Articles | Volume 11, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-287-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-287-2023
Research article
 | 
14 Apr 2023
Research article |  | 14 Apr 2023

Pristine levels of suspended sediment in large German river channels during the Anthropocene?

Thomas O. Hoffmann, Yannik Baulig, Stefan Vollmer, Jan H. Blöthe, Karl Auerswald, and Peter Fiener

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Cited articles

Annandale, G. W., Randle, T. J., Langendoen, E. J., Hotchkiss, R. H., and US National Reservoir Sedimentation and Sustainability Team: Reservoir Sedimentation Management: a Sustainable Developement Challange, Hydrolink, 3/2018, 72–75, 2018. 
Asselmann, N.: Fitting and interpretation of sediment rating curves, J. Hydrol., 234, 228–248, 2000. 
Auerswald, K., Fischer, F. K., Kistler, M., Treisch, M., Maier, H., and Brandhuber, R.: Behavior of farmers in regard to erosion by water as reflected by their farming practices, Sci. Total Environ., 613–614, 1–9, 2018. 
Auerswald, K., Fischer, F. K., Winterrath, T., and Brandhuber, R.: Rain erosivity map for Germany derived from contiguous radar rain data, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1819–1832, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1819-2019, 2019. 
Auerswald, K., Ebertseder, F., Levin, K., Yuan, Y., Prasuhn, V., Plambeck, N. O., Menzel, A., and Kainz, M.: Summable C factors for contemporary soil use, Soil Till. Res., 213, 105155, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2021.105155, 2021. 
Short summary
We analyzed more than 440 000 measurements from suspended sediment monitoring to show that suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in large rivers in Germany strongly declined by 50 % between 1990 and 2010. We argue that SSC is approaching the natural base level that was reached during the mid-Holocene. There is no simple explanation for this decline, but increased sediment retention in upstream headwaters is presumably the major reason for declining SSC in the large river channels studied.