Fifty Years of Sedimentation

The development of sedimentation is traced from the 1930s through the 1970s, citing key contributions. Early in these five decades the main concern was with transport of bed load. This was followed closely with theoretical and experimental developments in transport of suspended sediment. Many total sediment discharge formulas then appeared. These were based mostly on fitting relations to field and laboratory data, a procedure facilitated by the electronic computer. Laboratory and field studies of bed forms clarified their effect on flow resistance and several methods for predicting conditions under which these forms develop were presented. Much of the development in sedimentation occurred in response to the needs of the active programs of water resources development. This included studies of degradation below, dams, sediment yield and deposition in reservoirs, design of earth canals, hydraulic geometry and stream meandering. Studies of these and other factors in sedimentation contributed to their understanding but did not always yield completely satisfactory solutions.