Distribución vertical de sedimentos en suspension en la zona de desembocadura del Rio Magdalena, Colombia

Vertical measurements of velocity and suspended sediment concentration obtained in two climatic seasons at the mouth of the Magdalena River, Colombia, were used to estimate 1) bed shear velocity, bed shear stress and the bed roughness length by Wall law, 2) the settling velocity, by fitting distributions Rouse and Rouse equation modified and vertical profiles of suspended sediment concentration, 3) bed load sediment transport parameter estimates were determined with the formulations of Meyer-Peter & Muller (1948), Nielsen (1992), and Ribberink (1998). From the estimated parameters, a number of Rouse significantly less than one (0.01 to 0.18), a settling velocity (0.08-3.15 mm s(-1)) much less than bed shear velocity (15-70 mm s(-1)), and high values in shear stress (1.1-5.8 Pa) were obtained. It can be said therefore that in the River Magdalena predominates sediment transport in suspension. The values of bottom sediment transport calculated with the three formulations represent lower rates to 5% of total sediment transport. The formulation of Meyer-Peter & Muller (1948) underestimate the transport of bottom sediment due to the conditions under which it was originally calibrated, while Nielsen (1992) and Ribberink (1998) formulations can generate better estimates, because they were originally calibrated with fine sediment, similar to the sediment type reported in the study area.