Fine sediment-associated contaminants in gravel bed rivers: Evaluating storage times and turnover using fallout radionuclides (FRNs).

Excess fine sediment supply and its associated contaminants can have detrimental effects on water quality and river ecology with sediment deposition on, and subsequent infiltration in, streambeds impacting riverine habitats. Fallout radionuclides (FRNs) are used as tracers in aquatic systems, and the Be/Pb ratio is a useful indicator for sediment residence/storage time. Suspended and submerged mid-channel bar sediments were collected during five surveys within a 5 km reach of a typical temperate lowland agricultural river system.

Basin scale sources of siltation in a contaminated hydropower reservoir.

Siltation and the loss of hydropower reservoir capacity is a global challenge with a predicted 26 % loss of storage at the global scale by 2050. Like in many other Latin American contexts, soil erosion constitutes one of the most significant water pollution problems in Chile with serious siltation consequences downstream. Identifying the sources and drivers affecting hydropower siltation and water pollution is a critical need to inform adaptation and mitigation strategies especially in the context of changing climate regimes e.

Providing first evidence of the behaviour and potential environmental impacts of an accidental underwater release of propane.

Aquaculture activities in southern Chile demand floating devices to produce electricity powered by diesel generators. It has been recently proposed to replace this fuel with propane. However, little is known about the behaviour and possible environmental impacts of an accidental release of propane underwater.

First use of a compound-specific stable isotope (CSSI) technique to trace sediment transport in upland forest catchments of Chile.

Land degradation is a problem affecting the sustainability of commercial forest plantations. The identification of critical areas prone to erosion can assist this activity to better target soil conservation efforts. Here we present the first use of the carbon-13 signatures of fatty acids (C14 to C24) in soil samples for spatial and temporal tracing of sediment transport in river bodies of upland commercial forest catchments in Chile.