Residual fluxes of water, salt and suspended sediment in the Beypore estuary

Abstract

The monthly trends of the residual fluxes of salt and water and the transportation of suspended sediments in the Beypore estuarine system were examined. At the river mouth the water flux was directed seaward during the postmonsoon and monsoon season. During the premonsoon period the transport was upstream and the net transport was higher during May. Maximum flux of the suspended sediment was obtained during July (1220.97 mg/cm²/s) at the river mouth. High negative fluxes are obtained during premonsoon period with the highest value occurring during May (-381.31 mg/cm²/s) at river mouth. During the study period the annual sediment input and the net sediment transported towards the sea were estimated to be 8.8 x 10⁴ tons per year and 5.7x10⁴ tons/year respectively so that the annual entrapment of sediment was 3.1x10⁴tons per year.