Fjords are disproportionately important for global organic carbon (OC) burial relative to their spatial extent and may be important in sequestering atmospheric CO2, providing a negative climate feedback. Within fjords, multiple locally variable delivery mechanisms control mineral sediment deposition, which in turn modulates OC burial. Sediment and OC sources in Fiordland, New Zealand, include terrigenous input at fjord heads, sediment reworking over fjord-mouth sills, and landslide events from steep fjord walls. Box cores were analyzed for sedimentary texture, sediment accumulation rate, and OC content to evaluate the relative importance of each delivery mechanism. Sediment accumulation was up to 3.4 mm/yr in proximal and distal fjord areas, with lower rates in medial reaches. X-radiograph and Pb-210 stratigraphy indicate mass wasting and surface-sediment bioturbation throughout the fjords. Sediment accumulation rates are inversely correlated with %OC. Spatial heterogeneity in sediment depositional processes and rates is important when evaluating OC burial within fjords.

Boat-based field data and monitoring station data from the tidal reach of the Mississippi River are utilized to examine the sediment capture of large (>1,400 cms) proposed water and sediment diversions from the channel to build and sustain wetlands in the Mississippi delta. The purpose herein is to suggest the importance of siting the diversion relative to river morphology and operating it to optimize sediment capture. At the site of a proposed diversion near Myrtle Grove, LA, water and sediment data suggest that the washload (fine) fraction is strongly weighted toward the rising limb of individual freshets (e.g., flows >16,990 cms, 1 to 5 events/y over the last 49 y) based on daily turbidity records. Significant variability in suspended fines exists between freshets depending on whether they are the first peak of the water year, and on their tributary source. Much of the sand fraction in suspended load, since it is derived from the underlying bed (e.g., bed material load), is strongly tied to water discharge in this reach, and can be accurately predicted by ratings curve. An analytical model is presented that is utilized to test efficiency of sand capture in a diversion based on ADCP backscatter data calibrated by isokinetic water samplers. Using observations from the diversion site, the model predicts a 30 % more efficient sand capture for a 1,416 cms diversion (0–10 m withdrawal depth) at a discharge of 27,250 cms (March 2011) on the proposed lateral bar diversion site, relative to a thalweg site on the opposite bank. This suggests that the proximity of large dunes, and the turbulence induced by them, is a primary control on sand resuspension in the water capture zone, which in turn plays a strong role in efficiency of diversion sand capture.

Understanding specific pathways for sand transport in the lower reaches of large rivers, including the Mississippi, is a key for addressing multiple significant geologic problems, such as delta building and discharge to the oceans, and for environmental restoration efforts in deltaic environments threatened by rising sea levels. Field studies were performed in the Mississippi River 75–100 km upstream of the Gulf of Mexico outlet in 2010–2011 to examine sand transport phenomena in the tidally affected river channel over a range of discharges. Methods included mapping bottom morphology (multibeam sonar), cross‐sectional and longitudinal measurements of water column velocity and acoustic backscatter, suspended sediment sampling, and channel‐bed sampling. Substantial interaction was observed between the flow conditions in the river (boundary shear stress), channel‐bed morphology (size and extent of sandy bedforms), and bed material sand transport (quantity, transport mode, and spatial distribution). A lateral shift was observed in the region of maximum bed material transport from deep to shallow areas of subaqueous sand bars with increasing water discharge. Bed material was transported both in traction and in suspension at these water discharges, and we posit that the downriver flux of sand grains is composed of both locally‐ and drainage basin‐sourced material, with distinct transport pathways and relations to flow conditions. We provide suggestions for the optimal design and operation of planned river diversion projects.

Renewed in-depth multi-disciplinary investigation of a large coastal mound settlement in Peru has extended the occupation back more than 7000 years to a first human exploitation ~13720 BP. Research by the authors has chronicled the prehistoric sequence from the activities of the first maritime foragers to the construction of the black mound and the introduction of horticulture and monumentality. The community of Huaca Prieta emerges as innovative, complex and ritualised, as yet with no antecedents.

The large Mississippi River flood in 2011 was notable in the lowermost Louisiana, USA reach for requiring operation of several flood control structures to reduce stress on artificial levees: the largest diversion went through the gated Bonnet Carre Spillway, which was opened for 42 days in May and June. The removal of approximately 20% of the total flood discharge from the river provided an opportunity to examine the impact of large water diversion on the sediment transport capacity of large rivers.Boat-based, acoustic and water and bed sampling surveys were conducted in the Mississippi River channel adjacent to the Spillway immediately prior to the opening of the structure, at full capacity, and immediately following (June 2011) and 1 year after (June 2012) closure. The surveys were designed to examine (1) elevation change of the channel bed due to scour or aggradation of sediment, and (2) suspended and bedload transport variability upriver and downriver of the Spillway. The results indicate that approximately 9.1 million tons of sand were deposited on the channel bed immediately downriver of the water exit pathway and extending at least 13 km downriver at a rapidly and progressively reducing magnitude per river kilometer. The surficial deposit was of finer grain size than the lateral sand bars in the channel upriver of the structure. We argue the deposit was largely delivered from suspension derived from the observed deflation of lateral bars upstream of the diversion point, rather than from sand arriving from the drainage basin. Approximately 69% of the 2011 flood deposit was removed from the 13 km downstream reach between June 2011 and June 2012. We conclude that the source of the channel deposit was the reduction in stream power, and, thus, in the sediment transport capacity of the Mississippi, associated with the water withdrawal. The re-entrainment of this material in the following flood year indicates the system rapidly re-establishes an equilibrium to pre-opening conditions. Future diversions in the river for coastal restoration will have to address this issue to maintain a deep draft navigation channel in the Mississippi River. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.