Total Sediment Load

Total sediment load is the entire mass of sediment a flow transports past a section per unit time, the sum of bed load and suspended load. Bed load rolls, slides, and saltates in near-continuous contact with the bed; suspended load is held aloft by turbulence, and its finest fraction, the wash load, stays in suspension regardless of local hydraulics. Load rises steeply with flow velocity and bed shear stress, so most annual transport on many coasts and rivers happens during a few high-energy events. Quantifying total load drives sediment-budget, dredging, and morphodynamic models for channels and beaches.