BSG Fixed Term Working Group on Upland Sediment Budgets

Annual Report Year 1 (1999-2000)

The aim of this working group is to discuss approaches to sediment budget evaluation in upland environments. Geomorphological studies of the impacts of change over contemporary and historic timescales can make an important contribution to debates about wider issues of resource management in upland environments. Having been informed of approval after the 1999 BSG AGM, the Upland Sediment Budgets Working Group (USBWG) convened an inaugral meeting in May 2000 in Durham.

The aim of the Durham meeting was to develop a framework of key topics, discuss a future itinerary and identify outcomes for the work of the group.  The first day (26 May) comprised a discussion meeting in the Department of Geography and the second day (27 May) a field visit to sites of on-going Durham research in the North Pennines, though not repeating areas visited by the Spring Field Meeting in 1998. The first site discussed was Burnhope Reservoir, which is being gauged in connection with an EU project on sedimentation and water resources.  The second site visited was the Nein Head peat slides, previously described by Carling (1986), to discuss peat instability and recovery. 

The following topics formed a framework for discussion during the meeting.

Appropriate Timescales

• What are the important timescales for developing upland sediment budgets?
• How does this relate to the application and understanding of magnitude/frequency concepts?
• Cotemporary (process monitoring), historical (archive and records), Holocene and Quaternary (stratigraphic and dating) .Dating is the key whatever the timescale.
• What dating techniques are particularly suited to uplands?
• Are there some dating methods which are difficult to apply in upland environments?

Key Geographical Areas

• Are geographical areas distinct?
• Is there a general sediment budget model that applies to all UK upland catchments?
• Are major episodes of erosion and deposition broadly synchronous within upland catchments?

Critical Topics

• Coupling of slope and channel processes
• Impacts of sediment yield on upland resource management (e.g. reservoirs)
• Chronology of shallow mass movements and debris flows
• Gully and fan development
• The significance of wind erosion
• The significance of frost action
• Establishing sediment yields and stream loads
• Runoff generation and flood estimation in upland catchments
• Linking catchment erosion to lake and reservoir sediment archives
• Land-use vs. changing climate
• Predicting future impacts of climate change

A report of the first meeting has been published in Geophemera.  It is intended to hold at least two meetings per calendar year and the second meeting of USBWG  has been provisionally arranged for 11-12 November 2000 in the Lake District.  This involves a link with the Field Studies Council at the Blencathra Field Centre. Offers have been made for meetings in 2001 in Aberystwyth (linking to proposed Spring Field Meeting) and the Loch Lomond area. We may need to arrange dates to fit within the .BSG year. rather than the calendar year!

The USBWG maintains an email circulation list of about 40 interested BSG members.  The Durham meeting was attended by 26 people of which 15 were from institutions other than Durham. The group comprises a mixture of academic staff, contract researchers and postgraduates.  We are hoping to increase awareness among agency personnel in forthcoming meetings.

Finance

We have not received any funding from BSG to date.  The USBWG intends to use BSG support of £500 p.a. to subsidise the cost of meetings (hire of rooms, transport, etc).  The Durham meeting took advantage of home territory to reduce costs.  All visiting postgraduates were accommodated free of charge.

Costs incurred to date:

Minbus hire £ 30

Teas/coffee for meeting £ 20

Total                                        £ 50

In planning the activities of the group we had considered the second meeting to .belong. to the first year although we realise it will occur after the end of the BSG financial year.  We would be grateful for advice about how to claim the first and subsequent year.s funding.

David Higgitt

Jeff Warburton

7 September 2000