Cavalli M., Crema S., Marchi L., 2014, Guidelines on the Sediment Connectivity ArcGis Toolbox and stand-alone application, 2014,
URL: http://www.cnr.it/prodotto/i/283118

Sediment connectivity, i.e. the degree of linkage that controls sediment fluxes throughout landscape, and, in particular, between sediment sources and downstream areas, is a key issue in the study of sediment transfer processes in mountainous catchments. The spatial characterization of connectivity patterns in the catchment allows estimation of the contribution of a given part of the catchment as sediment source, and defines sediment transfer paths. A reliable assessment of sediment connectivity is especially useful for giving management priorities. The assessment of sediment connectivity is of particular importance in alpine headwaters, in which both complex and rugged morphology, and heterogeneity in type, extent and location of sediment sources cause large variability in the effectiveness of sediment transport processes. The control of morphology on spatial sediment connectivity acts through sediment transfer on hillslopes and unchanneled valleys, hillslope-channel coupling and decoupling, and sediment transfer along the channel network. In this document, background theory, installation steps and user guidelines of two utilities for the derivation of the Index of Connectivity (IC), as expressed in Cavalli et al. (2013), developed in the frame of the SedAlp project are presented. The utilities are_ (i) a Toolbox for ArcGis 10.1 and 10.2 and, (ii) a standalone application not requiring the use of any GIS software. The need for the development of such tools comes from the increasing interest in sediment connectivity issues (Fryirs 2013; Baartman et al. 2013) and its semi-quantitative assessment (Heckmann and Schwanghart 2013; Cavalli et al. 2013; Meßenzehl et al., 2014) to estimate the effectiveness of sediment transport processes at catchment scale. Moreover, the possibility to relate a quantitative estimate of sediment connectivity to sediment sources databases can improve hazard and risk assessment in order to mitigate the effects of dangerous phenomena like debris flows. With an integrated approach, which encompasses sediment sources mapping and connectivity assessment, it is indeed possible not only to evaluate the general availability of sediment but also to estimate the potential for this sediment to reach specific targets.

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