What is the main global source of sediments?
Rivers
What are other sources of sediments?
Volcanic ejected sediments
Groundwater
Aerosols
Biogenic sediments
Wind blown dust
Coastal erosion
What factors determine how much a river can transport?
Grain size of the sediment
A faster river can carry larger grains
Grain size depends on what the river is going through
Flow → determined by how much water is passing through and the gradient
Rainfall (dictates how much water passes through a river)
Catchment area
Topography of the catchment
What else do rivers bring into coastal waters?
Nutrients
Pollutants
Freshwater
What are eustatic effects?
A global reduction of sea level due to accumulation of water in ice sheets
What are isostatic effects?
Local depression of underlying land due to weight of overlying ice
Suspended particles
anything less than 1mm; fine particles lifted up and carried
Bedload
particles up to 1cm; sediments get dragged along the bottom
Faster current =
ability to carry larger and larger particles
