The Saint‐Sauveur dam was built in 1992 in the middle section of the Buëch River. Downstream of the dam, a channel incision by several meters was observed. A gravel replenishment operation was planned in order to restore the active channel. An equivalent of two times the mean annual bedload‐transport capacity (43,500 m3) was replenished downstream of the dam in September 2016. The aim of this paper is to quantify morphological change associated with sediment remobilization in order to evaluate the efficiency of the restoration works. The monitoring was based on a combination of (a) change detection using sequential high‐resolution digital elevation models (from airborne LiDAR data), (b) bedload tracing using active ultrahigh‐frequency radio‐frequency identification technology, and (c) complementary field surveys of channel grain‐size distribution and morphology for bedload‐transport computation. Field monitoring allows us to capture a net aggradation along a 2‐km reach after the first post‐replenishment flood. A sediment balance analysis was performed to back‐calculate bedload supply coming from the sluicing operation during the flood. Although the sediment replenishment operation clearly had a positive impact on the morphological conditions of the starved river reach, the effective bedload supply from artificial berms (22,650 m3) was insufficient to initiate substantial channel shifting along the restored reach and a subsequent amplification of the sediment recharge. The combination of high‐resolution topographic resurveys and sediment tracing was successful to evaluate the downstream propagation of sediment replenishment effects.
Channel response to sediment replenishment in a large gravel‐bed river: The case of the Saint‐Sauveur dam in the Buëch River (Southern Alps, France)
G. Brousse,G. Arnaud-Fassetta,F. Liébault,M. Bertrand,Gabriel Melun,Rémi Loire,J. Malavoi,G. Fantino,L. Borgniet
Published 2019 in Rivers Research and Applications: an international journal devoted to river research and management
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- Publication year
2019
- Venue
Rivers Research and Applications: an international journal devoted to river research and management
- Publication date
2019-09-11
- Fields of study
Geology, Environmental Science
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