PhD Scholar

Using fingerprints to trace the sources of suspended sediments in coastal catchments

E-mail: Baihua.Fu@anu.edu.au

Information on suspended sediment sources is important to prioritise erosion control. However, identifying sediment sources at catchment scales is challenging given the complex processes of sediment mobilisation, transport and deposition. Techniques to identify suspended sediment sources include: monitoring, tracing, and modelling. This project integrates these techniques to understand better the sources of suspended sediment. The aims of the project are to:

1. improve the understanding of the capability and reliability of sediment tracing techniques and their application to Australian coastal catchments;
2. apply and modify a GIS-based catchment-scale road erosion and sediment transport model. This model will be used with a sediment budget model (CatchMODS) to quantify sediment yields from different erosion sources.
3. better understand catchment-scale suspended sediment dynamics in spatial and temporal terms using a combination of information from monitoring, tracing, and modelling.

The research is being undertaken in the Moruya-Deua and Tuross River catchments, on the southeast coast of NSW. The research forms part of a larger project on water quality assessment for the Eurobodalla Shire Council and the Department of Environment and Climate Change.