Research Article 2014 WRR Burdekin sediment budget

Water Resources Research Dry R 10.1002/2013WR014386 Camel Ck Cam Running R Grey Ck Star R Clarke R Burdekin R Basalt R le Ck Maryvale Fletcher etcher R GBR lagoon Upper Burdekin R Kirk R Lolworth olworth Ck C Elphinstone Ck Bogie R Cape R ur ekin Falls Dam Bowen R Broken R Suor R U Upper r Su Suor R* Lile Li Bowe Bowen R TSS (mg L -1 ) Belyando R Be L Logan Ck <170 170-320 170 32 Carmichael R Mistake Ck 321-975 321 975 U Upper M Mistake Ck 976-3235 976 3235 Nave Companion Ck Upper Belyando R 3236-4075 3236 4075 M j sub- Major catchment site (MAC) Tributary site (Average) Figure 5. Average suspended sediment concentration (light gray circles) for each tributary network site across the Burdekin over seven water years (2004–2011) of data collection. Load-based mean annual concentrations (MAC) for the seven gauged sites (2005–2010) are also displayed for reference, shown as dark gray circles. Circle size represents the mean/MAC TSS concentration in mg L 21 for each site, with the sizing scale representing increasing TSS concentration based on percentiles (<10%, 10–30%, 30–70%, 70–90%, and >90%) of all site averages. Dotted circles indicate lower data conﬁdence, with either <3 wet seasons monitored or <20 TSS samples collected in total. *Samples collected 2002–2003 to 2008/2009. 5. Discussion 5.1. Catchment-Wide Discharge and Sediment Load Budgets The Upper Burdekin subcatchment was the dominant source of streamﬂow to the end-of-river over the ﬁve water years (Figure 3). Roth et al. [2002] calculated that the Upper Burdekin on average contributes 50% of total annual end-of-river discharge despite comprising only 30% of the Burdekin catchment area, suggest- ing the ﬂows measured in the study period are representative of longer term patterns. The study period captured below average, average, and above average discharge years in all Burdekin subcatchments (Figure 3). This included the largest gauged annual discharge recorded for the Belyando River (2007/2008; recur- rence interval (RI) 558) and second largest for the Upper Burdekin (2008/2009; RI533). Very little discharge from subcatchments upstream of the BFD was trapped in the reservoir during the study period, except for BAINBRIDGE ET AL. C 2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. V 9079

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