Research papersSediment transport in steep forested catchments - An assessment of scale and disturbance

•Sediment transport is examined in eight steep forested catchments.•Total sediment load scales with catchment area.•Suspended sediment is dominant component of the sediment load.•Forest harvesting has no influence on sediment loads after 30 years.

Stream sediment loads (both bedload and suspended sediment) are problematic to measure due to the time and equipment needed. There is a dearth of such data sets globally let alone for Australia. However, such data are needed to quantify sediment transport type and rates, landscape evolution, effect of human disturbance as well as patterns and temporal response. Here we present the findings from 8 steepslope forested catchments dominated by headwater streams (size range 15-100 ha) in south-eastern Australia where both bedload and suspended load have been measured over multiple years. The results demonstrate that suspended load is the dominant component and there is no consistent suspended to bedload ratio for the catchments. The suspended sediment to bedload ratio appears to be catchment specific. There was no relationship between total load (or bedload/suspended load) and average catchment slope, stream length, shape or any geomorphic descriptor. However catchment total load was found to be significantly related to catchment area. Of the 8 catchments examined here, 6 had been harvested for timber in previous decades (with large areas of forest removed) while 2 catchments had minimal disturbance (Control catchments). There was no difference in sediment loads from the harvested and Control catchments. The results demonstrate that although land disturbance had previously occurred the management practices employed in each catchment were effective in the long term. This provides confidence that the forest harvesting and subsequent management do not produce detrimental effects in the medium to long term. An assessment of erosion rates and likely soil production rates suggests that the catchments are eroding soil at the rate it is being produced.