Hydrology and suspended sediment yield in Sungai Kinabatangan

The quality of many rivers today is affected by anthropogenic factors such as land use conversions and industrial developments. These activities have altered the pattern of runoff, increased the sediment loads delivered into river channels, and inadvertently affect the quality of river water. Thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chua, Li Ying
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17517/1/Hydrology%20and%20suspended%20sediment.pdf
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Summary:The quality of many rivers today is affected by anthropogenic factors such as land use conversions and industrial developments. These activities have altered the pattern of runoff, increased the sediment loads delivered into river channels, and inadvertently affect the quality of river water. This study was carried out to (a) analyse the hydrology characteristics of Sungai Kinabatangan Catchment; (b) determine the sediment yield in the Sungai Kinabatangan Catchment; (c) develop baseline hydro-geometry data of Sungai Kinabatangan and its tributaries; and (d) design flow duration curves (FOC) for ungauged rivers in the Sungai Kinabatangan Catchment. The four objectives were determined by field measurements of river geometries as well as analysis of long-term gauging station data. For the first objective, this study found that the Sungai Kinabatangan Catchment portrays hydrologic characteristics of a large catchment. It is mainly dominated by baseflow and less responsive to rainfall. The second objective determined that the sediment yield in the Sungai Kinabatangan Catchment averages about 250 to 1,250 tonjkm2fyear. The amount is deemed tolerable and the yield has been relatively the same since previous studies carried out 20 years ago. Hydro-geometry measurements (width and depth of a channel) were obtained for 17 tributaries within the Sungai Kinabatangan Catchment as well as the main river stem itself. These measurements are useful in establishing a baseline of hydro-geometry data for Sungai Kinabatangan. For the final objective, the design FOC for all the tributaries in the Sg. Kinabatangan basin was established based on the data from five existing gauging stations in the basin. Flow regime for each tributary could be extracted from the design FOC. This method is useful in the estimation of flow for small tributaries within a big catchment. It is especially practical where numerous high-order streams drain into the catchment and these streams are less accessible or are without a gauging record.