Particle transport by continental water flows in relation to erosion, deposition, soils, and human activities

Abstract

Field and laboratory studies, and the results of an experiment, combine to show that erosional, transportational and depositional processes in shallow, overland flows are basically the same as those of streams. Thus essentially fluviatile processes can operate, ephemerally, over entire landscapes. Separation into behaviourally distinct suspended and bed loads occurs even in flows a millimetre deep. Normally, suspended-load transport rate is limited by detachability or availability, whereas bed-load transport rate is governed by highly slope-sensitive capacity limits.