Articles | Volume 13, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-959-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-13-959-2025
Research article
 | 
25 Sep 2025
Research article |  | 25 Sep 2025

Shape evolution of bulk sediment in headwater streams: effects of rock type and particle size

Naoya O. Takahashi, Daisuke Ishimura, Keitaro Yamada, Ryoga J. Ohta, Yuki Arai, and Yuki Yamane

Cited articles

Attal, M. and Lavé, J.: Changes of bedload characteristics along the Marsyandi River (central Nepal): Implications for understanding hillslope sediment supply, sediment load evolution along fluvial networks, and denudation in active orogenic belts, in: Tectonics, Climate, and Landscape Evolution, Geological Society of America, https://doi.org/10.1130/2006.2398(09), 2006. 
Attal, M. and Lavé, J.: Pebble abrasion during fluvial transport: Experimental results and implications for the evolution of the sediment load along rivers, J. Geophys. Res., 114, 2009JF001328, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JF001328, 2009. 
Auel, C., Albayrak, I., Sumi, T., and Boes, R. M.: Sediment transport in high-speed flows over a fixed bed: 1. Particle dynamics, Earth Surf Processes Landf, 42, 1365–1383, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4128, 2017. 
Barrett, P. J.: The shape of rock particles, a critical review, Sedimentology, 27, 291–303, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.1980.tb01179.x, 1980. 
Bagheri, G. H., Bonadonna, C., Manzella, I., and Vonlanthen, P.: On the characterization of size and shape of irregular particles, Powder Technology, 270, 141–153, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2014.10.015, 2015. 
Download
Short summary
Changes in sediment mass is accompanied by shape change. We studied downstream changes in particle shape near a channel head using image-based analysis. Although the particles tended to become smoother and more circular, such trend was significantly disrupted by the addition of rock fragment supplied from hillslopes or detached from larger particles during transport. Our findings indicated the dominant process that determine particle shape changes over short distance in headwater streams.
Share