The Human Impacts Database

A collection of useful numbers for quantifying the impacts of the human presence on Earth.

This quantity is a single measurement of the quantity at a given point in time (2005).


Value:		≈ (1.2 ± 0.2) × 10¹³ kg / yr see this value in other units This is equivalent to... ≈ (12000 ± 2000) Mt / yr
HuID:		51481
Relevant Year(s):		2005
Summary:		Estimate of global sediment flux due to rivers.
Method:		The value is determined from a mixture of observed sediment loads when available and modeled sediment load. The model depends on river discharge rate and includes trapping of sediment in human created reservoirs. They report a global uncertainty of ± 15 % but do not explain what this uncertainty represents.
Source:		Syvitski, J.P, Vorosmarty, C.J, Kettner, A.J., Green, P. Impact of Humans on the Flux of Terrestrial Sediment to the Global Coastal Ocean. Science (2005)
Dataset:		Global sediment flux due to rivers (global_river_sediment_flux.csv) global resolution
Original Data License:		No Stated Copyright - Contact authors directly
Added By:		rbanks