Modeling of Deposition Process of Particulate Organic Matter (POM) with Sand on Vegetated Area in a River

Abstract

The transport and deposition of particulate organic matter (POM) in river streams has recently received much attention as one of important ecological processes in rivers. We focused on interacted behaviors of sand particles in bed load and POM in vegetated area on sand bars. The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of deposition of POM with bed load on sandbars with the riparian vegetation. A basic experiment on POM transport and deposition with vegetation is conducted in a laboratory flume. It demonstrates that several issues still remain to be future investigated. In particular, the shear due to the bed roughness in the vegetated area and the transport and deposition process of sand particles and POM are required to be described by the proper modeling which will be introduced into a simulation model of various fluvial processes. The main results of this study are that ripples are formed by bed load in riparian vegetation and POM deposition is promoted by ripple behavior. Based on these results, the POM deposition with ripples in vegetated area is described by a conceptual model which will affect various aspects in ecosystem management based on fluvial processes.