Erosion and sediment yield: a global overview

The classic monograph Climat et Erosion published by Fournier in 1960 provided a valuable demonstration of the potential for using information on the sediment loads of the world's rivers to study the global denudation system. Such early work was hampered by lack of data for many areas of the world, but recent improvements in data availability now afford a meaningful basis for estimating the total suspended sediment flux from the land to the oceans and for establishing the global pattern of sediment yield and its major controls. The lack of long-term records for most rivers precludes detailed assessment of the role of anthropogenic activity in modifying the global denudation system but there is now a wide range of evidence to demonstrate the importance of such changes, in terms of both increases and decreases in sediment flux. Analysis of available longer-term records provides an important means of assessing the sensitivity of sediment yields to environmental change, which in turn requires consideration of the impact of both human activity and climate change.

Английский

Erosion and sediment yield : global and regional perspectives : proceedings of an international symposium held at Exeter, UK, from 15 to 19 July 1996 / ed. by D. E. Walling, B. E. Webb. – Wallingford : IAHS, 1996. – P. 3–19. – (IAHS publication ; 236).