SEDIMENT PROPERTIES AND DYNAMICS IN THE TAIHU LAKE, CHINA

1 INTRODUCTION Large amounts of nutrients and contaminants such as trace metals are transported into large lakes frominflow rivers and then absorbed onto or associated with fine-grained sediment particles (Sheng and Lick,1979). The nutrients and contamina…     

Hydrodynamics of salt marsh creek systems: Implications for marsh morphological development and material exchange

Integrated ebb-aligned drainage systems are a feature of tide-dominated marshes, and are generally regarded as major conduits for material exchange. In north Norfolk, highly unsteady creek flows exhibit well-developed velocity and stress transients which result from the discontinuous nature of the tidal prism and the interaction of shallow water tidal inputs with hydraulically rough vegetated surfaces. Marsh morphological development is governed by a form-process feedback, in the sense that the marsh surface acts as a topographic threshold separating the depositional regime of below-marsh tides from the erosional (ebb-dominated) regime of over-marsh tides. Vertical marsh growth results in increasing intermittency of creek sediment transport. Furthermore, velocity transients are associated with large discharges which must be allowed for in material flux computations. Creek flux measurements are not in themselves sufficient to estimate total material budgets, since a large proportion of tidal exchange may take place via the marsh edge. Such studies should focus instead on direct measurement of marsh surface processes. These findings have relevance beyond this back-barrier setting to marshes of different geometry, occupying a broad range of the tidal energy spectrum.     

长江河口南汇嘴潮滩近期演变分析

南汇嘴潮滩位于长江口和杭州湾的交汇地带,受长江口和杭州湾北岸两股潮流的控制,近年来由于低潮滩促淤围垦工程导致其水流和泥沙运移、沉积和地貌发生了显著的变化。根据近期水文泥沙观测资料及1993年、1998年、2003年、2005年的实测地形图资料,分析了南汇嘴潮滩近期演变特征。研究结果表明:1993-1998年为淤涨期;1998-2003年为冲淤调整期;2003-2005年呈现向外淤涨的趋势。而造成这一趋势的原因主要包括潮滩海洋动力作用、长江入海泥沙变化及近岸海岸工程建设等。     

Sediment transport patterns at Trafalgar offshore windfarm

A simple analytical model of wave propagation has been developed in order to study the potential sediment transport patterns due to the action of currents and waves in the neighborhood of cylindrical structures as well inside a group of these structures. The attention is focused on the study of Trafalgar offshore windfarm, a case in which it has been necessary to analyze the flow trough porous structures in order to model fish growing-cages planned to be installed at each aerogenerator structure. The results are obtained by averaging over one period of wave in order to evaluate the net potential sediment transport. The analysis of the results reveals how the processes of wave diffraction and reflection give rise to periodic patterns of sediment transport around and between the structures.     

Diagnosis of trace metal contamination in sediments: the example of Ensenada and El Sauzal, two harbors in Baja California, Mexico

Total metal concentrations in sediments from within Ensenada and El Sauzal Harbors are generally higher than at the mouths. Grain-size analyses suggested that this enrichment could be due to the presence of fine-grained sediments in the inner part of the harbors rather than to anthropogenic perturbations. The (Me/Al)(sample) ratios for Pb, Co, Ni and Fe were significantly higher for Ensenada Harbor relative to El Sauzal Harbor, whereas the ratios for Cd, Mn, Zn and Cu were statistically equivalent for both harbors. Calculated enrichment factors [EF(Me)=(Me/Al)(sample)/(Me/Al)(shale)] indicated that the metals showing slight enrichment were those associated with anthropogenic contamination (Pb, Zn), or probably related to primary productivity in the water column (Cd, Co). The levels of most of the metals were not greatly enriched, a consideration that is of the utmost importance when contamination issues are at stake.     

The effect of bedform dynamics on computing suspended sediment fluxes using optical backscatter sensors and current meters

The sensitivity of the suspended sediment flux is tested with respect to rapid changes in bed-level across the surf zone of a sandy beach. The suspended flux was computed using a fixed instrument array, but bed-level changes due to ripple migration caused the instrument elevations to be significantly changed during the course of the experiment. The nominal elevations of the instruments were adjusted during data processing (using the MOBS array) to maintain a fixed elevation with respect to bed-level changes. The resultant suspended sediment concentrations and fluxes were significantly different from the unadjusted data, and for the present data set O(35%) less when averaged over the tide. The maximum difference between adjusted and unadjusted fluxes may be O(260%). The results indicate that changes in bed-level, particularly those due to bedform migration, must be accounted for when processing OBS data if reliable estimates of suspended sediment transport are to be obtained in the field.     

Analysis of threshold and incipient conditions for sediment movement

Prediction of threshold conditions and incipient motion is the essential issue for the study of sediment transport. This work compares existing empirical threshold curves proposed for Shields diagram, a method based on the concept of probability of sediment movement, and an empirical method based on movability number. These methods are used to predict the incipient motion conditions for experimental runs taken from various studies. Most of the experimental data, used in this work, have not been used before in derivation of alternative formulations for Shields diagram and other methods. The empirical threshold curves based on the Shields entrainment function was the least successful at predicting the measured incipient motion conditions, while the use of the movability number gives good predictions of critical shear velocity compared with experimental data.     

Molluscan assemblages of seagrass-covered and bare intertidal flats on the Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania, in relation to characteristics of sediment and organic matter

The Banc d'Arguin, a non-estuarine area of shallows and intertidal flats off the tropical Saharan coast of Mauritania, is characterised by extensive intertidal and subtidal seagrass beds. We examined the characteristics of intertidal seagrass (Zostera noltii) meadows and bare areas in terms of the presence and abundance of molluscs (gastropods and bivalves). To explain observed differences between molluscan assemblages in seagrass and bare patches, some aspects of the feeding habitat (top-5 mm of the sediment) and of food (organic materials) of molluscs were examined. The novelty of this study is that phytopigments were measured and identified to assess source and level of decay (freshness) of organic material in the sediment and to study their importance as an explanatory variable for the distribution of molluscs. Over an area of 36 km² of intertidal flats, at 12 sites, paired comparisons were made between seagrass-covered and nearby bare patches. Within seagrass meadows, dry mass of living seagrass was large and amounted to 180 ±10 g AFDM m^− 2 (range 75–240). Containing twice the amount of silt per unit dry sediment mass, seagrass sediments were muddier than bare areas; the relative amount of organic material was also larger. The total number of species of bivalves and gastropods amounted to 27, 14 of which were found only in seagrass areas, 4 only in bare and 9 in both types of habitat. Among the three numerically most abundant species, the bivalves Anadara senilis, Dosinia hepatica and Loripes lacteus, the first was numerically most abundant in bare and the other two in seagrass-covered areas. Bare intertidal areas had greater mean total biomass of molluscs (80.5 g AFDM m^− 2) than seagrass meadows (30.0 g AFDM m^− 2). In both habitats, the bulk of the biomass was made up by A. senilis. Excluding this species, bare mudflats contained on average only 3.1 g AFDM m^− 2 and seagrass meadows 6.9 g AFDM m^− 2. As compared to previous surveys in 1980–1986, the biomass of A. senilis had increased almost 10-fold and D. hepatica, previously found in very small numbers, had become the most numerous species. However, the total biomass excluding that of A. senilis was similar. Concentrations of phytopigments were similar to those observed at temperate mudflats, indicating that the Banc d'Arguin might not be as oligotrophic as previously thought. Per unit of dry sediment mass, smaller amounts of phytopigments were found in bare than in seagrass areas. Per unit of dry organic material, bare sediments contained most (fresh) phytopigments. This suggests that in seagrass-covered meadows the organic material is more degraded than in bare sediments. Overall, the composition of phytopigments, quite surprisingly, indicated a benthic-diatom-dominated trophic system. Multivariate statistics revealed that patterns of zoobenthic assemblages were correlated with patterns of a combination of four environmental parameters: grain size of the sediment, amount of fresh phytopigments and amounts of leaves and roots of seagrass.