SEDIMENT YIELD FROM DISTURBED EARTH SYSTEMS

Changes of sediment-yield rates through time reflect evolutionary chan ges within a landscape. When a drainage basin is perturbed significant ly by base-level, climatic, or tectonic change, sediment yields increa se dramatically, but with no further disturbance they decline rapidly. These sediment-yield changes have been documented at all scales, from small experimental studies, to incised channels, to the Colorado Rive r basin, and to the Himalaya Mountains. Thus, the shape of the sedimen t-yield curve can be used to estimate future sediment yields and to in terpret past tectonic events.