Runoff and sediment transport in a torrential ephemeral stream of the Mediterranean coast

Abstract A typical ephemeral stream in the Spanish Mediterranean is studied with the aim of improving the knowledge of the flow and sediment production. The catchment area (30 km 2 ) was equipped with rainfall gauges, two flow control sections and a sediment trap. The paper reports 6 years of data, with one extreme flood and 11 minor flow events. A simple rainfall-runoff model HEC-1 yielded good agreement with respect to field measurements, provided high transmission losses are taken into account. Bed load volume, however, is at least four times greater than the one computed using the Meyer–Peter and Muller equation.