河川是陸源物質輸出到海洋的主要管道之一，根據研究，台灣河川每年懸浮顆粒輸出的通量約等於205×106ton/yr，是世界最高輸出通量支河川之一。Nature期刊也發表了一篇有關台灣島近半世紀來大自然演化趨勢的論文—〝台灣島之侵蝕、逕流變化與地震間之關係〞。台灣島自1970 至2000年以來，每年有將近384 百萬噸之懸浮沈積物被運送至外海，共佔了全球懸浮沈積物總量的1.9％，對於台灣面積僅佔全球0.024％而言，可以想見，台灣島是受到了大自然快速的侵蝕作用。也由於污染物質大部分以懸浮顆粒式細微沈積物的型態存在於水體，這些污染物質的命運便與其載體的運送有緊密關係。因此探討並精確定量這些顆粒的化學性質與反應作用，以其瞭解其在河川沿岸的散播情形有其必要性。再者，浮游生物的生產量會受到光度供應與垂直混和作用的控制；當一流域有高量的懸浮顆粒，常造成水體混濁度躍升，導致浮游生產量陡降。在河口與沿海研究範圍內，自河口溯河至關渡橋，淡水河內懸浮顆粒的含量可由0.2 mg/L到180 mg/L，水體濁度則可由5 NTU至300 NTU，漲潮的時候，低懸浮顆粒濃度的沿岸海水向河口上游移動；退潮的時候，顏色較暗沉、懸浮顆粒濃度較高的河水向下游移動，顆粒隨潮汐沿著河道之上下游振盪。整體看來，水體懸浮顆粒濃度與濁度在不同時期有相當良好的線性關係，但是有時期性差異。乾濕季節性降雨量對水體中懸浮顆粒濃度與濁度極具影響性，濕季時相對濃度較高，大部分的懸浮顆粒皆為河流逕送或是再懸浮之沉積物。在淡水河口區，由於地形與海淡水鋒面經由潮汐交互作用，懸浮顆粒大小及濃度與濁度常有急劇升高之勢。基本上，淡水河感潮段流域之懸浮顆粒大小是以0.4~5μm的泥狀有機物為主要成分，在河海交界的出口處附近之淺灘，遇漲潮時則底層常受到擾動而有濁度的極大值產生，而這些顆粒則是以礦物性成分的大顆粒（粒徑>10μm）為主。降雨對水體懸浮顆粒濃度與濁度的影響時間大致上不超過兩天，不同時節、氣候都會影響到輸沙量，降雨量的大小改變河水的懸浮顆粒濃度，進而直接改變輸沙量，大雨的發生會使淡水河的懸浮顆粒濃度增高26倍以上。

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