Long-Term Mobility of Magnetically Tagged River Pebbles in Scotland

1220 magnetically tagged pebbles have been tracked since 1991 from six points in a Scottish river. The project investigates long-term travel distances and burial depths in relation to pebble size, local bed grain size, and local mean shear stress. Data provides insight into mixing depths, shape sorting, and abrasion rates over decades.

Use Cases

• Analyze pebble travel distance in relation to pebble size and local mean shear stress to validate long-term sediment transport models.
• Investigate burial depth correlations with local bed grain size to understand sediment storage and mixing dynamics.
• Study abrasion rates and shape sorting patterns from tracer recovery data to assess long-term fluvial processes.

Strengths

• Longitudinal study tracking 1220 individual tracer pebbles.
• Data collection spans over three decades, beginning in 1991.
• Analysis relates to multiple physical variables: pebble size, bed grain size, and shear stress.

Limitations

• Sample data and specific column structure are unavailable for review.
• Data is confined to a single river system in Scotland, limiting geographic generalizability.
• The dataset's size, file formats, and row count are unknown.

Provenance

Source

British Geological Survey (BGS)

Collection Method

Re-mapping of magnetically tagged pebbles dispersed from six points in a river.

Time Range

Study began in 1991, with data collection spanning decades.

Freshness

Metadata indicates a last update in 2026, suggesting ongoing project activity.

Geography

A Scottish river (Allt Dubhaig).