A comprehensive program of sediment transport measurements was conducted al
ong lower Fraser River, British Columbia, between 1966 and 1986. The data y
ield a detailed sediment budget. Annual total suspended loads at three stat
ions are virtually identical, averaging 17 x 10(6) tonnes/year (t yr(-1)).
The suspended sand load is about 5.5 x 10(6) t yr(-1), about one third of t
he total. In the gravel bed reach of the river the sand behaves as wash loa
d. Significant transport of gravel begins at Agassiz at a discharge of abou
t 5000 m(3) s(-1). The annual gravel transport was estimated to be about 0.
23 x 10(6) t yr(-1), only 1% of the total load. All of this material is dep
osited in the reach upstream of Mission. At Mission, sands finer than 0.177
mm make up more than 50% of the suspended sand load but are virtually abse
nt from the sand bed. Therefore a portion of the sand load at Mission is wa
sh load. The total bed material load here was estimated to be 3.0 x 10(6) t
yr(-1), about 18% of the total sediment load. Virtually all of the bed mat
erial load was transported in intermittent suspension near the bed, less th
an 5% occurring as bed load. In the long term the suspended sand load upstr
eam is approximately equal to the total sand load at Mission. However, with
in individual years some of the sand is stored within the reach temporarily
and then reentrained later.