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.     

尼日尔三角洲东部深水区构造特征及其形成机理

研究尼日尔三角洲东部深水区块发现,整个盆地从陆向洋具有3个大的构造分区：伸展拉张区、过渡区和挤压逆冲区。伸展区以大型同沉积断层伴生大量滚动背斜构造为特征,过渡区发育大量泥底辟构造,挤压区以复杂的逆冲叠瓦构造为主。通过分析形成机理,揭示东部深水转换带上M研究区构造特征,按构造的演化特征将该区构造分为泥底辟型、冲断-泥底辟混合型、逆冲型3种类型,提出研究区内的圈闭主要以构造-岩性圈闭为主,为尼日尔三角洲盆地深水勘探提供新的理论指导。     

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。     

Ocean coast effect on magnetotelluric data: a case study from Kachchh, India

The effects of the ocean coast on magnetotelluric (MT) data have been studied and results are described in this article. MT soundings from various sites along coastal plains of Kachchh were acquired where volcanic rocks overlie Mesozoic sediments having potential resource prospects. The region of our study lies in the proximity of Gulf of Kachchh and Arabian Sea. This article describes the effects the presence of a conductive body on the acquired MT data. With the help of synthetic MT modelling and induction arrows we demonstrate the influence of shallow conductive body on the MT data. The modelling results when compared to the field observations show that much of the high frequencies are unaffected by the coast, however low frequencies of the data do seem to be distorted by onshore–offshore resistivity contrasts. The least affect on high frequencies can be attributed to very shallow water depth as well as to the fact that the onshore–offshore resistivity contrasts are not large enough to influence the high frequency data badly. The results presented here report for the first time the effect of the coast on the analysis on MT data from Kachchh. Due to several academic as well as industrial onshore–offshore MT experiments presently being carried out to explore its hydrocarbon potential, our results have an important bearing on designing and acquisition of future MT surveys in this region.     

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.