The impact of river rehabilitation, climate and land-use change on the deposition of sediment and heavy metals on floodplains

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Climate change, upstream land-use change and change in floodplain topography may all alter the functioning of floodplains as sediment and contaminant sinks. Both climate change and floodplain rehabilitation may increase the inundation frequency of floodplains, thereby increasing the possible deposition of contaminated sediments. However, upstream land abandonment probably leads to a decrease in input of sediments and associated heavy metals to rivers, reducing sediment loads and potential floodplain deposition rates. We studied the impact of these contrasting changes on the deposition of sediment and heavy metals on the lower River Rhine floodplains and assessed their relative importance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)129-149
Number of pages21
JournalNederlandse geografische studies
Issue number337
Publication statusPublished - 16 Feb 2006

Keywords

  • Climate change
  • Floodplain
  • Heavy metals
  • Modelling
  • River rehabilitation
  • River Rhine
  • Sedimentation

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