The Hjulström curve, named after Filip Hjulström (1902–1982), is a

graph Graph may refer to: Mathematics *Graph (discrete mathematics), a structure made of vertices and edges **Graph theory, the study of such graphs and their properties *Graph (topology), a topological space resembling a graph in the sense of discre ...

used by

hydrologists Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...

and geologists to determine whether a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

will

erode Erode () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in the state, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tiruppur and Salem. It is also the administrative headquarters of the ...

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipel ...

, or deposit sediment. It was originally published in his doctoral thesis "Studies of the morphological activity of rivers as illustrated by the River Fyris.Hjulstrom, F. (1935). Studies of the morphological activity of rivers as illustrated by the River Fyris, Bulletin. Geological Institute Upsalsa, 25, 221-527." in 1935. The graph takes sediment particle size and water velocity into account.Sediment transportation
Last accessed 26 Dec 2011. The upper curve shows the critical erosion velocity in cm/s as a function of particle size in mm, while the lower curve shows the deposition velocity as a function of particle size. Note that the axes are

logarithmic Logarithmic can refer to: * Logarithm, a transcendental function in mathematics * Logarithmic scale, the use of the logarithmic function to describe measurements * Logarithmic spiral, * Logarithmic growth * Logarithmic distribution, a discrete pr ...

. The plot shows several key concepts about the relationships between erosion, transportation, and deposition. For particle sizes where friction is the dominating force preventing erosion, the curves follow each other closely and the required velocity increases with particle size. However, for

cohesive Cohesion may refer to: * Cohesion (chemistry), the intermolecular attraction between like-molecules * Cohesion (computer science), a measure of how well the lines of source code within a module work together * Cohesion (geology), the part of shear ...

sediment, mostly

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...

but also

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel wh ...

, the ''erosion'' velocity increases with decreasing grain size, as the cohesive forces are relatively more important when the particles get smaller. The critical velocity for deposition, on the other hand, depends on the settling velocity, and that decreases with decreasing grainsize. The Hjulström curve shows that sand particles of a size around 0.1 mm require the lowest stream velocity to erode. The curve was expanded by Åke Sundborg in 1956. He significantly improved the level of detail in the cohesive part of the diagram, and added lines for different modes of transportation.Hjulström's Diagram

Idaho State University Idaho State University (ISU) is a Public university, public research university in Pocatello, Idaho. Founded in 1901 as the Academy of Idaho, Idaho State offers more than 250 programs at its main campus in Pocatello and locations in Meridian, Idah ...

. Last accessed 26 Dec 2011. The result is called the ''Sundborg diagram'', or the ''Hjulström-Sundborg Diagram'', in the academic literature. This curve dates back to early 20th century research on river geomorphology and has no more than a historical value nowadays, although its simplicity is still attractive. Among the drawbacks of this curve are that it does not take the water depth into account and more importantly, that it does not show that sedimentation is caused by flow velocity ''deceleration'' and erosion is caused by flow ''acceleration''. The dimensionless Shields Diagram, in combination with the Shields formula is now unanimously accepted for initiation of sediment motion in rivers. Much work was done on river sediment transport formulae in the second half of the 20th century and that work should be used preferably to Hjulström's curve.

References

Hydrology Geomorphology Curves Geography Geological techniques 1935 in science {{hydrology-stub

See also

References