Numerical modelling of aeolian erosion over a surface with non‐uniformly distributed roughness elements

The present study is focused on the analysis of the mean wall friction velocity on a surface including roughness elements exposed to a turbulent boundary layer. These roughness elements represent non‐erodible particles over an erodible surface of an agglomeration of granular material on industrial sites. A first study has proposed a formulation that describes the evolution of the friction velocity as a function of geometrical parameters and cover rate with different uniform roughness distributions. The present simulations deal with non‐uniform distributions of particles with a random sampling of diameters, heights, positions and arrangements. The evolution (relative to geometrical parameters of the roughness elements) of the friction velocity for several non‐uniform distributions of roughness elements was analysed by the equation proposed in the literature and compared to the results obtained with the numerical simulations. This comparison showed very good agreement. Thus, the formulation developed for uniform particles was found also to be valid for a larger spectrum of particles noted on industrial sites. The present work aims also to investigate in detail the fluid mechanics over several roughness particles. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cogitation on developing a dynamic model of soil wind erosion

Studies on soil wind erosion began with single factors affecting soil wind erosion; with increasing quantities of data being accumulated,the wind erosion equation(WEQ),the revised wind erosion equation(RWEQ),the wind erosion prediction system(WEPS),and other soil wind erosion models have been successively established,and great advances have been achieved.Here we briefly review the soil wind erosion research course and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the current soil wind erosion models.From the perspective of the dynamics of wind erosion,we classified the factors affecting soil wind erosion into three categories,namely,wind erosivity factors(WEF),soil antierodibility factors(SAF),and roughness interference factors(RIF).We proposed the concept of a standard plot of soil wind erosion to solve the problem of uncertainty of the soil wind erosion modulus on a spatial scale,and provided methods to set similarity conditions in wind tunnel simulation experiments and to convert the spatial scale of the wind erosion modulus from the standard plot to a large scale field.We also proposed a conceptual model on the basis of the dynamics of soil wind erosion with the theoretical basis that wind produces a shear force on the soil surface.This shear force is partitioned by barely erodible soil surfaces and roughness elements on the ground,and the amount of soil loss by wind should be calculated by comparing the shear force of the wind on barely erodible soil surfaces with the anti-erosion force of the surface soil.One advantage of this conceptual model is that the calculated soil wind erosion modulus is not subject to changes of spatial scale.Finally,we recommended continual improvement of the existing models while also establishing new models.     

Bed scour by debris flows: experimental investigation of effects of debris‐flow composition

Debris flows can grow greatly in size by entrainment of bed material, enhancing their runout and hazardous impact. Here, we experimentally investigate the effects of debris‐flow composition on the amount and spatial patterns of bed scour and erosion downstream of a fixed to erodible bed transition. The experimental debris flows were observed to entrain bed particles both grain by grain and en masse, and the majority of entrainment was observed to occur during passage of the flow front. The spatial bed scour patterns are highly variable, but large‐scale patterns are largely similar over 22.5–35° channel slopes for debris flows of similar composition. Scour depth is generally largest slightly downstream of the fixed to erodible bed transition, except for clay‐rich debris flows, which cause a relatively uniform scour pattern. The spatial variability in the scour depth decreases with increasing water, gravel (= grain size) and clay fraction. Basal scour depth increases with channel slope, flow velocity, flow depth, discharge and shear stress in our experiments, whereas there is no correlation with grain collisional stress. The strongest correlation is between basal scour and shear stress and discharge. There are substantial differences in the scour caused by different types of debris flows. In general, mean and maximum scour depths become larger with increasing water fraction and grain size, and decrease with increasing clay content. However, the erodibility of coarse‐grained experimental debris flows (gravel fraction = 0.64) is similar on a wide range of channel slopes, flow depths, flow velocities, discharges and shear stresses. This probably relates to the relatively large influence of grain‐collisional stress to the total bed stress in these flows (30–50%). The relative effect of grain‐collisional stress is low in the other experimental debris flows (<5%), causing erosion to be largely controlled by basal shear stress. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind tunnel tests of the dynamic processes that control wind erosion of a sand bed

Aeolian sand transport is a complicated process that is affected by many factors (e.g. wind velocity, sand particle size, surface microtopography). Under different experimental conditions, erosion processes will therefore produce different results. In this study, we conducted a series of wind tunnel experiments across a range of wind velocities capable of entraining sand particles (8.0, 10.0, 12.0, and 14.0 m s^-1) to study the dynamic changes of the shear velocity, aerodynamic roughness length, and sand transport. We found that the shear velocity and aerodynamic roughness length are not constant; rather, they change dynamically over time, and the rules that describe their changes depend on the free-stream air velocity. For wind tunnel experiments without feeding sand into the airflow, the sand bed elevation decreases with increasing erosion time, and this change significantly affected the values of shear velocity and aerodynamic roughness length. A Gaussian distribution function described the relationships between the sand transport rate (q_T) and the duration of wind erosion (T). It is therefore necessary for modelers to consider both deflation of the bed and the time scale used when calculating sand transport or erosion rates. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A modified Raupach's model applicable for shear-stress partitioning on surfaces covered with dense and flat-shaped gravel roughness elements

A commonly used measure to prevent soil wind erosion is to cover the surface with gravel. Gravel can inhibit soil erosion by covering the surface directly, changing the airflow field near the surface and sharing the shear stress of wind. Similar to other roughness elements, the protective effect of gravel on soil is usually expressed in terms of the ratio of the shear stress on the exposed soil surface to the total shear stress on the rough surface due to wind, i.e. through a shear-stress partitioning model. However, the existing shear-stress partitioning models, represented by Raupach's model (RM93), are only applicable when the lateral coverage of the roughness elements, λ < 0.10, and the applicability of the models to flat-shaped roughness elements is unclear. The purpose of this study is to verify the applicability of RM93 for dense and flat-shaped gravel roughness elements by using shear-stress data from wind-tunnel measurements pertaining to roughness elements with different densities (0.013 ≤ λ ≤ 0.318) and flat shapes (height-to-width ratios in the range 0.20 ≤ H/W ≤ 0.63), and to modify RM93 to enhance its predictive ability. The results indicate that RM93 cannot accurately predict the shear-stress partitioning for surfaces covered by densely distributed and flat-shaped gravel roughness elements. This phenomenon occurs because, when roughness elements are distributed densely or are flat-shaped, the proportion of the shear stress on the top surface of the roughness elements (τ_c) to the total shear stress (τ) is large; in this case, τ_c plays a dominant role and serves as an essential component in the shear-stress partitioning model. Consequently, RM93 is modified by incorporating τ_c into the calculation of τ. Under conditions of λ < 0.32 and H/W > 0.2, the modified RM93 can yield satisfactory predictions regarding the shear-stress partitioning.     

Modelling multi-phase liquid-sediment scour and resuspension induced by rapid flows using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) accelerated with a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

A two-phase numerical model using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is applied to two-phase liquid-sediments flows. The absence of a mesh in SPH is ideal for interfacial and highly non-linear flows with changing fragmentation of the interface, mixing and resuspension. The rheology of sediment induced under rapid flows undergoes several states which are only partially described by previous research in SPH. This paper attempts to bridge the gap between the geotechnics, non-Newtonian and Newtonian flows by proposing a model that combines the yielding, shear and suspension layer which are needed to predict accurately the global erosion phenomena, from a hydrodynamics prospective. The numerical SPH scheme is based on the explicit treatment of both phases using Newtonian and the non-Newtonian Bingham-type Herschel-Bulkley-Papanastasiou constitutive model. This is supplemented by the Drucker-Prager yield criterion to predict the onset of yielding of the sediment surface and a concentration suspension model. The multi-phase model has been compared with experimental and 2-D reference numerical models for scour following a dry-bed dam break yielding satisfactory results and improvements over well-known SPH multi-phase models. With 3-D simulations requiring a large number of particles, the code is accelerated with a graphics processing unit (GPU) in the open-source DualSPHysics code. The implementation and optimisation of the code achieved a speed up of x58 over an optimised single thread serial code. A 3-D dam break over a non-cohesive erodible bed simulation with over 4 million particles yields close agreement with experimental scour and water surface profiles.     

Scouring of a granular bed by dam break: Experimental study and numerical simulation by a VOF-LPT coupling

The first part of the research reported here consists of an experimental campaign to study the scouring of a granular bed(glass beads, sand) induced by a dam break in an open channel. Two configurations are considered: with and without cylinders. In the second part of this study, the volume of fluid method coupled with the shear stress transport turbulent model and the lagrangian particle tracking method is used to simulate the local scour processes. The four-way coupling is realized by consider...     

Parameterization of near-bed processes under collinear wave and current flows from a two-phase sheet flow model

Sediment transport models require appropriate representation of near-bed processes. We aim here to explore the parameterizations of bed shear stress, bed load transport rate and near-bed sediment erosion rate under the sheet flow regime. To that end, we employ a one-dimensional two-phase sheet flow model which is able to resolve the intrawave boundary layer and sediment dynamics at a length scale on the order of the sediment grain. We have conducted 79 numerical simulations to cover a range of collinear wave and current conditions and sediment diameters in the range 210–460 μm$\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{m}$. The numerical results confirm that the intrawave bed shear stress leads the free stream velocity, and we assess an explicit expression relating the phase lead to the maximum velocity, wave period and bed roughness. The numerical sheet flow model is also used to provide estimates for the bed load transport rate and to inspect the near-bed sediment erosion. A common bed load transport rate formulation and two typical reference concentration approaches are assessed. A dependence of the bed load transport rate on the sediment grain diameter is observed and parameterized. Finally, the intrawave near-bed vertical sediment flux is further investigated and related to the time derivative of the bed shear stress.     

Aeolian sediment flux decay: Non-linear behaviour on developing deflation lag surfaces

Wind tunnel simulations of the effect of non-erodible roughness elements on sediment transport show that the flux ratio q/q_s, shear velocity U*, and roughness density λ are co-dependent variables. Initially, the sediment flux is enhanced by kinetic energy retention in relatively elastic collisions that occur at the roughness element surfaces, but at the same time, the rising surface coverage of the immobile elements reduces the probability of grain ejection. A zone of strong shearing stress develops within 0·03 to 0·04 m of the rough bed because of a relative straightening of velocity profiles which are normally convex with saltation drag. This positive influence on fluid entrainment is opposed by declining shear stress partitioned to the sand bed. Similarly, because the free stream velocity U_f is fixed while U_* increases, velocity at height z and particle momentum gain from the airstream decline, leading eventually to lower numbers of particles ejected on average at each impact. When the ratio of the element basal area to frontal area σ is approximately equal to 3·5, secondary flow effects appear to become significant, so that the dimensionless aerodynamic roughness parameter Z₀/h and shear stress on the exposed sand bed T_s decrease. It is at this point that grain supply to the airstream and saltation drag appear to be significantly reduced, thereby intensifying the reduction in U_*. The zone of strong fluid shear near the bed dissipates.     

Flow structure over square bars at intermediate submergence: Large Eddy Simulation study of bar spacing effect

Turbulent open-channel flow over 2D roughness elements is investigated numerically by Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The flow over square bars for two roughness regimes (k-type roughness and transitional roughness between d-type and k-type) at a relative submergence of H/k = 6.5 is considered, where H is the maximum water depth and k is the roughness height. The selected roughness configurations are based on laboratory experiments, which are used for validating numerical simulations. Results from the LES, in turn, complement the experiments in order to investigate the time-averaged flow properties at much higher spatial resolution. The concept of the double-averaging (DA) of the governing equations is utilized to quantify roughness effects at a range of flow properties. Double-averaged velocity profiles are analysed and the applicability of the logarithmic law for rough-wall flows of intermediate submergence is evaluated. Momentum flux components are quantified and roughness effect on their vertical distribution is assessed using an integral form of the DA-equations. The relative contributions of pressure drag and viscous friction to the overall bed shear stress are also reported.     

Controls on the aerodynamic roughness length and the grain‐size dependence of aeolian sediment transport

Estimates of the wind shear stress exerted on Earth's surface using the fully rough form of the law‐of‐the‐wall are a function of the aerodynamic roughness length, z₀. Accurate prediction of aeolian sediment transport rates, therefore, often requires accurate estimates of z₀. The value of z₀ is determined by the surface roughness and the saltation intensity, both of which can be highly dynamic. Here we report field measurements of z₀ values derived from velocity profiles measured over an evolving topography (i.e. sand ripples). The topography was measured by terrestrial laser scanning and the saltation intensity was measured using a disdrometer. By measuring the topographic evolution and saltation intensity simultaneously and using available formulae to estimate the topographic contribution to z₀, we isolated the contribution of saltation intensity to z₀ and document that this component dominates over the topographic component for all but the lowest shear velocities. Our measurements indicate that the increase in z₀ during periods of saltation is approximately one to two orders of magnitude greater than the increase attributed to microtopography (i.e. evolving sand ripples). Our results also reveal differences in transport as a function of grain size. Each grain‐size fraction exhibited a different dependence on shear velocity, with the saltation intensity of fine particles (diameters ranging from 0.125 to 0.25 mm) saturating and eventually decreasing at high shear velocities, which we interpret to be the result of a limitation in the supply of fine particles from the bed at high shear velocities due to bed armoring. Our findings improve knowledge of the controls on the aerodynamic roughness length and the grain‐size dependence of aeolian sediment transport. The results should contribute to the development of improved sediment transport and dust emission models. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fluvial and slope‐wash erosion of soil‐mantled landscapes: detachment‐ or transport‐limited?

Many numerical landform evolution models assume that soil erosion by flowing water is either purely detachment‐limited (i.e. erosion rate is related to the shear stress, power, or velocity of the flow) or purely transport‐limited (i.e. erosion/deposition rate is related to the divergence of shear stress, power, or velocity). This paper reviews available data on the relative importance of detachment‐limited versus transport‐limited erosion by flowing water on soil‐mantled hillslopes and low‐order valleys. Field measurements indicate that fluvial and slope‐wash modification of soil‐mantled landscapes is best represented by a combination of transport‐limited and detachment‐limited conditions with the relative importance of each approximately equal to the ratio of sand and rock fragments to silt and clay in the eroding soil. Available data also indicate that detachment/entrainment thresholds are highly variable in space and time in many landscapes, with local threshold values dependent on vegetation cover, rock‐fragment armoring, surface roughness, soil texture and cohesion. This heterogeneity is significant for determining the form of the fluvial/slope‐wash erosion or transport law because spatial and/or temporal variations in detachment/entrainment thresholds can effectively increase the nonlinearity of the relationship between sediment transport and stream power. Results from landform evolution modeling also suggest that, aside from the presence of distributary channel networks and autogenic cut‐and‐fill cycles in non‐steady‐state transport‐limited landscapes, it is difficult to infer the relative importance of transport‐limited versus detachment‐limited conditions using topography alone. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

River ice cover influence on sediment transportation at present and under projected hydroclimatic conditions

A large number of rivers are frozen annually, and the river ice cover has an influence on the geomorphological processes. These processes in cohesive sediment rivers are not fully understood. Therefore, this paper demonstrates the impact of river ice cover on sediment transport, i.e. turbidity, suspended sediment loads and erosion potential, compared with a river with ice‐free flow conditions. The present sediment transportation conditions during the annual cycle are analysed, and the implications of climate change on wintertime geomorphological processes are estimated. A one‐dimensional hydrodynamic model has been applied to the Kokemäenjoki River in Southwest Finland. The shear stress forces directed to the river bed are simulated with present and projected hydroclimatic conditions. The results of shear stress simulations indicate that a thermally formed smooth ice cover diminishes river bed erosion, compared with an ice‐free river with similar discharges. Based on long‐term field data, the river ice cover reduces turbidity statistically significantly. Furthermore, suspended sediment concentrations measured in ice‐free and ice‐covered river water reveal a diminishing effect of ice cover on riverine sediment load. The hydrodynamic simulations suggest that the influence of rippled ice cover on shear stress is varying. Climate change is projected to increase the winter discharges by 27–77% on average by 2070–2099. Thus, the increasing winter discharges and possible diminishing ice cover periods both increase the erosion potential of the river bed. Hence, the wintertime sediment load of the river is expected to become larger in the future. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding mass fluvial erosion along a bank profile: using PEEP technology for quantifying retreat lengths and identifying event timing

This study provides fundamental examination of mass fluvial erosion along a stream bank by identifying event timing, quantifying retreat lengths, and providing ranges of incipient shear stress for hydraulically driven erosion. Mass fluvial erosion is defined here as the detachment of thin soil layers or conglomerates from the bank face under higher hydraulic shear stresses relative to surface fluvial erosion, or the entrainment of individual grains or aggregates under lower hydraulic shear stresses. We explore the relationship between the two regimes in a representative, US Midwestern stream with semi‐cohesive bank soils, namely Clear Creek, IA. Photo‐Electronic Erosion Pins (PEEPs) provide, for the first time, in situ measurements of mass fluvial erosion retreat lengths during a season. The PEEPs were installed at identical locations where surface fluvial erosion measurements exist for identifying the transition point between the two regimes. This transition is postulated to occur when the applied shear stress surpasses a second threshold, namely the critical shear stress for mass fluvial erosion. We hypothesize that the regimes are intricately related and surface fluvial erosion can facilitate mass fluvial erosion. Selective entrainment of unbound/exposed, mostly silt‐sized particles at low shear stresses over sand‐sized sediment can armor the bank surface, limiting the removal of the underlying soil. The armoring here is enhanced by cementation from the presence of optimal levels of sand and clay. Select studies show that fluvial erosion strength can increase several‐fold when appropriate amounts of sand and clay are mixed and cement together. Hence, soil layers or conglomerates are entrained with higher flows. The critical shear stress for mass fluvial erosion was found to be an order of magnitude higher than that of surface fluvial erosion, and proceeded with higher (approximately 2–4 times) erodibility. The results were well represented by a mechanistic detachment model that captures the two regimes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Erosion characteristics and horizontal variability for small erosion depths in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta,California, USA

Erodibility of cohesive sediment in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta) was investigated with an erosion microcosm. Erosion depths in the Delta and in the microcosm were estimated to be about one floc diameter over a range of shear stresses and times comparable to half of a typical tidal cycle. Using the conventional assumption of horizontally homogeneous bed sediment, data from 27 of 34 microcosm experiments indicate that the erosion rate coefficient increased as eroded mass increased, contrary to theory. We believe that small erosion depths, erosion rate coefficient deviation from theory, and visual observation of horizontally varying biota and texture at the sediment surface indicate that erosion cannot solely be a function of depth but must also vary horizontally. We test this hypothesis by developing a simple numerical model that includes horizontal heterogeneity, use it to develop an artificial time series of suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) in an erosion microcosm, then analyze that time series assuming horizontal homogeneity. A shear vane was used to estimate that the horizontal standard deviation of critical shear stress was about 30% of the mean value at a site in the Delta. The numerical model of the erosion microcosm included a normal distribution of initial critical shear stress, a linear increase in critical shear stress with eroded mass, an exponential decrease of erosion rate coefficient with eroded mass, and a stepped increase in applied shear stress. The maximum SSC for each step increased gradually, thus confounding identification of a single well-defined critical shear stress as encountered with the empirical data. Analysis of the artificial SSC time series with the assumption of a homogeneous bed reproduced the original profile of critical shear stress, but the erosion rate coefficient increased with eroded mass, similar to the empirical data. Thus, the numerical experiment confirms the small-depth erosion hypothesis. A linear model of critical shear stress and eroded mass is proposed to simulate small-depth erosion, assuming that the applied and critical shear stresses quickly reach equilibrium.     

Turbulent flow structures in alluvial channels with curved cross‐sections under conditions of downward seepage

Experimental investigations have been done to analyze turbulent structures in curved sand bed channels with and without seepage. Measures of turbulent statistics such as time‐averaged near‐bed velocities, Reynolds stresses, thickness of roughness sublayer and shear velocities were found to increase with application of downward seepage. Turbulent kinetic energy and Reynolds normal stresses are increased in the streamwise direction under the action of downward seepage, causing bed particles to move rapidly. Analysis of bursting events shows that the relative contributions of all events (ejections, sweeps and interactions) increase throughout the boundary layer, and the thickness of the zone of dominance of sweep events, which are responsible for the bed material movement, increases in the case of downward seepage. The increased sediment transport rate due to downward seepage deforms the cross‐sectional geometry of the channel made of erodible boundaries, which is caused by an increase in flow turbulence and an associated decrease in turbulent kinetic energy dissipation and turbulent diffusion.     

Evolution of bed shear stress distribution over the northwest European shelf seas during the last 12,000 years

Due to changes in relative sea level of order 100 m, the contribution of tides and waves to net bed shear stress in shelf sea regions has varied considerably over the Late Glacial and Holocene. Understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of this ratio leads to a deeper understanding of the erosion and deposition of sediments over the shelf seas throughout this time period. Tidal and wave models are here applied to palaeo time slices of the northwest European shelf seas over the last 12,000 years. The model simulations include a series of sensitivity tests to account for the influence of interannual variability in wind conditions on the resulting bed shear stress. The results show that there has been a significant decrease over the last 12,000 years in shelf-scale mobilisation of coarse sediment. Since there was a lower magnitude of wave orbital velocity penetrating to the sea bed as a result of increasing relative sea level, this reduction in sediment mobilisation was primarily controlled by a shelf-scale decrease in wave-induced bed shear stress over the last 12,000 years. The predictions of mean and residual bed shear stress for the modelled palaeo time slices are a useful tool with which to inform site-selection and subsequent interpretation of sediment cores. In addition, the modelled reconstructions of palaeo tidal range over the shelf seas demonstrates the potential errors associated with assuming a present-day tidal range when correcting palaeo sea-level proxies from their deposited datum (e.g. palaeo mean high water spring tide) to palaeo mean sea level.     

Transport of moderately sorted gravel at low bed shear stresses: The role of fine sediment infiltration

A reliable estimation of sediment transport in gravel‐bed streams is important for various practical engineering and biological studies (e.g., channel stability design, bed degradation/aggradation, restoration of spawning habitat). In the present work, we report original laboratory experiments investigating the transport of gravel particles at low bed shear stresses. The laboratory tests were conducted under unsteady flow conditions inducing low bed shear stresses, with detailed monitoring of the bed topography using a laser scanner. Effects of bed surface arrangements were documented by testing loose and packed bed configurations. Effects of fine sediments were examined by testing beds with sand, artificial fine sand or cohesive silt infiltrated in the gravel matrix. Analysis of the experimental data revealed that the transport of gravel particles depends upon the bed arrangement, the bed material properties (e.g., size and shape, consolidation index, permeability) and the concentration of fine sediments within the surface layer of moving grains. This concentration is directly related to the distribution of fine particles within the gravel matrix (i.e., bottom‐up infiltration or bridging) and their transport mode (i.e., bedload or suspended load). Compared to loose beds, the mobility of gravel is reduced for packed beds and for beds clogged from the bottom up with cohesive fine sediments; in both cases, the bed shear stress for gravel entrainment increases by about 12%. On the other hand, the mobility of gravel increases significantly (bed shear stress for particle motion decreasing up to 40%) for beds clogged at the surface by non‐cohesive sand particles. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sediment-transport modeling on Southern Californian shelves: A ROMS case study

Suspended sediment-transport processes in Santa Monica and San Pedro Bay are analyzed using the sediment-transport capabilities of the Regional Oceanic Modeling System (roms). A one-month simulation for December 2001 has been carried out with a set of nested domains. The model inputs include tides, winds, surface waves, and idealized initial sediment conditions for sand and non-cohesive silt. Apart from the control run, the sensitivity of the results to surface waves, ripple roughness and bed armoring has been analyzed. From the control experiment, the horizontal transport of sand turns out to be limited to within a few km of the nearshore erosion zones. During high wave events, silt is transported over further distances and also partly offshelf in distinct plumes. The effectiveness of horizontal silt transport depends strongly on vertical mixing due to both surface wind stress and wave-enhanced bottom stress. High wave events coincident with strong winds (hence strong vertical mixing) are the most optimal conditions for sediment-transport. Excluding wave effects in the simulation shows that surface waves are the dominant factor in resuspending bed material on the Southern Californian shelves. The sensitivity experiments also show that the direct influence of additional ripple roughness on erosion and deposition is relatively weak. Switching off bed armoring locally results in increases of near-bottom concentrations by a factor of 20 for silt and a factor of 5 for sand as well as stronger spatial gradients in grain size.