Sediment Transfer through the Fluvial System (Proceedings of a symposium held in Moscow, August 2004). IAHS Publ. 288, 2004, 138–146

Abstract ²¹⁰Pb_ex and ¹³⁷Cs activities in soil and sediments were used to investigate soil erosion, suspended sediment source and deposition in the Maw-Ki-Syiem drainage basin on the southern slopes of the Meghalaya plateau in northeastern India. This area is known for it high rainfall ranging from 8000 to 24 000 mm year^-1. It is shown that in the grassland areas hillslope erosion rates are low (0.21 kg m² year^-1) with most of the mobilized sediment being trapped on the foot-slopes. Stream and recent flood plain sediments are derived primarily from gully and channel bank erosion. The estimated rates of sedimentation on the flood plain are 0.83 g cm^-2 year^-1 using ¹³⁷Cs and 1.72 g cm^-2 year^-1 using ²¹⁰Pb_ex.

Key words caesium-137; Cherrapunji; flood plain sedimentation; lead-210; overbank deposits; sediment tracing; sediment transfer; soil erosion; suspended sediment source