Guidelines for sedimentation survey in dry reservoirs

Measuring deposited sediments behind small dams, large dams, and other reservoirs is essential in many research and development projects. Unfortunately, there is no guide for sediment surveying in reservoirs that are dry for some times every year. In this paper, these reservoirs are divided into three classes and methods for surveying sediment volume and weight was explained based on author's experiments countrywide by providing examples, figures and photos. Some important points on measuring siltation depth and determination the boundary of coarse-grained (delta) and fine-grained deposits (lacustrine sediments) and their contribution in total sedimentation were described in this section. Determining the bulk density is required to calculate the sediment load, which is subsequently described in more detail. This section first explains sediment stratification method in the control profiles and then describes two methods for measuring bulk density. In the following section, technical considerations on measuring sediment cracks to correct bulk density and finally calculating sediment weight are given.