Quantifying recent erosion and sediment delivery using probability sampling: A case study

Abstract

Abstract - Estimates of erosion and sediment delivery have often relied on measurements from locations that were selected to be representative of particular terrain types. Such judgement samples are likely to overestimate or underestimate the mean of the quantity of interest. Probability sampling can eliminate the bias due to sample selection, and it permits the explicit expression of uncertainty with estimates of variance and confidence intervals. In this case study of the Van Duzen River Basin of northwestern California,erosion and sediment delivery originating after 1955 were estimated using a ratio estimator for air-photo-identi fiable features greater than 3800 m 3 and a strati fied random sample (STRS)of field plots to quantify smaller erosion features.

Citation

Lewis, Jack. 2002. Quantifying recent erosion and sediment delivery using probability sampling: A case study. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 27(5): 559-572.