Water Quality and Sediment Behaviour of the Future: Predictions for the 21st Century (Proceedings of Symposium HS2005 at IUGG2007, Perugia, July 2007).  IAHS Publ. 314, 2007, 173-180

 

Quantifying sediment deposition and the spatial variability of sediment-associated metals in ponds treating urban diffuse pollution

 

ALAN J. JONES1, KATE V. HEAL1, NEIL STUART2, STEVE G. WALLIS3, REBECCA J. LUNN4 & BARBARA BARBARITO5

1 Institute of Atmospheric & Environmental Science, School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh, Crew Building, The King's Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JN, UK

alan.jones@ed.ac.uk

2 Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, UK

3 School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK

4 Department of Civil Engineering, University of Strathclyde, John Anderson Building,
107 Rottenrow, Glasgow G4 0NG, UK

5 Scottish Water, Castle House, 6 Castle Drive, Carnegie Campus, Dunfermline KY11 8GG, UK

 

Abstract Studies examining the accumulation of sediments within retention ponds have tended to provide spatially averaged estimates of deposition rates and have not accounted for the spatial variability of deposition and the potential role that developing morphological and sedimentary structures play in the routing of flow and potential contaminants within retention ponds. Additionally, studies examining the potential metal contamination of retention pond sediments have tended to examine individual cores at metre intervals. In this paper, the utility of ground-penetrating radar to provide a rapid means of delineating present pond-morphology and to also provide an estimate of sediment deposit thickness within retention ponds is explored. The spatial variability of metals in pond sediments at the centimetre-scale is also examined. Results show that metal variability around the inlet is high at the centimetre-scale, and that a degree of dependence exists between direction of flow and metal contamination.

 

Key words morphology; ponds; retention basins; Scotland; sediment; sediment deposition; spatial variability; SUDS; urban stormwater