1. Water and sediment fluxes in transboundary Selenga river basin
Faculty of Geography Lomonosov Moscow State University Russian-Mongolian biological expedition RAS-MAS Institute of Geography, Mongolian Academy of Sciences Baikal Institute of nature management Stockholm University
Water and sediment fluxes in transboundary Selenga river basin
Sergey Chalov
Ekaterina Belozerova
Ivan Nikolaev

2. Transboundary rivers of Russia
Finland
Foreign parts of
Russian transboundary
rivers
Estonia
Ukraine
Azerbaidjan
Kazahstan
China
Mongolia
China
Selenga-Baikal drainage area case study

3. WHY? WHAT? HOW? Research scope
Data base on contemporary hydrological and environmental
status of Selenga basin rivers and its links to Baikal lake status
2. Hot spots assessment
3. Assessment of water, tracer and pollution spreading along
transboundary Selenga river
4. Status and modeling of watershed reaction on human impact
River network
Delta
Lake Baikal

4. Field campaigns 2011-2012 2011 field campaign (July-August)
2012 field campaign (June)

5. Suspended and bed load measurements
Flow measurements
Suspended and bed load measurements
Geochemical studies
Vertical compose suspended sediments determination
River valley tacheometrical survey

6. Principal approach to field campaigns
Suspended load
Water fluxes
Bed load
Bed deposits

7. Hydrological conditions
over Mongolia
Precipitation total km3
Surface water resources, km3
Batsukh et.al, 2008
Surface water runoff (km3) and annual SSC (mg/l)
Kharaa basin

8. Hydrological conditions
over Russia
(by Potemkina, 2011) Q 1 3 2 R
Q – water discharge
1 – average for 5 years
R – suspended sediment load
2 – average for 5 years
3 – linear trends

9. Hydrological conditions
2012
2011

10. Human impacts: pollution and water consumption
Sectors that use water and associated total water use (million m3)
1. Drinking water supply
Agricultural water
Livestock
Crop irrigation
3. Exploitation industry
Extractive mining industry
Industrial water supply, Energy production, 93.8
Energy production, Power plants
Hydro Power Plant
3. Tourism water supply (excl. spa resorts) 1.68
4. Green area
Total:
Batsukh et. al, 2008

11. Climate-induced drivers of water and pollutants dynamics
Precipitation, mm
discharge, m3/s
river (June 2012)
Orkhon river (July 2011)
Orkhon June 2012

12. Suspended sediment concentration (SSC) assessment (2011)km

13. Suspended sediment grain size

14. Organic matter content
< 0,01

15. Settling suspended sediments
Site
Description
SSC, g/m3
Settling rate С, g/(m²hour)
Suspended sediment load R, kg/s
Vertical sediment flux Rz, kg/s
Rz/R, %
Human impact T1
Tuul river 20 km upstream from Ulaanbaatar
1.68
6.38
0.050
0.06
low T2
Tuul river 1 km upstream from Ulaanbaatar
8.36
87.5
0.22
0.13
average T5
Tuul river upstream from Zaamar
107
2048
3.56
0.027
0.75 T6
Tuul river downstream from Zaamar
289
1364
8.22
0.017
0.21
high O2
Orkhon river upstream from the confluence with Tamir river
1699
2675
204
0.102
0.05 S1
Selenga river near Hutyk village
114
465
20.0
0.026
HR2
Khaara river 2 km upstream from the road “Darkhan-Ulaanbaatar”
6.37
12.60
0.044
0.10

16. Contribution of storm events
1 – water levels
2 - suspended sediment load
3 – grain size

17. Storm events signatures in sediment transportAs Ag

18. Sediment budget calculations for Selenga river basin
Grain size
Tuul river
Orkon
river, middle
Orkon river, low
Selenga
Sandy (>0,05 мм)
7,3
(3,2 %)
237,8
(9,7 %)
265
(19,5 %)
302,3
(26,3 %)
Silt 0,001 – 0,05 мм
210,3
(92,9 %)
1869,6
(76 %)
1048
(76,7 %)
720,9
(62,7 %)
Clay < 0,001 мм)
8,8
(3,88 %)
352,2
(14,3 %)
51,7
(3,79 %)
125,8
(10,95 %)
Total t/day (100%)
226,4
2460
1365
1149
Calculation of sediment load for various grain size classes

19. Sediment delivery into Baikal lake: Remote sensing application
Sediment delivery into
Baikal lake:
Remote sensing
application

20. Contribution of channel erosion

21. 1894444 t/year is up to 90% of total sediment yield
Contribution of channel erosion: Tuul river
t/year is up to 90% of total sediment yield 1 2 3 4 5
1 – channel in 1970; 2 – channel in 2006; 3 – channel deformations;

22. Flood at kharkhorin

23. Zaamar gold mining
Ulaanbaator

24. 1D и 2D modelling at the case study reaches (HEC –RAS, MIKE 2D)
Sediment transport modelling
моделирование
1D и 2D modelling at the case study reaches (HEC –RAS, MIKE 2D)
Decision-support system (0D-modelling)

25. Thank you for your attention