Bottom Load

Bottom Load is another term for bed load - the clasts of rock that are transported along the bottom of a river by the process of traction.

The bottom load can tell us a great deal about the nature of the rver that transported the sediment.  the shape of the clasts tells geologists about the maturity of the sediment; the arrangement of the clasts tells geologists about the direction of the river's flow if the pebbles are imbricated; the size of the clasts can tell geologists the speed of the flow that deposited them through using the Hjulstrom Curve.