Field measurement and modeling of near-bed sediment transport processes with fluid mud layer in Tokyo Bay

Tokyo Bay is one of the estuaries in Japan with a high population of almost 26 million people in the basin area. One of the major concerns for the environment in this water area is the decreasing ecosystem functions including the deterioration of water and sediment qualities caused by various anthropogenic activities. Since the bottom sediments around almost the entire area of the inner bay consist of fine materials with a high organic content, which cause the deterioration of water quality through processes such as hypoxia, an understanding of the fine sediment dynamics in the Bay is crucial for an environmental assessment of the water area. This paper proposes a model for the key processes of fine sediment dynamics, which reflects field data about muddy bed structures and their dynamics obtained during the monitoring campaign in 2007. One of the specific features of the sediment in the Bay at present is the persistent existence of fluid mud layers (water content over 300?%) with a thickness of around a few decimeters, which might be caused by deposition of abundant organic particles due to eutrophication. The present study shows that diffusion flux model delivers quite reliable results for estimating erosion flux from the top of fluid mud layers after calibrating the model parameter against the time series data of vertical flux measured by an acoustic Doppler velocimeter system. This study also derives analytical solutions, based on the Bingham fluid concept, of advection flux in the fluid mud layer on which external shear stress force is applied.     

Effect of self-weight consolidation on a hydro-sedimentological model for the Río de la Plata estuary

The effect of the consolidation process on the morphodynamics and fine sediment dynamics of the Río de la Plata estuary is explored through a circulation-wave-sediment transport model. The consolidation model is calibrated based on settling column experimental data. Different simulations are done in order to initialize the mud layer distribution and to investigate the impact of different erosion parameter assumptions on the modeled sediment dynamics. Finally a two-year simulation is done with and without the consolidation process and realistic hydrodynamic forcings. Considering the consolidation process, the model correctly reproduces measured vertical density profiles in the Montevideo Bay access channel. The simulated suspended sediment dynamics behavior in Montevideo Bay with the consolidation process provides a more realistic deposition pattern in regard to the dredging activities.     

Numerical investigation of fluid mud motion using a three-dimensional hydrodynamic and two-dimensional fluid mud coupling model

A water-fluid mud coupling model is developed based on the unstructured grid finite volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM) to investigate the fluid mud motion. The hydrodynamics and sediment transport of the overlying water column are solved using the original three-dimensional ocean model. A horizontal two-dimensional fluid mud model is integrated into the FVCOM model to simulate the underlying fluid mud flow. The fluid mud interacts with the water column through the sediment flux, current, and shear stress. The friction factor between the fluid mud and the bed, which is traditionally determined empirically, is derived with the assumption that the vertical distribution of shear stress below the yield surface of fluid mud is identical to that of uniform laminar flow of Newtonian fluid in the open channel. The model is validated by experimental data and reasonable agreement is found. Compared with numerical cases with fixed friction factors, the results simulated with the derived friction factor exhibit the best agreement with the experiment, which demonstrates the necessity of the derivation of the friction factor.     

Sediment flux into the sea as influenced by different source areas in the drainage basin: example of the Yellow River,China

Abstract

The runoff and sediment of large rivers usually come from different source areas, which make different contributions to the sediment flux into the sea. This has been studied with the example of the Yellow River in China, whose suspended sediment flux into the Bohai Sea accounts for 19.4% of the world total. The drainage basin of this river can be divided into four major water and sediment source areas. The sediment flux into the sea is found to be closely related to the water and sediment from the different source areas in the drainage basin and, accordingly, an empirical regression model has been established to express this relationship. According to this model, in each tonne (t) of sediment from the fine sediment producing area (FSA), 0.85 t (for yearly series) and 0.72 t (for event series) can be transported into the sea; in each tonne of sediment from the coarse sediment producing area (CSA), only 0.21 t (for yearly series) and 0.34 t (for event series) can be transported into the sea. Since the 1970s, the Yellow River's sediment flux into the sea has declined markedly and this reduction can be attributed to a great degree to the soil control measures in the fine sediment producing area. Coupling the models of this study to the previously established models for estimating the impacts of soil control measures on water and sediment balance in the Yellow River basin, a quantitative prediction may be made for the change of sediment flux into the sea that might result from climate change and human activities in the future.     

Bottom instrumented tripods: History,applications, and impacts

Instrumented bottom tripods have provided important data on sediment transport processes on continental shelves and in estuaries for four decades. Since the initial deployment in a tidal channel in Puget Sound, WA, in 1965 numerous tripods have been constructed to investigate bottom boundary layer and sediment dynamics worldwide. Tripod data have led to new understanding of near-bottom wave and current flows in the coastal ocean, and have been crucial to the development of shelf circulation and sediment transport models. Calculations of bottom stress, bottom roughness, and sediment flux that resulted directly from tripod data have been compared to bottom boundary layer model results. Where these have differed, new or revised model components have been developed to improve the skill of the models. The many discoveries that have been made from tripod experiments include dense, near-bottom fluid mud layers that transport large quantities of suspended sediment offshore into deeper regions of the continental shelf. This process has been linked to the seaward progradation of subaqueous deltas and to the boundaries of mid-shelf mud deposits off rivers with high fine-sediment discharge.     

SPM response to tide and river flow in the hyper-turbid Ems River

In this paper, we analyse the behaviour of fine sediments in the hyper-turbid Lower Ems River, with focus on the river’s upper reaches, a stretch of about 25 km up-estuary of Terborg. Our analysis is based on long records of suspended particulate matter (SPM) from optical backscatter (OBS) measurements close to the bed at seven stations along the river, records of salinity and water level measurements at these stations, acoustic measurements on the vertical mud structure just up-estuary of Terborg and oxygen profiles in the lower 3 m of the water column close to Leerort and Terborg. Further, we use cross-sectionally averaged velocities computed with a calibrated numerical model. Distinction is made between four timescales, i.e. the semi-diurnal tidal timescale, the spring–neap tidal timescale, a timescale around an isolated peak in river flow (i.e. about 3 weeks) and a seasonal timescale. The data suggest that a pool of fluid/soft mud is present in these upper reaches, from up-estuary of Papenburg to a bit down-estuary of Terborg. Between Terborg and Gandersum, SPM values drop rapidly but remain high at a few gram per litre. The pool of fluid/soft mud is entrained/mobilized at the onset of flood, yielding SPM values of many tens gram per litre. This suspension is transported up-estuary with the flood. Around high water slack, part of the suspension settles, being remixed during ebb, while migrating down-estuary, but likely not much further than Terborg. Around low water slack, a large fraction of the sediment settles, reforming the pool of fluid mud. The rapid entrainment from the fluid mud layer after low water slack is only possible when the peak flood velocity exceeds a critical value of around 1 m/s, i.e. when the stratified water column seems to become internally supercritical. If the peak flood velocity does not reach this critical value, f.i. during neap tide, fluid mud is not entrained up to the OBS sensors. Thus, it is not classical tidal asymmetry, but the peak flood velocity itself which governs the hyper-turbid state in the Lower Ems River. The crucial role of river flow and river floods is in reducing these peak flood velocities. During elongated periods of high river flow, in e.g. wintertime, SPM concentrations reduce, and the soft mud deposits consolidate and possibly become locally armoured as well by sand washed in from the river. We have no observations that sediments are washed out of the hyper-turbid zone. Down-estuary of Terborg, where SPM values do not reach hyper-turbid conditions, the SPM dynamics are governed by classical tidal asymmetry and estuarine circulation. Hence, nowhere in the river, sediments are flushed from the upper reaches of the river into the Ems-Dollard estuary during high river flow events. However, exchange of sediment between river and estuary should occur because of tide-induced dispersion.     

Numerical modeling of bedload and suspended load contributions to morphological evolution of the Seine Estuary (France)

This numerical modeling study (i) assesses the influence of the sediment erosion process on the sediment dynamics and subsequent morphological changes of a mixed-sediment environment, the macrotidal Seine estuary, when non-cohesive particles are dominant within bed mixtures (non-cohesive regime), and (ii) investigates respective contributions of bedload and suspended load in these dynamics. A three dimensional (3D) process-based morphodynamic model was set up and run under realistic forcings (including tide, waves, wind, and river discharge) during a 1-year period. Applying erosion homogeneously to bed sediment in the non-cohesive regime, i.e., average erosion parameters in the erosion law (especially the erodibility parameter, E₀), leads to higher resuspension of fine sediment due to the presence of coarser fractions within mixtures, compared to the case of an independent treatment of erosion for each sediment class. This results in more pronounced horizontal sediment flux (two-fold increase for sand, +30% for mud) and erosion/deposition patterns (up to a two-fold increase in erosion over shoals, generally associated with some coarsening of bed sediment). Compared to observed bathymetric changes, more relevant erosion/deposition patterns are derived from the model when independent resuspension fluxes are considered in the non-cohesive regime. These results suggest that this kind of approach may be more relevant when local grain-size distributions become heterogeneous and multimodal for non-cohesive particles. Bedload transport appears to be a non-dominant but significant contributor to the sediment dynamics of the Seine Estuary mouth. The residual bedload flux represents, on average, between 17 and 38% of the suspended sand flux, its contribution generally increasing when bed sediment becomes coarser (can become dominant at specific locations). The average orientation of residual fluxes and erosion/deposition patterns caused by bedload generally follow those resulting from suspended sediment dynamics. Sediment mass budgets cumulated over the simulated year reveal a relative contribution of bedload to total mass budgets around 25% over large erosion areas of shoals, which can even become higher in sedimentation zones. However, bedload-induced dynamics can locally differ from the dynamics related to suspended load, resulting in specific residual transport, erosion/deposition patterns, and changes in seabed nature.     

Sediment transport in distributary channels and its export to the pro-deltaic environment in a tidally dominated delta: Fly River, Papua New Guinea

Current metre deployments, suspended sediment measurements and surface sediment samples were collected from three locations within distributary channels of the tidally dominated Fly River delta in southern Papua New Guinea. Net bedload transport vectors and the occurrence of elongate tidal bars indicate that mutually evasive ebb- and flood-dominant transport zones occur in each of the distributary channels. Suspended sediment experiments at two locations show a phase relationship between tidal velocity and sediment concentration such that the net suspended sediment flux is directed seaward. Processes that control the export of fluid muds with concentrations up to 10 g l⁻¹ from the distributary channels across the delta front and onto the pro-delta are assessed in relation to the available data. Peak spring tidal current speeds (measured at 100 cm above the bed) drop off from around 100 cm s⁻¹ within the distributary channels to <50 cm s⁻¹ on the delta front. Gravity-driven, 2-m thick, fluid mud layers generated in the distributary channels are estimated to require at least 35 h to traverse the 20-km-wide, low-gradient (2×10⁻³ degrees) delta front. The velocities of such currents are well below those required for autosuspension. A 1-month time series of suspended sediment concentration and current velocity from the delta front indicates that tidal currents alone are unable to cause significant cross-delta mud transport. Wave-induced resuspension together with tides, storm surge and barotropic return-flow may play a role in maintaining the transport of fine sediment across the delta front, but insufficient data are available at present to make any reliable estimates.     

A numerical model for simulation of fluid mud with different rheological behaviors

In this paper, a three-dimensional isopycnal approach is presented to simulate the dynamics of fluid mud covering the formation, development, transport, and disappearance of fluid mud. The basic assumption is the assignment of the fluid’s density as the indicating parameter for the rheological behavior. Considering stable stratification, as is usually the case for fluid mud, layers of constant density discretize the vertical domain. The non-Newtonian dynamics of fluid mud is simulated by solving the Cauchy equations for general continuum dynamics. Instead of using a turbulent viscosity approach, the viscosity is allowed to vary according to the rheological behavior of mud suspensions. This apparent viscosity can be determined for different rheological formulations in dependence of the volume solid fraction and the shear rate. An existing three-dimensional isopycnal hydrodynamic model was extended for vertical mass transport processes and was applied on a schematic system with hindered settling. For including the rheological behavior of fluid mud, the Worrall–Tuliani approach was parameterized and implemented. The resulting flow behavior is shown on a model application of fluid mud layers moving down an inclined plane. With these changes, it is demonstrated that the isopycnal model is capable of simulating fluid mud dynamics.     

A 1D model for tides waves and fine sediment in short tidal basins—Application to the Wadden Sea

In order to simulate the dynamics of fine sediments in short tidal basins, like the Wadden Sea basins, a 1D cross-sectional averaged model is constructed to simulate tidal flow, depth-limited waves, and fine sediment transport. The key for this 1D model lies in the definition of the geometry (width and depth as function of the streamwise coordinate). The geometry is computed by implementing the water level and flow data, from a 2D flow simulation, and the hypsometric curve in the continuity equation. By means of a finite volume method, the shallow-water equations and sediment transport equations are solved. The bed shear stress consists of the sum of shear stresses by waves and flow, in which the waves are computed with a depth-limited growth equation for wave height and wave frequency. A new formulation for erosion of fines from a sandy bed is proposed in the transport equation for fine sediment. It is shown by comparison with 2D simulations and field measurements that a 1D schematization gives a proper representation of the dynamics in short tidal basins.

     

Mud erosion by waves: a laboratory study

The role of mud erosion under waves in governing cohesive sediment transport in estuarial and coastal waters is well known. A laboratory study was conducted in order to elucidate the mechanism by which soft muds erode under progressive waves in a flume. Two types of cohesive sediment were used, a commercial kaolinite and an estuarial mud. Beds were formed by pouring in a pre-prepared sediment-water slurry and allowing the deposit to consolidate for a period ranging from 2 to 14 days. A multi-layered hydrodynamic model, which considers the mud to be viscoelastic, has been developed and used to evaluate the bed shear stress at the oscillating mud-water interface. The viscoelastic property of the mud has been confirmed by rheological measurements, and model results on velocity, pressure and wave attenuation verified against flume data. Concentration profiles indicate a distinct evolutionary pattern resulting in a highly stratified suspension. Just above the bed, a thin layer of fluid mud is generated. Above this layer, the suspension concentration is significantly lower. This two-layered feature of the concentration profile is related to the oscillatory response of the mud and water layers, and the associated momentum exchange and mass diffusion characteristics. An expression relating the rate of erosion to the bed shear stress in excess of bed shear resistance has been developed. Generation of fluid mud during erosion is a significant feature of the role of waves over mud.     

Fine sediment transport by tidal asymmetry in the high-concentrated Ems River: indications for a regime shift in response to channel deepening

This paper describes an analysis of the observed up-river transport of fine sediments in the Ems River, Germany/Netherlands, using a 1DV POINT MODEL, accounting for turbulence-induced flocculation and sediment-induced buoyancy destruction. From this analysis, it is inferred that the net up-river transport is mainly due to an asymmetry in vertical mixing, often referred to as internal tidal asymmetry. It is argued that the large stratification observed during ebb should be attributed to a profound interaction between turbulence-induced flocculation and sediment-induced buoyancy destruction, as a result of which the river became an efficient trap for fine suspended sediment. Moreover, an asymmetry in flocculation processes was found, such that during flood relative large flocs are transported at relative large flow velocity high in the water column, whereas during ebb, the larger flocs are transported at smaller velocities close to the bed??this asymmetry contributes to the large trapping mentioned above. The internal tidal asymmetry and asymmetry in flocculation processes are both driven by the pronounced asymmetry in flow velocities, with flood velocities almost twice the ebb values. It is further argued that this efficient trapping is the result of a continuous deepening of the river, and occurs when concentrations in the river become typically a few hundred mg/l; this was the case during the 1990 survey analyzed in this paper. We also speculate that a second regime shift did occur in the river when fluid mud layers become so thick that net transport rates are directly related to the asymmetry in flow velocity itself, probably still in conjunction with internal asymmetry as well. This would yield an efficient mechanism to transport large amounts of fine sediment far up-river, as currently observed.     

Erodibility of soft freshwater sediments in Markermeer: the role of bioturbation by meiobenthic fauna

The Markermeer is a large and shallow man-made freshwater lake in the Netherlands, characterized by its high turbidity. As part of a study aiming to mitigate this high turbidity, we studied the water–bed exchange processes of the lake’s muddy bed. The upper centimeter’s–decimeter’s of the lake bed sediments mainly consists of soft anoxic mud. Recent measurements have proved the existence of a thin oxic layer on top of this soft anoxic mud. This oxic layer, which is much easier to be eroded than the anoxic mud, is believed to be related with Markermeer’s high-turbidity levels. Our hypothesis is that the thin oxic layer develops from the anoxic mud, enhanced by bioturbation. Actually, we will demonstrate that it is the bioturbated state of the bed that increases its erodability, and not the oxidation state of the sediments. In particular, we will refer to bioturbation caused by meiobenthic fauna. The objective of this study is therefore to determine the influence of the development of the thin oxic layer on the water–bed exchange processes, as well as to establish the role of bioturbation on those processes. This is done by quantifying the erosion rate as a function of bed shear stresses, and at different stages of the development of the oxic layer. Our experiments show that bioturbation increases the rate at which Markermeer sediments are eroded by almost an order of magnitude. The short-term fine sediment dynamics in Markermeer are found to be driven by the complex and highly dynamic interactions between physics, chemistry, and biology. Finally, the long-term fine sediment dynamics are driven by the erosion of the historical deposits in the lake’s bed, which is only possible after bioturbation, and which leads to an increase of the stock of sediments in the lake’s muddy bed.     

Calibration of an estuarine sediment transport model to sediment fluxes as an intermediate step for simulation of geomorphic evolution

Modeling geomorphic evolution in estuaries is necessary to model the fate of legacy contaminants in the bed sediment and the effect of climate change, watershed alterations, sea level rise, construction projects, and restoration efforts. Coupled hydrodynamic and sediment transport models used for this purpose typically are calibrated to water level, currents, and/or suspended-sediment concentrations. However, small errors in these tidal-timescale models can accumulate to cause major errors in geomorphic evolution, which may not be obvious. Here we present an intermediate step towards simulating decadal-timescale geomorphic change: calibration to estimated sediment fluxes (mass/time) at two cross-sections within an estuary. Accurate representation of sediment fluxes gives confidence in representation of sediment supply to and from the estuary during those periods. Several years of sediment flux data are available for the landward and seaward boundaries of Suisun Bay, California, the landward-most embayment of San Francisco Bay. Sediment flux observations suggest that episodic freshwater flows export sediment from Suisun Bay, while gravitational circulation during the dry season imports sediment from seaward sources. The Regional Oceanic Modeling System (ROMS), a three-dimensional coupled hydrodynamic/sediment transport model, was adapted for Suisun Bay, for the purposes of hindcasting 19th and 20th century bathymetric change, and simulating geomorphic response to sea level rise and climatic variability in the 21st century. The sediment transport parameters were calibrated using the sediment flux data from 1997 (a relatively wet year) and 2004 (a relatively dry year). The remaining years of data (1998, 2002, 2003) were used for validation. The model represents the inter-annual and annual sediment flux variability, while net sediment import/export is accurately modeled for three of the five years. The use of sediment flux data for calibrating an estuarine geomorphic model guarantees that modeled geomorphic evolution will not exceed the actual supply of sediment from the watershed and seaward sources during the calibration period. Decadal trends in sediment supply (and therefore fluxes) can accumulate to alter decadal geomorphic change. Therefore, simulations of future geomorphic evolution are bolstered by this intermediate calibration step.     

Distribution and enrichment evaluation of heavy metals in Mejillones Bay (23°S), Northern Chile: Geochemical and statistical approach

A suite of 36 surface sediment samples, taken between 10 and 100 m water depth in Mejillones Bay (Northern Chile), were analyzed for mineralogy, grain size, total organic carbon, Al, and heavy metal content (Cd, Zn, Ni, Mn, V, Mo). Quartz and feldspars were the main lithogenic minerals and carbonate the predominant biogenic mineral. Sediments were fine sands in the shallow zone and organic silt in the deeper zone.

Enrichment Factor and Factor Analysis approach showed that the presence of Mn in the marine sediment of Mejillones is due to a partial influence of continental input, while all other metals are not supported by lithogenic debris. Although all metals showed high concentrations in the marine sediment of Mejillones Bay, comparison between metal concentration in surface sediments and preindustrial levels in this bay, show that present values agree with natural levels.     

Dispersal of Mississippi and Atchafalaya sediment on the Texas-Louisiana shelf: Model estimates for the year 1993

A three-dimensional coupled hydrodynamic-sediment transport model for the Texas-Louisiana continental shelf was developed using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and used to represent fluvial sediment transport and deposition for the year 1993. The model included water and sediment discharge from the Mississippi River and Atchafalaya Bay, seabed resuspension, and suspended transport by currents. Input wave properties were provided by the Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) model so that ROMS could estimate wave-driven bed stresses, critical to shallow-water sediment suspension. The model used temporally variable but spatially uniform winds, spatially variable seabed grain size distributions, and six sediment tracers from rivers and seabed.At the end of the year 1993, much of the modeled fluvial sediment accumulation was localized with deposition focused near sediment sources. Mississippi sediment remained within 20-40 km of the Mississippi Delta. Most Atchafalaya sediment remained landward of the 10-m isobath in the inner-most shelf south of Atchafalaya Bay. Atchafalaya sediment displayed an elongated westward dispersal pattern toward the Chenier Plain, reflecting the importance of wave resuspension and perennially westward depth-averaged currents in the shallow waters (<10 m). Due to relatively high settling velocities assumed for sediment from the Mississippi River as well as the shallowness of the shelf south of Atchafalaya Bay, most sediment traveled only a short distance before initial deposition. Little fluvial sediment could be transported into the vicinity of the “Dead Zone” (low-oxygen area) within a seasonal-annual timeframe. Near the Mississippi Delta and Atchafalaya Bay, alongshore sediment-transport fluxes always exceeded cross-shore fluxes. Estimated cumulative sediment fluxes next to Atchafalaya Bay were episodic and “stepwise-like” compared to the relatively gradual transport around the Mississippi Delta. During a large storm in March 1993, strong winds helped vertically mix the water column over the entire shelf (up to 100-m isobath), and wave shear stress dominated total bed stress. During fair-weather conditions in May 1993, however, the freshwater plumes spread onto a stratified water column, and combined wave-current shear stress only exceeded the threshold for suspending sediment in the inner-most part of the shelf.     

Advective flow in sediments under the influence of compaction

Abstract

Models on flow and transport in surface water sediments currently neglect compaction, although it is well understood that compaction is one of the major processes below the free fluid-sediment interface. Porosity changes in the sediment layers, as a result of compaction, are measured in almost all probes: porosity decreases with the distance from the surface water-sediment interface. This paper provides a rigorous derivation of basic flux terms for a frame of reference that is moving with the fluid-sediment interface. It is shown how burial rate, interface velocity, velocities of fluid and solid phase and porosity are connected—under steady-state conditions. It turns out that porosity and the velocities in a one-dimensional column can be directly computed from each other. These findings are important not only for the understanding of compaction-driven flow itself; they are crucial for all studies on storage and transport of chemical components in sediments. As mass fluxes across the sediment-water interface may be affected, there is an indirect link on surface water quality, making these findings relevant also for research on eutrophication of surface water bodies and/or on biogeochemical cycles.     

Fine sediment dynamics in a shallow lake and implication for design of hydraulic works

Lake Markermeer is a large (680?km²), shallow body of water in the middle of the Netherlands, with a mean water depth of 3.6?m. One of the major problems in the lake is its decreasing ecological value which is, among other reasons, caused by a gradual increase of suspended sediment concentration and associated increase of light attenuation in the water column. A thorough understanding of fine sediment dynamics in the lake is a prerequisite for solving this problem. This paper addresses the 3D nature of near-bed sediment dynamics in Lake Markermeer, based on data sampled from a 1-month field experiment in autumn 2007. The campaign involved the collection of 71 bed samples across the lake. At each location, dual-frequency echo soundings were carried out to assess the thickness of the silt layer, and sediment concentration throughout the water column was measured with an Optical Backscatter Sensor (OBS). Moreover, 2-week time series of wave height, water level, current velocities, and near-bed sediment concentration were collected at a single location. The time series of sediment concentration were measured with a regular OBS and an Argus Surface Meter IV (ASM). During the measurement period, flow velocities ranged between 2 and 15?cm/s, wave heights up to 1.2?m were observed and turbidity levels varied between 40?mg/l to more than 300?mg/l. The ASM data generally showed uniform concentration profiles. However, profiles with steep concentration gradients near the bed were found for wave heights above 0.5?m. The field experiments further revealed pronounced 3D structures near the bed during discrete storms. The results are generalized for a wider range of conditions and across the full water depth through application of a 1DV point model, using a two-fraction representation of the grain size distribution. The fine and coarse fractions are found to resuspend rapidly for wind speeds above 5?m/s and 10??2?m/s, respectively, forming a uniform concentration profile if these wind conditions persists. High-concentration (???g/l) layers near the bed, containing the coarse sediment fraction, only occur at the onset and towards the end of a storm, when wind speed changes rapidly. It is under these conditions that horizontal gradients in layer density or thickness can transport considerable fine sediment. This transport provides an additional mechanism for the infill of, for instance, silt traps and navigation channels.     

The formation of mud patches by non-linear diffusion

Deposits of mud on an otherwise sandy continental shelf floor commonly occur in the form of patches a few hundred meters in size. A model for the formation of these patches is proposed that is based on a resuspension mechanism that is a non-linear function of the percentage of fines in the surficial sediment. A diffusion equation governing the time evolution of the percentage fines is derived which for a certain range of fine sediment concentrations becomes unstable. Numerical solution of this equation shows that the spatial distribution of fine sediment breaks into two components in a manner qualitatively similar to observed mud patches.