La gestion des sédiments fluviatiles : une perspective historique

Fluvial sediments management: an historical perspective

Département de Géographie Université Lyon 2, UMR 5600 du CNRS-IUF

Abstract

Human societies are not equal when considering the question of sediment management. This contribution presents successively the case of societies which were surpassed, in their history, by excessive sedimentary inputs (large alluvial plains of the Far East, Po plain in Europe), and the case of Alpine societies which faced a strong increase of inputs under climate control during the Little Ice Age. A second part deals with the question of management procedures for societies with high technical skill. It turns out that the management of coarse sediment fluxes may induce detrimental effects (gravel extractions) or can be unmastered. Fine sediments pose similar problems, above all in the case of reservoirs which cause multiple impacts.