FIGURE 4
Mean current velocity ranged from 0.49 to 0.89 cm-1 in the dry season and from 0.41 to 0.85 cm-1 in the rainy season. Maximum current velocity reached 0.88 ms-1(URU1) in the flood tide and 1.01 ms-1 (URU1) in the ebb tide.
3.2 Suspended Sediments (SSC) and Suspended Solids Discharge (Qss)
SSC recorded significantly low value (50-100 mgL-1) in ARA1, low value (100-150 mgL-1) in IGN and extremely high value (> 300 mgL-1) in URU1 and URU2 sections, during the dry season (Figure 5). SSC recorded extremely low value (< 50 mgL-1) in ARA1 and IGN, low value (100-150 mgL-1) in ARA2 and URU1, and extremely high value (> 300 mg L-1) in URU2, during the rainy season. Turbidity presented behavior similar to that of SSC, with extremely high values (> 300 NTU) corresponding to Secchi depth < 10 cm.
Difference in SSC between the most upstream (ARA1) and the most downstream (URU2) station was 3.1 times greater in URU2, during the dry season, as well as 20 times greater in URU2, during the rainy season.