Open Collections

Building a global sediment database

University of British Columbia

Global patterns of soil loss are poorly understood. While recent research has explored the physical processes that drive soil erosion, through the study of sediment transport, few spatial analyses of these processes have been conducted. One major reason why the spatial element of sediment dynamics has not been studied is a lack of data: datasets are often expensive and difficult to obtain. To meet this need, this thesis proposes the construction of a Global Sediment Database, which will be freely available to all. The Database will be updatable, and will contain a detailed Data Quality Report so researchers can determine the most effective use of the data. The Data Quality Report will also quantitatively summarize the error and uncertainty of each dataset. This thesis will also demonstrate how the Database can be used to conduct spatial analyses of sediment processes using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). To this end, various spatial interpolation methods will be explored and evaluated, using the Yellow River as an example.

Text

2012-10-10

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43365

Geography

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/