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Global Sediment Flux

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Impact of Humans on the Flux of Terrestrial Sediment to the Global Coastal Ocean

Paper published in Science, April 2005, is based on information of this site

Authors
 James Syvitski (1), Charles Vörösmarty (2), Albert Kettner (1,3) and Pamela Green (2).

  1. Environmental Computation and Imaging Facility, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA.

  2. Water Systems Analysis Group, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA.

  3. Applied Earth Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.

Feel free to use the data mentioned on this page. However, please acknowledge the next contibutors for their work on this project:
Syvitski, James P. M., Vörösmarty, Charles J., Kettner, Albert J., Green, Pamela, 2005. Impact of Humans on the Flux of Terrestrial Sediment to the Global Coastal Ocean. Science, Vol. 308, p. 376-380.

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Introduction
 The abstract of the paper is made available through science magazine:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/308/5720/376
The methodes used for this study are described in Supporting Online Material:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/308/5720/376/DC1


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Database
 Description of the database:
The database contains 4465 rivers basins. The following basins are not included in this analyzes: drainage basins smaller than 100km2, drainage basins which are covered by ice sheets or drainage basins which have no positive discharge to the ocean (upstream average of runoff threshold smaller than 3mm/yr).
All water discharge (Q) is provided in m3/s whereas all suspended sediment load (Qs) is provided in million tons per year (Mt/yr).

Column #TitleDescription
1IDSTN-30 ID's for all analyzed river basins. See also http://www.watsys.sr.unh.edu/Stn-30/stn-30.html
2NameRiver Name. Rivers which are not identified in STN-30 are named GHAASBasin together with their ID.
3ContinentContinent from which the river is flowing into the ocean or sea.
4Receiving OceanReceiving ocean or sea.
5Average discharge (Q)Average yearly discharge (Q).
6Q DJFAverage discharge for the months December, January, February (DJF).
7Q MAMAverage discharge for the months March, April, May (MAM).
8Q JJAAverage discharge for the months June, July, August (JJA).
9Q SONAverage discharge for the months September, October, November (SON).
10Qs Pre-humanPre-human average yearly suspended sediment load (Qs).
11Qs modern dayModern average yearly suspended sediment load (Qs).
12QS DJFModern average suspended sediment load for the months December, January, February (DJF).
13QS MAMModern average suspended sediment load for the months March, April, May (MAM).
14QS JJAModern average suspended sediment load for the months June, July, August (JJA).
15QS SONModern average suspended sediment load for the months September, October, November (SON).

The database:
Download here the whole database as a CSV text file (Comma Seporated File).
Below the first 100 rivers of the database

ID Name Continent Receiving Ocean Average discharge (Q) Q DJF Q MAM Q JJA Q SON Qs Pre-human Qs modern day QS DJF QS MAM QS JJA QS SON
1 Amazon South America Atlantic Ocean 207682 177780 277048 238258 137644 1154.99 1198.84 235.16 444.03 358.25 161.4
2 Nile Africa Mediterranean+Black Sea 1251 1133 1135 1615 1123 89.15 12.21 2.72 2.72 4.09 2.69
3 Zaire Africa Atlantic Ocean 40546 47204 38750 33261 42969 72.92 22.78 6.87 5.36 4.45 6.11
4 Mississippi North America Atlantic Ocean 19396 21731 28626 15952 11275 177.63 288.24 81.54 130.58 49.67 26.46
5 Ob Asia Arctic Ocean 12692 4659 7248 28653 10210 14.49 15.14 0.31 1.15 12.05 1.62
6 Parana South America Atlantic Ocean 16937 18495 19896 15616 13741 90.69 26.15 7.31 8.02 5.87 4.96
7 Yenisei Asia Arctic Ocean 19655 6223 13230 45177 13990 94.32 3.57 0.05 0.32 2.94 0.26
8 Lena Asia Arctic Ocean 15210 2904 3392 41950 12593 49.24 20.55 0.06 0.13 18.52 1.85
9 Niger Africa Atlantic Ocean 8926 4240 2251 13080 16133 42.09 22.97 2.37 1.15 8.61 10.83
11 Chang Jiang Asia Pacific Ocean 29583 12590 25386 46051 34305 345.14 156.12 8.66 28.67 72.96 45.82
12 Amur Asia Pacific Ocean 10839 2146 7207 18273 15729 59.57 22.17 0.16 3.02 10.2 8.79
13 Mackenzie North America Arctic Ocean 9192 3692 6732 17922 8423 102.28 107.48 2.89 14.79 72.82 16.98
14 Ganges Asia Indian Ocean 40026 10104 13446 79974 56580 1278.28 1459.72 28.24 48.51 855.51 527.46
16 Volga Europe Land 8115 3947 11926 11293 5295 24.08 1.02 0.07 0.46 0.39 0.11
17 Zambezi Africa Indian Ocean 8439 19022 11488 2450 794 47.8 7.06 4.28 2.34 0.35 0.09
20 Indus Asia Indian Ocean 3333 1406 4449 5646 1830 302.53 116.24 7.13 40.55 57.32 11.25
21 Nelson North America Atlantic Ocean 2618 2220 2690 2863 2698 42.02 1.89 0.36 0.51 0.54 0.49
23 Syr-Darya Asia Land 922 489 1792 960 445 95.26 14.55 1.1 9.11 3.39 0.95
24 St. Lawrence North America Atlantic Ocean 11094 8077 15391 10782 10126 21.69 1.11 0.17 0.46 0.26 0.23
25 Orinoco South America Atlantic Ocean 35402 16251 13915 60144 51297 60.1 29.77 2.79 2.33 13.5 11.15
26 Murray Australasia Indian Ocean 257 215 108 232 473 28.12 8.25 1.61 0.63 1.7 4.31
27 Shatt el Arab Asia Indian Ocean 2418 3251 4711 1065 643 160.98 25.21 8.43 13.81 1.95 1.01
28 Orange Africa Atlantic Ocean 146 202 182 107 93 59.32 1.87 0.69 0.6 0.31 0.27
29 Huang He Asia Pacific Ocean 1438 614 1004 1942 2191 102.08 29.37 1.51 3.4 11.3 13.15
30 Yukon North America Pacific Ocean 6426 1806 3437 13594 6868 146.52 59.96 0.7 4.53 42.75 11.98
31 Senegal Africa Atlantic Ocean 703 267 41 588 1916 13.12 1.3 0.14 0.02 0.28 0.86
32 Irharhar Africa Mediterranean+Black Sea 26 79 21 4 1 92.4 3.6 2.89 0.6 0.1 0.02
33 Jubba Africa Indian Ocean 328 105 375 339 492 46.75 10.66 0.72 3.14 2.68 4.11
34 Colorado (Arizona) North America Pacific Ocean 21 18 25 21 21 85.44 58.14 11.42 18.53 13.83 14.36
35 Rio Grande (US) North America Atlantic Ocean 120 74 79 141 186 105.32 0.01 0 0 0 0
36 Danube Europe Mediterranean+Black Sea 6488 5637 9008 6731 4576 55.82 23.35 4.5 9.54 6.07 3.24
37 Tocantins South America Atlantic Ocean 12369 16201 24143 5512 3622 22.33 14.6 4.81 7.65 1.34 0.8
38 Mekong Asia Pacific Ocean 15029 5767 2834 23605 27910 80.47 79.84 4.78 1.78 32.81 40.47
40 Columbia North America Pacific Ocean 7571 7314 9498 9541 3929 45.74 5.5 1.22 1.86 1.97 0.46
43 Kolyma Asia Arctic Ocean 3675 349 716 10912 2721 14.56 10.09 0.01 0.06 9.3 0.72
44 Amu-Darya Asia Land 1400 607 1040 2788 1163 114.97 35.85 1.93 5.13 22.98 5.82
45 Sao Francisco South America Atlantic Ocean 2789 4047 3640 1812 1658 21.17 0.61 0.22 0.2 0.1 0.09
47 Dnepr Europe Mediterranean+Black Sea 1506 1404 2423 1215 980 3.64 0.07 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.01
49 Don Europe Mediterranean+Black Sea 849 368 2064 585 376 7.41 7.57 0.39 5.95 0.83 0.4
50 Colorado (Argentina) South America Atlantic Ocean 356 440 175 393 416 50.51 6.33 2.1 0.55 1.74 1.93
51 Limpopo Africa Indian Ocean 135 317 199 10 15 23.93 32.77 19.98 12.18 0.2 0.4
54 Zhujiang Asia Pacific Ocean 8733 2301 7604 17965 7061 48.8 45.03 1.57 8.89 26.91 7.65
55 Irrawaddy Asia Indian Ocean 20502 5885 4574 42327 29221 515.04 259.82 9.38 6.45 151.31 92.68
56 Volta Africa Atlantic Ocean 1106 347 289 888 2898 8.82 0.08 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.04
57 Garagum Asia Land 400 571 849 146 33 71.54 19.44 6.68 11.75 0.9 0.11
58 Khatanga Asia Arctic Ocean 2740 414 92 8309 2146 6.36 1.7 0 0 1.58 0.11
59 Dvina Europe Arctic Ocean 3425 1108 5860 4105 2628 1.74 4.1 0.1 2.55 1.03 0.42
60 Urugay South America Atlantic Ocean 6014 4442 4578 7663 7374 12.8 1.46 0.25 0.26 0.49 0.46
63 Indigirka Asia Arctic Ocean 1697 59 109 5461 1159 10.28 11.09 0 0.01 10.33 0.76
65 Parnaiba South America Atlantic Ocean 846 747 1925 466 247 10.14 2.53 0.55 1.47 0.34 0.17
66 Pechora Europe Arctic Ocean 4515 914 5427 8285 3434 13.12 9.39 0.05 3.7 4.93 0.7
67 Godavari Asia Indian Ocean 3055 304 123 6715 5077 13.52 127.42 1.38 0.44 73.46 52.15
68 Churchill (Hudson Bay) North America Atlantic Ocean 1308 891 1619 1412 1308 6.01 3.67 0.41 1.55 0.92 0.8
69 Baker North America Atlantic Ocean 1487 325 424 3859 1341 1.99 1.3 0.01 0.02 1.12 0.15
70 Ural Asia Land 327 69 854 264 122 6.82 1.74 0.03 1.44 0.22 0.06
72 Neva Europe Atlantic Ocean 2528 1819 2511 3043 2740 2 0.31 0.05 0.08 0.1 0.09
74 Liao Asia Pacific Ocean 108 22 102 203 103 13.45 24.48 0.29 5.1 15.33 3.75
75 Salween Asia Indian Ocean 3153 1006 343 5863 5400 149.75 123.76 3.4 0.54 65.71 54.11
77 Magdalena South America Atlantic Ocean 7528 5123 6583 7001 11407 43.53 178.53 25.84 36.83 38.99 76.86
78 Krishna Asia Indian Ocean 1642 399 90 3599 2478 14.31 0.97 0.06 0.02 0.52 0.37
79 Salado South America Atlantic Ocean 20 4 1 56 18 10.49 1.48 0.04 0.01 1.16 0.28
82 Huai Asia Pacific Ocean 958 353 580 1862 1035 24.34 12.32 0.66 1.33 7.19 3.14
83 Fraser North America Pacific Ocean 3193 1488 3315 5644 2325 16.43 3.24 0.2 0.82 1.81 0.41
87 Anadyr Asia Pacific Ocean 1616 183 130 5042 1108 6.89 1.8 0 0 1.7 0.1
88 Yana Asia Arctic Ocean 1026 6 142 3327 630 6.24 3.5 0 0.01 3.27 0.22
89 Olenek Asia Arctic Ocean 1093 24 106 3701 539 2.28 1.1 0 0 1.07 0.03
91 Kura Asia Land 553 475 817 540 380 41.38 20.58 3.75 9.21 4.98 2.63
93 Ogooue Africa Atlantic Ocean 4795 5518 5856 3127 4679 9.86 19.7 5.76 6.17 2.92 4.85
99 Negro Arg South America Atlantic Ocean 870 775 388 1092 1226 18.51 0.43 0.09 0.04 0.14 0.16
100 Chubut South America Atlantic Ocean 1078 720 521 1660 1410 13.25 1.85 0.25 0.16 0.8 0.63
103 Fitzroy West Australasia Indian Ocean 189 472 269 8 6 6.16 1.6 1 0.57 0.02 0.01
104 Grande de Santiago North America Pacific Ocean 343 105 77 623 564 53.16 1.04 0.06 0.04 0.5 0.44
105 Rufiji Africa Indian Ocean 883 667 2028 587 251 15.75 17.09 2.78 11.14 2.37 0.81
106 Wisla Europe Atlantic Ocean 1042 892 1769 814 691 15.44 2.5 0.46 1.31 0.4 0.32
107 Taz Asia Arctic Ocean 1576 406 564 4162 1172 0.7 0.7 0.01 0.02 0.61 0.06
108 Hong Asia Pacific Ocean 2488 733 174 5138 3906 32.76 129.91 4.36 0.55 76.44 48.57
109 Swan-Avon Australasia Indian Ocean 26 6 1 66 29 3.77 0.79 0.03 0.01 0.54 0.21
110 Rhine Europe Atlantic Ocean 2346 2815 2564 2130 1874 26.54 3.41 1.11 0.96 0.73 0.61
111 Pyasina Asia Arctic Ocean 1835 297 66 5359 1616 3.86 2.94 0.01 0 2.68 0.25
112 Cuanza Africa Atlantic Ocean 1606 2281 3399 608 137 13.9 4.69 1.64 2.65 0.35 0.06
118 Roviuna Africa Indian Ocean 2007 2792 4310 757 169 11.18 11.83 4.15 6.71 0.84 0.14
119 Essequibo South America Atlantic Ocean 4556 3084 3738 8637 2763 13.47 4.5 0.73 0.9 2.21 0.65
120 Koksoak North America Atlantic Ocean 2411 684 1555 4953 2455 3.98 4.71 0.08 0.63 3.21 0.78
121 Elbe Europe Atlantic Ocean 928 1172 1278 655 606 8.74 0.79 0.26 0.3 0.12 0.11
126 Chao Phraya Asia Pacific Ocean 988 510 540 957 1943 14.26 8.1 0.97 1.02 1.92 4.18
127 Mahanadi Asia Indian Ocean 2023 619 138 3879 3456 9.67 27.87 1.52 0.26 14.48 11.61
128 Fitzroy East Australasia Pacific Ocean 163 404 197 34 17 10.82 3.3 2.18 0.94 0.13 0.05
131 Sanaga Africa Atlantic Ocean 1985 860 747 2161 4171 19.02 2.56 0.25 0.22 0.69 1.41
132 Albany North America Atlantic Ocean 1073 286 1553 1440 1015 2.57 1.93 0.04 0.98 0.59 0.32
135 Brazos North America Atlantic Ocean 6 13 7 2 0 14.32 15.39 10.38 4.23 0.69 0.09
136 Taymyra Asia Arctic Ocean 949 150 33 2814 800 1.84 1.48 0 0 1.36 0.12
137 Alabama North America Atlantic Ocean 1509 2270 2606 707 453 11.07 2.17 0.85 1.01 0.2 0.11
139 Balsas North America Pacific Ocean 450 166 37 521 1078 37.69 1.44 0.11 0.02 0.41 0.9
140 Burdekin Australasia Pacific Ocean 3 1 8 1 0 8.31 3.02 0.35 2.37 0.25 0.05
141 Colorado (Texas) North America Atlantic Ocean 199 180 307 180 131 13.44 1.9 0.41 0.79 0.42 0.28
142 Odra Europe Atlantic Ocean 582 667 765 438 458 7.5 0.13 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.02
143 Loire Europe Atlantic Ocean 872 1425 1153 407 502 9.92 8.14 3.83 2.83 0.62 0.87
144 Galana Africa Indian Ocean 169 41 287 244 103 16.99 3.53 0.16 1.64 1.27 0.46
145 Kuskowin North America Pacific Ocean 1376 394 1474 2262 1372 9.51 8.01 0.1 3.11 3.36 1.44
146 Moose North America Atlantic Ocean 1298 351 2659 1166 1014 1.51 0.41 0.01 0.28 0.07 0.05

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http://instaar.colorado.edu/deltaforce
Copyright © 2005 INSTAAR, Univ. of Colorado
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