How persistent are hysteresis patterns between suspended sediment concentration and discharge at different timescales?

This study was conducted to characterize the hysteresis of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) at different timescales for the Educational and Research Forest Watershed of Tarbiat Modares University, Iran. Hysteresis loops were developed between flow discharge and SSC using data for (i) the whole period, (ii) seasonal, (iii) monthly and (iv) storm-event timescales. The data were collected on an hourly basis at daily and storm-event scales from October 2007 to July 2008. The SSC hysteresis for all the events in the whole study period showed a clockwise pattern, with a flushing behaviour pointing to sudden changes in sediment sources. The results further reveal that the study watershed behaves differently from the viewpoint of hysteresis patterns, with different conditions of dilution and flushing between SSC and flow discharge at different timescales. These result from the complex varying effect of governing conditions on the watershed.