Distribution of clay-sized sediments in streambeds and influence of fine sediment clogging on hyporheic exchange

Abstract

In this work, the deposition of clay‐sized fine particles (d50 = 0.006 mm) and its subsequent influence on the dune‐induced hyporheic exchange are investigated. Fine sand (D50 = 0.28 mm), coarse sand (D50 = 1.7 mm), and gravel (D50 = 5.5 mm) grains were used to form homogenous model streambeds; one control ‐ no clay input, and two treatments ‐ increasing clay inputs for each grain type. The results indicate that the clogging profiles of clay‐sized sediments may not be predicted accurately using the previously proposed metric based on the relative sizes of infiltrating and substrate sediments. Further, the depositional patterns vary with the initial concentration of clay particles in the surf..