Downstream changes in suspended sediment fluxes in the River Severn, UK

Movement of waves of fine sediment through catchment systems is important for what it can reveal about catchment dynamics. Previous studies have focused on "managed" systems; few have reported on natural flows from individual events. We report preliminary findings from an integrated study of downstream changes in suspended sediment transport during individual storm events in the upper part of the Severn. Downstream change in sediment transport is examined at four sites through detailed records of turbidity and discharge during three consecutive flood eventsin September 1994. Preliminary results indicate that while suspended sediment concentrations generally increase in the downstream direction for both storms, suspended sediment yield first decreases in the upper basin and then increases towards the lower basin. This trend has important implicationsfor water transport schemes and for modeling movement of pollutants

The 2010 Hans Cloos lecture : the contribution of urban geology to the development, regeneration and conservation of cities

Urban geology began to develop in the 1950s, particularly in California in relation to land-use planning, and led to Robert Legget publishing his seminal book “Cities and geology” in 1973. Urban geology has now become an important part of engineering geology. Research and practice has seen the evolution from single theme spatial datasets to multi-theme and multi-dimensional outputs for a wide range of users. In parallel to the development of these new outputs to aid urban development, regeneration and conservation, has been the growing recognition that city authorities need access to extensive databases of geo-information that are maintained in the long-term and renewed regularly. A further key advance has been the recognition that, in the urban environment, knowledge and understanding of the geology need to be integrated with those of other environmental topics (for example, biodiversity) and, increasingly, with the research of social scientists, economists and others. Despite these advances, it is suggested that the value of urban geology is not fully recognised by those charged with the management and improvement of the world’s cities. This may be because engineering geologists have failed to adequately demonstrate the benefits of urban geological applications in terms of cost and environmental improvement, have not communicated these benefits well enough and have not clearly shown the long-term contribution of geo-information to urban sustainability. Within this context future actions to improve the situation are proposed