Land Use and Climate Influences
on Sediment Transfer, East Coast,
North Island, New Zealand
Noel Trustrum and Mike PageLandcare Research
MARGINS NSF-NEW ZEALAND Workshop 4–9 May 2003
Waipaoa River Basin
Bankfulldischarge atKanakanaia
Cum
ulat
ive
Perc
ent Su
spen
ded
Sedi
men
t Lo
ad
Discharge (m3 s-1)
100
80
60
40
20
00 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
Lake Tutira after Cylcone Bola Sediment core with storm sediment layers (grey) and eutrophication layers (black)
The Challenge
To link the high resolution Tutira record of Holocene climate variability with other paleoenvironmental data in the Waipaoa Sedimentary System, to construct a chronology of the drivers of sediment generation, and utilising knowledge of process and landscape behaviour, to elucidate Holocene sediment fluxes.
Key questions include:
• how did the landscape respond to these drivers?
• how much sediment was generated?
• to what extent was sediment stored and censored during transport through the fluvial system?
• what component of these fluxes is preserved in the marine record?