title: A weight-of-evidence approach to integrate suspended sediment source information.
abstract: Sediment monitoring, tracing and modelling are widely used to identify suspended sediment sources. Although each method has inherent limitations and uncertainties, their integration provides opportunities to form collective knowledge and encourages robust management strategies. This paper presents a Weight-of-Evidence approach to integrate multiple Lines-of-Evidence for identifying suspended sediment sources. Three sources of evidence were used: i) stream flow and suspended sediment monitoring at river gauges; ii) geochemical sediment tracing at river junctions; and iii) catchment-scale suspended sediment modelling of hillslope, gully, streambank and unsealed road erosion. We applied this approach on two data-poor catchments in Australia. Some reaches were consistently identified as major sources of sediment from all Lines-of-Evidence. However, inconsistencies between the types of evidence in other areas highlighted the high uncertainty in identifying suspended sediment sources in these areas and the need for further investigation. The integration framework maximised the use of scarce information, enabled explicit consideration of uncertainties for catchment management and identified where future monitoring and research should be targeted.
authors.affiliation: Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. baihua.fu@anu.edu.au
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: L T H
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Newham
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Field
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vigiak
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D019451:Information Management / Q000379:methods; D012987:Soil; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis; D060753:Water Quality
chemical_list: D012987:Soil
keywords: Integration; Sediment modelling; Sediment sources; Sediment tracing; Weight-of-Evidence