Role of the floodplain and riparian zone in suspended matter and nitrogen retention in the adour river, south‐west France

The retention capacity of the floodplain and riparian zone for suspended matter and nitrogen has been investigated in the Adour River, a seventh order stream in south‐west France. Suspended matter and nitrogen fluxes through a 25 km meandering stretch of the river were measured during two flood events and compared with the amount of sediment trapped in the riparian zone (1.1 km 2 ) and the major floodplain (16.8 km 2 ) of the studied area. It was estimated that the floodplain and the riparian zone together retained between 10 and 20% of the suspended matter entering the stretch under study during the two main floods (138 700 Mg). Moreover, they retained about 11% of the total particulate nitrogen fluxes (640 Mg). Although the riparian zones are 15 times smaller than the major floodplain, the total suspended matter and particulate nitrogen deposition were, 50 and 17 times, respectively, larger in the riparian zone. The results obtained on the Adour River floodplain show that large river systems should not be considered only as export systems as riparian zones can retain a significant amount of suspended organic and mineral matter during floods.