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A critical zone observatory dedicated to suspended sediment transport: the meso-scale Galabre catchment (southern French Alps)
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  • Cédric Legout,
  • Guilhem Freche,
  • Romain Biron,
  • Michel Esteves,
  • Oldrich Navratil,
  • Guillaume Nord,
  • Magdalena Uber,
  • Thomas Grangeon,
  • Nico Hachgenei,
  • Brice Boudevillain,
  • Céline Voiron,
  • Lorenzo Spadini
Cédric Legout
Université Grenoble Alpes

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Guilhem Freche
Université Grenoble Alpes
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Romain Biron
Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement IRD
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Michel Esteves
Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement IRD
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Oldrich Navratil
Université Lumière Lyon 2
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Guillaume Nord
Université Grenoble Alpes
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Magdalena Uber
Université Grenoble Alpes
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Thomas Grangeon
BRGM
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Nico Hachgenei
Université Grenoble Alpes
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Brice Boudevillain
Université Grenoble Alpes
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Céline Voiron
Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement IRD
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Lorenzo Spadini
Université Grenoble Alpes
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Abstract

The 20 km² Galabre catchment belongs to the French network of critical zone observatories. It is representative of the sedimentary geology and meteorological forcing found in Mediterranean and mountainous areas. Due to the presence of highly erodible and sloping badlands of various lithologies, the site was instrumented in 2007 to understand the dynamics of suspended sediments (SS) in such areas. Two meteorological stations including measurements of air temperature, wind speed and direction, air moisture, rainfall intensity, raindrop size and velocity distribution are installed both in the upper and lower part of the catchment. At the catchment outlet, a gauging station records the water level, temperature and the turbidity (10 min. time-step). Water and sediment samples are collected automatically to estimate SS concentration-turbidity relationships, providing SS fluxes quantifications with known uncertainties. The sediment samples are further characterized by measuring their particle size distributions (PSD) and by applying a low-cost sediment fingerprinting approach using spectrocolorimetric tracers. Thus, the contributions of badlands on different lithologies to total SS flux are quantified at a high temporal resolution providing the opportunity to better analyze the links between meteorological forcing variability and watershed hydrosedimentary response. The set of measurements was extended to the dissolved phase in 2017. Both the river electrical conductivity and its major ion concentrations are measured each week and every three hours during storm events. This allows progress in understanding both the origin of the water during the events and the partitioning between particulate and dissolved fluxes in the critical zone.
21 Sep 2020Submitted to Hydrological Processes
21 Sep 2020Submission Checks Completed
21 Sep 2020Assigned to Editor
26 Sep 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
02 Dec 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
11 Dec 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Major
21 Jan 20211st Revision Received
21 Jan 2021Assigned to Editor
21 Jan 2021Submission Checks Completed
21 Jan 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
22 Jan 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
27 Jan 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
01 Feb 20212nd Revision Received
02 Feb 2021Assigned to Editor
02 Feb 2021Submission Checks Completed
02 Feb 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
02 Feb 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
03 Feb 2021Editorial Decision: Accept
Mar 2021Published in Hydrological Processes volume 35 issue 3. 10.1002/hyp.14084