Seasonal suspended sediment transfer in glaciated catchments is responsive to meteorological, geomorphological, and glacio‐fluvial conditions, and thus is a useful indicator of environmental system dynamics. Knowledge of multifaceted fluvial sediment‐transfer processes is limited in the Alaskan Arctic – a region sensitive to contemporary environmental change. For two glaciated sub‐catchments at Lake Peters, northeast Brooks Range, Alaska, we conducted a two‐year endeavour to monitor the hydrology and meteorology, and used the data to derive multiple‐regression models of suspended sediment load. Statistical selection of the best models shows that incorporating meteorological or temporal explanatory variables improves performances of turbidity‐ and discharge‐based sediment models. The resulting modelled specific suspended sediment yields to Lake Peters are: 33 (20–60) t km−2yr−1in 2015, and 79 (50–140) t km−2yr−1in 2016 (95% confidence band estimates). In contrast to previous studies in Arctic Alaska, fluvial suspended sediment transfer to Lake Peters was primarily influenced by rainfall, and secondarily influenced by temperature‐driven melt processes associated with clockwise diurnal hysteresis. Despite different sub‐catchment glacier coverage, specific yields were the same order of magnitude from the two primary inflows to Lake Peters, which are Carnivore Creek (128 km2; 10% glacier coverage) and Chamberlin Creek (8 km2; 23% glacier coverage). Seasonal to longer‐term sediment exhaustion and/or contrasting glacier dynamics may explain the lower than expected relative specific sediment yield from the more heavily glacierized Chamberlin Creek catchment. Absolute suspended sediment yield (t yr−1) from Carnivore Creek to Lake Peters was 27 times greater than from Chamberlin Creek, which we attribute to catchment size and sediment supply differences. Our results provide a foundational understanding of the current sediment transfer regime and are useful for predicting changes in fluvial sediment transport in glaciated Alaskan Arctic catchments.
This content will become publicly available on June 1, 2024
Lake‐based studies can provide seasonal‐ to millennial‐scale records of sediment yield to improve our understanding of catchment‐scale sediment transfer and complement shorter fluvial‐based sediment transport studies. In this study, sediment accumulation rates at 40 coring locations in Lake Peters, Brooks Range, Alaska, over ca. 42 years, calculated using fallout radionuclides and sediment density patterns, were spatially modelled based on distance from the primary inflow and lake water depth. We estimated mean interdecadal specific sediment yield (Mg km−2 year−1) using the spatially modelled sediment accumulation rates and compared that result to fluvial‐based sediment delivery for 2015–2016 open‐channel seasons, as well as to yields reported for other Arctic catchments. Using the lake‐based method, mean yield to Lake Peters between ca. 1973 and 2015 was 52 ± 12 Mg km−2 year−1, which is comparable with fluvial‐based modelling results of 33 (20–60) Mg km−2 year−1in 2015 and 79 (50–140) Mg km−2 year−1in 2016 (95% confidence intervals), respectively. Although 2016 was a year of above average sedimentation, the last extreme depositional event probably occurred between ca. 1970 and 1976 when a basal layer of fine sand was deposited in a broadly distributed, relatively thick and coarse bed, which we used for lake‐wide correlation. The dual lacustrine–fluvial method approach permits study of within‐lake and catchment‐scale processes. Within Lake Peters, sedimentation patterns show decreasing fluxes down‐lake, sediment bypassing near the primary inflow, the influence of secondary inflows and littoral redistribution, and a focusing effect in the deep proximal basin. At the watershed scale, sediment yield is largely driven by intense summer rainfall and strong seasonal hydroclimatic variability. This research informs paleo‐environmental reconstruction and environmental system modelling in Arctic lake catchments.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10421363
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
- ISSN:
- 0197-9337
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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