Contaminated bottom sediments and their negative impacts on water quality are a major problem in surface waters throughout the United States as well as in many other parts of the world. Even after elimination of the primary contaminant sources, these bottom sediments will be a main source of contaminants for many years to come. In order to determine environmentally-effective and cost-effective remedial actions, the transport and fate of these sediments and associated contaminants must be understood and quantified. This book details how to best approach contaminated sediments, allowing readers to better assess and address water quality and health issues, water body management, and potential remediation methods.

Sediment and contaminant transport is an enormously rich and complex field that involves physical, chemical, and biological processes as well as the mathematical modeling of these processes. While many books have been written on these broad topics, Sediment and Contaminant Transport in Surface Waters takes a more focused approach, highlighting areas that have been recently investigated but not covered thoroughly elsewhere.

This volume emphasizes the erosion, deposition, flocculation, and transport of fine-grained, cohesive sediments; the effects of finite rates of sorption on the transport and fate of hydrophobic contaminants; and the effects of major events such as floods and storms. Despite these emphases, the overall goal of the text is to present a general description and understanding of the transport of sediments and contaminants in surface waters as well as procedures to quantitatively predict this transport.