Riverbed Permeabilities: Information from Pooled Data

Abstract

Numerical values of hydraulic conductivities of river channel‐lining materials are assembled from published and unpublished sources. These are found to cover a range from below 1.0×10⁻⁹ to above 1.0×10⁻² m sec¹ and to be concentrated in the region 1.0×10⁻⁷ to 1.0 ×10⁻³ m sec⁻¹. Variability within a site can be large. Assessment of the values in relation to sediment, scale, and method of determination presents a complex picture, and generalization is not straightforward. Hydraulic conductivity determinations from numerical modeling, which tends to be associated with averaging at larger spatial scales, are associated with a more conservative range of values than those derived from field and laboratory analyses. The sample of determinations provides a guideline basis of representative values for hydrological and hydrogeological assessment where specific investigation is not possible.