ABSTRACT
Sediments in reservoirs are heterogeneous mixtures of soil particles and rock fragments, detached from the earth’s crust, transported and deposited in the reservoir basin’s space. The ratio between the cohesive and non-cohesive sediments existing in a reservoir depends mainly on climatic and physiographic local conditions of the reservoir site, and geological structure of the soil in the catchment. Organic sediments are solid, vegetal and animal waste matter, discharged, dropped into and disintegrated and decomposed in reservoirs. Artificial sediments are solid materials which are only accidentally introduced into reservoirs, as a result of some runoff polluting and irresponsible human activities. Sediment yield of a catchment is caused by some natural processes such as soil erosion caused by water, wind and ice, reservoir shore degradation and landslides, bank sloughing or talus movements. Sediment yield in the catchment of a reservoir represents the main source of sedimentary materials supplying the silting process in the basin.
