The Symposium on Drainage Basin Sediment Delivery, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, 1986;

The Moscow symposium on "Sediment Transfer through the Fluvial System" builds on, and extends, this coverage of key aspects of erosion and sedimentation, by focusing on the redistribution and storage of sediment within different parts of the fluvial system, as well as the fluvial system as a whole. Substantial progress has been achieved in this area in recent years, because the application of a range of different methods and techniques, many of them new, has provided detailed quantitative information on sediment behaviour and sediment transfer in small first order catchments, as well as in large river basins and their individual components (river channels, flood plains, etc.). An improved understanding of sediment transfer, storage and redistribution has many important practical applications, including soil conservation, catchment management, control of diffuse-source pollution, predicting and managing reservoir sedimentation, and the maintenance of irrigation systems and navigation channels, which link closely to the sustainable management of land, water and other natural resources. Co-sponsored by UNESCO, the symposium represents a contribution to the International Sedimentation Initiative (ISI) of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP VI).

The 61 papers published in this proceedings volume address the problems of understanding sediment redistribution and storage in different components of the fluvial system within many different regions of the world, including North and South America, Australia, Europe and Asia. They have been grouped into five themes, which cover the various pathways and linkages within the fluvial system, extending from small hollows on the slopes of first order basins to the outlets of large river systems. The relationships between erosion, sediment redistribution and storage and sediment transfer in headwater areas, are addressed by a series of papers included within the section dealing with Sediment redistribution within small catchments in different environments. The papers in the following section, which focuses on the Interaction of rivers and river catchments in undisturbed and intensively cultivated basins, explore the influence of natural and accelerated erosion on the slopes of a catchment on sediment transport within the river channel at different scales, ranging from small and medium-sized basins, through large basins and whole countries, to entire continents. The papers in the third section which deal with Large river system functioning, address the problems of interaction between channel morphology and sediment transport, for large rivers draining different environments and under different degrees of anthropogenic influence. The development of physically-based models provides a key input to understanding sediment transfer in fluvial systems and the papers in the fourth section, dealing with Modelling of erosion and deposition processes, document a wide range of models, ranging from models of soil detachment to models of meander development. Finally, the problems of understanding the transfer of sediment-associated pollutants through the different pathways and linkages of the fluvial system provide the focus for the final group of papers dealing with Implications for nutrient and contaminant transfer.

The editors would like to express their gratitude to UNESCO, IAHS and the Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University for their technical and financial support for the symposium. Thanks are also extended to everyone who helped with the preparation of this volume and the organization of the symposium more generally. In particular we thank Penny Farnell and Cate Gardner of IAHS Press for coordinating the publication of this volume.