This curve depicts the general rate of sediment delivery by streams according to their drainage basins' mean annual precipitation. For low precipitation there is little water to move sediment; for high precipitation vegetation holds sediment in place. The maximum of sediment production occurs in semi-arid basins.
Adapted from Figure 3-7 of Leopold, L.B., Wolman, M.G., and Miller, J.P., 1964,
Fluvial processes in geomorphology, 522 p., Freeman, San Francisco.

Return to paper