A fluorescent sand-tracer experiment was performed at Comporta Beach (Portugal) with the aim of acquiring longshore sediment transport data on a reflective beach, the optimization of field and laboratory tracer procedures and the improvement of the conceptual model used to support tracer data interpretation.
The field experiment was performed on a mesotidal reflective beach face in low energetic conditions (significant wave height between 0.4 and 0.5 m). Two different colour tracers (orange and blue) were injected at low tide and sampled in the two subsequent low tides using a high resolution 3D grid extending 450 m alongshore and 30 m cross-shore. Marked sand was detected using an automatic digital image processing system developed in the scope of the present experiment.
Results for the two colour tracers show a remarkable coherence, with high recovery rates attesting data validity. Sand tracer displayed a high advection velocity, but with distinct vertical distribution patterns in the two tides: in the first tide there was a clear decrease in tracer advection velocity with depth while in the second tide, the tracer exhibited an almost uniform vertical velocity distribution. This differing behaviour suggests that, in the first tide, the tracer had not reached equilibrium within the transport system, pointing to a considerable time lag between injection and complete mixing. This issue has important implications for the interpretation of tracer data, indicating that short term tracer experiments tend to overestimate transport rates. In this work, therefore, longshore estimates were based on tracer results obtained during the second tide.
The estimated total longshore transport rate at Comporta Beach was 2 × 10− 3 m3/s, more than four times larger than predicted using standard empirical longshore formulas. This discrepancy, which results from the unusually large active moving layer observed during the experiment, confirms the idea that most common longshore transport equations under-estimate total sediment transport in plunging/surging waves. 相似文献
The tsunami similar to the one that has occurred in December 26, 2004 (Boxing Day Tsunami) in the Indian Ocean is simulated using the expression derived from Modified Weibull Distribution (for maximum wave height simulation) for extreme wave height predictions. The tuning coefficient plays a significant role in estimating the tsunami heights at various stages. It follows well defined mathematical laws at different stages. It is time dependent in the first three stages and depth dependent in the last two stages. The beach run-up heights estimated by the expression derived from the work-energy relation are comparable with observed values with reasonable accuracy. 相似文献
The Easington Raised Beach, in Shippersea Bay, County Durham, is the most northerly known interglacial beach deposit in England. It lies directly on Magnesian Limestone bedrock at 33 m O.D. and is covered by glacial sediments attributed to the Devensian. Detailed sedimentological analysis suggests that it is an interglacial beach, which is supported by the presence of pebbles bored by marine organisms and littoral, temperate-climate, marine macro- and micro-fossils. It comprises beds of unconsolidated, bedded, imbricated, well-rounded sands and gravels, overlain by similar, but calcreted, deposits. The gravel fraction is dominated by Magnesian and Carboniferous limestone, with orthoquartzite, flint, and porphyries also present; these are far-travelled erratics that must have derived from the erosion of older glacially transported sediments. Previous workers have described erratics derived from the Oslofjord region of Norway in the raised beach gravel, although rocks diagnostic of a Scandinavian origin have not been recovered as part of this study. The heavy-mineral suite is rich in epidote, dolomite, clinopyroxenes, garnet, tourmaline, and micas. The beach was dated previously by conventional amino acid analysis of the shells, which suggested a Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 age, albeit with a reworked component from MIS 9. This has been confirmed by new optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates, which indicate that the beach formed between 240 and 200 ka BP. New amino acid racemisation analyses, using a modified technique, broadly support this interpretation but must await more comparative data before they can be assessed fully. The strong indication of an MIS 7 age for the formation of the beach has implications for the uplift history of northeastern England during the Pleistocene, and indicates an uplift rate of 0.19 mm a−1. The stable isotope geochemistry indicates that the cementation occurred during an interglacial period, whilst U-Series dating of the cement indicates that cementation occurred mostly during the Holocene, and is genetically related to the overlying Devensian till. This work has formed part of a full re-appraisal of the glacial sequence in eastern County Durham, the results of which suggest that the Warren House Formation pre-dates the raised beach, and that the Devensian Horden Till overlies the raised beach. 相似文献
Between April 2002 and April 2003, in situ measurements of water depth, current velocity and suspended sediment content were carried out in edge region of East Chongming salt marsh and neighboring bald flat in the Changjiang (Yangtze) Estuary under different weather conditions. Cross-shore suspended sediment flux was calculated and analyzed. The results show that under calm weather conditions, the current velocity process in bald field and salt marsh area varied differently during semidiurnal tidal cycles. Owing to current velocity asymmetry, mean SSC during flood tide phase was 1.8 times higher than that of ebb tide phase. As a result, net onshore sediment flux controlled cross-shore suspended sediment transport process and salt marsh pioneer zone was generally accreting. There was significant positive correlation between total sediment flux and quartic power of maximum water depth. It indicates that tidal ranges dominate suspended sediment transport and sedimentation process in the salt marsh pioneer zone under the calm weather condition. The sedimentation rate on the adjacent mudflat was higher than the salt marsh, which induced stable accreting of salt marsh towards the sea. The wind events enhanced SSC and current velocity during the semidiurnal tides. And the remarkable onshore net sediment flux could occur on the high marsh and mudflat close to the marsh fringe during the short period under the rough weather condition. 相似文献