Combining flux monitoring and data reconstruction to establish annual budgets of suspended particulate matter, mercury and PCB in the Rhône River from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean Sea.

Long term and high resolution data on water discharge, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and contaminant concentrations in rivers are required for a better understanding of particulate transfers from the continental areas to the seas. The aim of this study was to provide a novel estimation of annual fluxes of SPM and related pollutants in the Rhône River from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean Sea by combining high frequency or time-integrative monitoring and novel relations between SPM concentration (Cs) and water discharge (Q). At six stations of the Rhône Sediment Observatory (OSR), SPM fluxes were calculated over the 2000-2016 period by combining observational data and Cs-Q relations.