Comprehensive and Quality-Controlled Bedload Transport Database

Abstract

The processes involved in bed-load sediment transport are complex and difficult to quantify. Field measurements provide insight and a chance to improve predictive methods. A comprehensive database is described that contains more than 15,000 observations from nearly 500 data sets of bed-load sediment transport. Observations are compiled from published sources, author responses to queries, and personal visits to offices. Each entry has been checked twice for accuracy against the original data and converted to a common set of units. The database contains sections for sample descriptions, discharge and transport data, channel and bankfull characteristics, surface and subsurface grain size distributions, and, where possible, stream classification descriptors. Discharges range from far below to several times bankfull values. The database is freely available to the public and may be accessed via direct download and through WaterML based web services from the BYU World Water Data Sediment Transport Database portal at http://worldwater.byu.edu/app/index.php/sediment. The intent of this database is to provide useful data to researchers as they continue to investigate bed-load transport processes. Data can be added to the database by contacting the authors.