Determination of sediment erosion and deposition fluxes from direct measurements associated with a drifting buoy in a tidal estuary, an application to the Seine (France).

A direct evaluation of erosion and settling sediment fluxes, at the bottom boundary, is determined by measurements in a water column associated with a drifting buoy. The data were acquired during a high tide coefficient in th e Seine estuary. The bed shear stress and the vertical sediment fluxes are regarded as independent variables. A new relation is proposed for calculati ng the total mass load of a given water column in a tidal estuary by knowin g the friction velocity. (C) 2000 Academie des sciences/Editions scientifiq ues et medicales Elsevier SAS.