focused on the outcrop and erodibility, were calculated for the geological units at sub-basin and total scales. Marl deposits are the most extensive geological unit in the three sub-basins and the maximum formation outcrop ratio (FOR) and participation in erosion (PCE) were obtained for these rocks at total scale. In fact, marl unit can be regarded as the main source to supply the suspended sediments in the study basin.

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Acknowledgement

This study was conducted as the research project (Doctoral Dissertation), supported by the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad [Grant number 3/47984 (contribution of the first author (M.T))] approved on 11.7.2018. We thank the Regional Water Company of North Khorasan province for providing useful data. The critical and constructive comments by anonymous reviewers are highly appreciated.

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  1. Department of Geology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, 9177948974, Iran

    Maryam Tajbakhshian, Mohamad Hosein Mahmudy Gharaie & Sayyed Reza Moussavi Harami

  2. Department of Water Science and Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, 9177948978, Iran

    Abolfazl Mosaedi

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  1. Maryam Tajbakhshian
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Tajbakhshian, M., Mosaedi, A., Mahmudy Gharaie, M.H. et al. Estimation of sediment load and erosion of different geological units: A case study from a basin of north-eastern Iran. J. Mt. Sci. 18, 1591–1608 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-020-6570-9

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