Measurements of coupled fluid and sediment motion over mobile sand dunes in a laboratory flume

The relationship between turbulent fluid motions and sediment particle motions over mobile sand dunes was investigated by using a laser Doppler velocimeter and an acoustic backscatter system in laboratory experiments performed at the USDA-ARS-National Sedimentation Laboratory. Profiles of acoustic backscatter from particles and at-a-point turbulence data were collected while translating both measurement devices downstream at the speed of mobile dune bedforms. The resulting data set was used to examine the frequency （recurrence frequency） at which the fluctuating backscatter and fluid velocity signals exceeded magnitude thresholds based on the standard deviation （σ） of the local velocity and the magnitude the acoustic signal resulting from backscatter from suspended particles. The slope of the downstream and vertical velocity recurrence frequencies generally indicated a gradually increasing recurrence time with increasing elevation. The recurrence frequency for acoustic backscatter data was not strongly variable with elevation. The closest correspondence between the recurrence frequencies of sediment backscatter and vertical velocities at the 1σ magnitude threshold was in a region defined by X/L〈0.4 and y〈6 cm. The downstream velocity was most closely related to backscatter in a small region at 0.4〈X/L〈0.8 and less than 3-4 cm from the bed.     

Seepage measurements from Long Lake,Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

 Long Lake, located near Lake Michigan within the dune-complexes of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, USA, was formed some time during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. A surficial aquifer underlies Long Lake, which is either a source or sink for the later. The hydrologic processes in the lakeshore and surrounding environs have been significantly altered during the agricultural, municipal, and industrial development of the region. Limited data suggest that the organisms of Long Lake have elevated levels of several contaminants. This study attempts to quantify seepage within the lake to assess the potential threat to groundwater quality. Seepage measurements and minipiezometric tests were used to determine seepage within the lake. Seepage measurements and minipiezometric tests suggest that water seeps out of Long Lake, thus recharging the groundwater that flows southwest away from the lake. There is a great deal of variability in the seepage rate, with a mean of 11.5×10^–4±11.2×10^–4 m d^–1. The mean seepage rate of 0.3 m yr^–1 for Long Lake is greater than the 0.2 m yr^–1 recharge rate estimated for the drainage basin area. The Long Lake recharge volume of 2.5×10⁵ m³ yr^–1 is approximately 22% of the volume of the lake and is significant when compared to the total surface recharge volume of 4.8×10⁵ m³ yr^–1 to the upper aquifer of the drainage area. There is a potential for contamination of the groundwater system through seepage from the lake from contaminants derived from aerial depositions. Received: 16 August 1995 · Accepted: 18 September 1995     

Tropical westerlies over Pangaean sand seas

Cross‐equatorial, westerly winds are key features of tropical circulation in monsoonal regions. Although prominent in numerical climate models of Pangaea (the supercontinent straddling earth's equator, Late Palaeozoic to Early Mesozoic), such flow has not been confirmed previously by migration directions of ancient dunes. Wind‐blown sandstones that span 100 million years of earth history are widely exposed in south‐western USA. If recent palaeomagnetic data from the Colorado Plateau are used to correct Mesozoic palaeogeographic maps, the Plateau is placed about 10° further south than previously assumed, and the prevailing north‐westerly surface winds recorded by dune‐deposited sandstones are explicable as cross‐equatorial westerlies – the hallmark of modern monsoon circulation. Permian to Early Jurassic dunes were driven by north‐westerlies produced by a steep pressure gradient spanning the supercontinent during December–January–February. Although winds are light in most modern, near‐equatorial settings, the East African Jet accounts for more than half the cross‐equatorial flow in June–July–August. The thicknesses of annual depositional cycles within the Navajo Sandstone indicate that the near‐equatorial, north‐westerly winds that drove these particular dunes were stronger than the modern East African Jet. The Early Jurassic dunes that deposited the thick cycles were positioned west of the dominant (southern hemisphere) thermal low and against highlands to the west – a setting very similar to the East African Jet. The mountains along the western coast of Pangaea not only enhanced wind strength, but also cast a rain shadow that allowed active dunes to extend very close to the palaeoequator.     

Antecedent aeolian dune topographic control on carbonate and evaporite facies: Middle Jurassic Todilto Member,Wanakah Formation,Ghost Ranch,New Mexico,USA

The Middle Jurassic Todilto Member of the Wanakah Formation is a carbonate and gypsum unit inset into the underlying aeolian Entrada Sandstone in the San Juan Basin. Field and thin section study of the uppermost Entrada and Todilto at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, identified Todilto facies and their relationship to remnant Entrada dune topography. Results support the previous interpretation that the Entrada dunes, housed in a basin below sea level, were rapidly flooded by marine waters. Mass wasting of the dunes gave rise to sediment‐gravity flows that largely buried remnant dune topography, leaving ca 12 m of relief that defined the antecedent condition for Todilto deposition. Previously interpreted as seasonal varves deposited in a stratified water body, the Todilto is reinterpreted as a microbial biolaminite. Most diagnostic are organic‐rich laminae with structures characteristic of filamentous microbes and containing trapped aeolian silt, and clotted‐texture laminae with a fabric associated with calcification of extracellular polymeric substances. The spatial arrangement of Todilto facies is controlled by the dune palaeotopography. A continuous basal laminated mudstone thickens over the dune crest, reflecting the optimum conditions for microbial mat development, and is interpreted to have been deposited when marine waters submerged the topography. Subsequent drying caused emergence of the crestal area, and formation of tepee structures and a dissolution breccia. Gypsiferous mudflats and periodic ponds occupied the dune flanks and interdune area, with gypsum concentrated within the interdune area. Entrada sands remained unstable during Todilto deposition with common injection structures into the Todilto, and a remnant slope caused the downslope movement and folding of Todilto strata on the upper lee face. Although some expansion of the gypsum occurred in the subsurface, facies architecture fostered development of a dissolution front adjacent to the interdune gypsum body with section collapse of gypsiferous limestone on the dune flanks.     

Controls on the height and spacing of eolian ripples and transverse dunes: A numerical modeling investigation

Ripples and transverse dunes in areas of abundant sand supply increase in height and spacing as a function of time, grain size, and excess shear velocity. How and why each of these factors influence ripple and transverse dune size, however, is not precisely known. In this paper, the controls on the height and spacing of ripples and transverse dunes in areas of abundant sand supply are investigated using a numerical model for the formation of eolian bedforms from an initially flat surface. This bedform evolution model combines the basic elements of Werner's [Werner, B.T., 1995. Eolian dunes: Computer simulations and attractor interpretation. Geology 23, 1107–1110.] cellular automaton model of dune formation with a model for boundary layer flow over complex topography. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between bed shear stress and slope on the windward (stoss) side of evolving bedforms. Nonlinear boundary layer model results indicate that bed shear stresses on stoss slopes increase with increasing slope angle up to approximately 20°, then decrease with increasing slope angle as backpressure effects become limiting. In the bedform evolution model, the linear boundary layer flow model of Jackson and Hunt [Jackson, P.S., Hunt, J.C.R., 1975. Turbulent wind flow over a low hill. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 101, 929–955.], generalized to 3D, is modified to include the nonlinear relationship between bed shear stress and slope. Bed shear stresses predicted by the modified Jackson and Hunt flow model are then used to predict rates of erosion and deposition iteratively through time within a mass-conservative framework similar to Werner [Werner, B.T., 1995. Eolian dunes: Computer simulations and attractor interpretation. Geology 23, 1107–1110.]. Beginning with a flat bed, the model forms ripples that grow in height and spacing until a dynamic steady-state condition is achieved in which bedforms migrate downwind without further growth. The steady-state ripple spacing predicted by this model is approximately 3000 times greater than the aerodynamic roughness length of the initially flat surface, which is a function of grain size and excess shear velocity. Once steady-state ripples form, they become the dominant roughness element of the surface. The increase in roughness associated with ripple formation triggers the same bedform instability that created ripples, causing dunes to form at a larger scale. In this way, the numerical model of this paper suggests that ripples and dunes are genetically linked. Transverse dunes in this model have a steady-state height and spacing that is controlled by the effective roughness length of the rippled surface, which is shown to be on the order of 500 times greater than the original roughness length, but varies significantly with the details of ripple morphology. The model predictions for ripple and dune spacing and their controlling variables are consistent with field measurements from the published literature. The model of this paper provides a preliminary process-based understanding of the granulometric control of ripples and dunes in areas of abundant sand supply and unidirectional prevailing winds, and it argues for a genetic linkage between ripples and dunes via a scaling relationship between eolian bedform size and the aerodynamic roughness length.     

Episodic Late Holocene dune movements on the sand-sheet area, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, San Luis Valley, Colorado, USA

The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GSDNPP) in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, contains a variety of eolian landforms that reflect Holocene drought variability. The most spectacular is a dune mass banked against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which is fronted by an extensive sand sheet with stabilized parabolic dunes. Stratigraphic exposures of parabolic dunes and associated luminescence dating of quartz grains by single-aliquot regeneration (SAR) protocols indicate eolian deposition of unknown magnitude occurred ca. 1290-940, 715 ± 80, 320 ± 30, and 200-120 yr ago and in the 20th century. There are 11 drought intervals inferred from the tree-ring record in the past 1300 yr at GSDNPP potentially associated with dune movement, though only five eolian depositional events are currently recognized in the stratigraphic record. There is evidence for eolian transport associated with dune movement in the 13th century, which may coincide with the “Great Drought”, a 26-yr-long dry interval identified in the tree ring record, and associated with migration of Anasazi people from the Four Corners areas to wetter areas in southern New Mexico. This nascent chronology indicates that the transport of eolian sand across San Luis Valley was episodic in the late Holocene with appreciable dune migration in the 8th, 10-13th, and 19th centuries, which ultimately nourished the dune mass against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.     

Reynolds stress and sand transport over a foredune

Reynolds shear stress (RS = –u′ w′) and sand transport patterns over a vegetated foredune are explored using three‐dimensional velocity data from ultrasonic anemometers (at 0 · 2 and 1 · 2 m) and sand transport intensity from laser particle counters (at 0 · 014 m). A mid‐latitude cyclone on 3–4 May 2010 generated storm‐force winds (exceeding 20 m s^–1) that shifted from offshore to obliquely alongshore. Quadrant analysis was used to characterize the spatial variation of RS quadrant components (Q1 through Q4) and their relative contributions were parameterized using the flow exuberance relation, EX_FL = (Q1 + Q3)/(Q2 + Q4). The magnitudes of RS and sand transport varied somewhat independently over the dune as controlled by topographic forcing effects on flow dynamics. A ‘flow exuberance effect’ was evident such that Q2 (ejection‐like) and Q4 (sweep‐like) quadrants (that contribute positively to RS) dominated on the beach, dune toe, and lower stoss, whereas Q1 and Q3 (that contribute negatively to RS) dominated near the crest. This exuberance effect was not expressed, however, in sand transport patterns. Instead, Q1 and Q4, with above‐average streamwise velocity fluctuations (+u′), were most frequently associated with sand transport. Q4 activity corresponded with most sand transport at the beach, toe, and stoss locations (52, 60, 100%). At the crest, 25 to 86% of transport was associated with Q1 while Q4 corresponded with most of the remaining transport (13 to 59%). Thus, the relationship between sand transport and RS is not as straightforward as in traditional equations that relate flux to stress in increasing fashion. Generally, RS was poorly associated with sand transport partly because Q1 and Q4 contributions offset each other in RS calculations. Thus, large amounts of transport can occur with small RS. Turbulent kinetic energy or Reynolds normal stresses (u′², w′²) may provide stronger associations with sand transport over dunes, although challenges exist on how to normalize and compare these quantities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.