This study describes the building of a common erosion law for fine sand and mud, mixed or not, in the case of a typical continental shelf environment, the Bay of Biscay shelf, characterized by ...slightly energetic conditions and a seabed mainly composed of fine sand and muddy sediments. A 3D realistic hydro-sedimentary model was used to assess the influence of the erosion law setting on sediment dynamics (turbidity, seabed evolution). A pure sand erosion law was applied when the mud fraction in the surficial sediment was lower than a first critical value, and a pure mud erosion law above a second critical value. Both sand and mud erosion laws are formulated similarly, with different parameters (erodibility parameter, critical shear stress and power of the excess shear stress). Several transition trends (linear or exponential) describing variations in these erosion-related parameters between the two critical mud fractions were tested. Suspended sediment concentrations obtained from simulations were compared to measurements taken on the Bay of Biscay shelf with an acoustic profiler over the entire water column. On the one hand, results show that defining an abrupt exponential transition improves model results regarding measurements. On the other hand, they underline the need to define a first critical mud fraction of 10 to 20%, corresponding to a critical clay content of 3–6%, below which pure sand erosion should be prescribed. Both conclusions agree with results of experimental studies reported in the literature mentioning a drastic change in erosion mode above a critical clay content of 2–10% in the mixture. Results also provide evidence for the importance of considering advection in this kind of validation with in situ observations, which is likely to considerably influence both water column and seabed sediment dynamics.
Mixed sediments are constituted of cohesive and non-cohesive materials with distinct behaviours that numerical models traditionally manage separately. This paper first introduces a rapid state of the ...Art in sediment transport modelling in order to point out the specific requirements for process-based models applied to mixed sediments.
Based on a preliminary study by
Waeles et al. (2007), which showed the validity of the advection approach to compute fine sand transport, a complete modelling strategy is described: it is applied to the suspended transport of sand and mud mixtures, and accounts for consolidation of mixed sediments. Special care is paid to the realistic representation of the structure and density of sand and mud mixtures, and to the segregation in consolidating sediment layers.
The model state variables are the different classes of particles, generally classified according to their size, and grouped into categories that are either transported as bedload or in suspension. The bed is described as thin layers characterised by a distribution of these classes. The erosion law for fine sands and for sand and mud mixtures is a function of the excess shear stress calibrated against measurements in a small flume. The transition between cohesive and non-cohesive behaviours is parameterised through a critical mud fraction that depends on the sand grain size: the coarser the sand, the higher the mud content before the sediment becomes cohesive. The consolidation module is based on Gibson equation formulated for each class, and modified to account for segregation. Constitutive relationships are calibrated by means of laboratory settling tests. In the deposition module, new deposits may be managed in different ways (creation of a new layer or integration into the existing surficial layer) depending on the mud fraction and its relative concentration. When deposited material is mixed with the surficial sediment, pores between coarser particles are first filled up with finer particles before increasing the layer thickness.
The new modelling frame has first been used to simulate laboratory settling tests with mixed sediments. When the initial mixture density is low, sand particles can settle through the mud and form a dense sandy layer on the bottom. In a second application, the model is used to describe sorting processes when tidal currents re-suspend a sand and mud mixture. A sand layer is then likely to form within the sediment, while the surficial layers are muddier. A
dynamic bed armouring process is shown: although sand is easily resuspended, eroded grains in the sand layer settle rapidly, reducing the erosion of underlying sediment. Resulting suspended sediment concentration is strongly reduced, as well as sediment fluxes. The application demonstrates the model ability to simulate layering processes and time-variations of sediment erodibility.
► We present a multilayered mixed sediment (sand+mud) model. ► The model respects concentrations for sorted and mixed sediments, it accounts for consolidation. ► Sand segregation is simulated. ► A dynamic bed armouring process is suggested: rapid settling of sand protects underlying sediment.
Based on experiments, a trawling-induced erosion dynamics was included in a 3D realistic and pre-validated hydro-sedimentary model so as to assess its contribution to the overall regional sediment ...dynamics in the specific case of the Bay of Biscay continental shelf. The effect of trawling was investigated throughout a 5-year period in terms of horizontal/vertical fluxes and changes in seabed mud content, and compared to the natural variability of sediment fluxes at different spatio-temporal scales. Trawling is shown in the model to significantly contribute to sediment re-suspension, and changes in the seabed at the scale of the shelf. The contribution of trawling to re-suspension is >80% during the high fishing season at many locations on the outer shelf and over the Grande-Vasière area (a large and intensively trawled muddy zone located in the middle of the shelf). The contribution of trawling is significantly weaker in winter and at annual scale, particularly over zones with (muddy-) sand facies (between 1‰ and 1%), but remains high, and reaches 20% of the annual erosion over muddy areas (e.g. northern part of the Grande-Vasière). This significant trawling-induced erosion dynamics results in high sediment fluxes which increase natural poleward dynamics from a few percent up to 40%, and contributes to the natural offshore export of sediment on the outer shelf (e.g. +35% of mud fluxes along the 130 m isobath). It is noteworthy that trawling-induced fluxes are larger in winter although the corresponding re-suspension is lower than in summer: this is due to stronger near-bottom flows occurring at this period (largely influenced by energetic wind conditions). In contrast, on the inner shelf, trawling-induced sediment fluxes are rather oriented towards the coast. Finally, simulation results reveal a trawling signature on changes in the seabed. A significant decrease (between 10% and >50%) in mud content is simulated over trawling hotspots, especially over the internal part of the Grande-Vasière and on mud patches located in front of the Gironde estuary. Conversely, trawling causes or intensifies mud deposition on both sides of these preferentially trawled areas.
•Trawling-induced sediment dynamics is significant over mid and outer shelf regions.•Trawling increases natural off-shelf export of fine sediment by 30%.•Trawling induces seabed nature changes over and around fishing zones.
The Arcachon Lagoon on the French Atlantic coast is a triangular shaped lagoon of 20 km on a side connected to the ocean by a 3-km wide inlet between the mainland and an elongated sand spit. This ...tidal inlet exhibits a particularly active morphology due to locally strong tidal currents and rough wave conditions. During the past 300 years, minimum and maximum spatial extents of the Cap Ferret sand spit have varied by 8 km while one or two channels have alternately allowed circulation between the lagoon and the ocean. These impressive morphological changes have never prevented regular flushing of the lagoon, eventhough the spit came as close as 300 m from the coast during the 18th century. According to Bruun's concept of tidal inlet stability Theory and Engineering (1978), 510 pp., the balance between longshore littoral transport and the tidal prism ensures the perpetuity of the inlet.
Process modeling was believed to give better insight into the respective roles of tides and waves in driving the long-term morphological changes of the inlet. A two-dimensional horizontal morphodynamic model was therefore developed, combining modules for hydrodynamics, waves, sediment transport and bathymetry updates. The use of process models at a scale of decades requires a schematization of the input conditions. We defined representative mean annual wave and tide conditions with respect to sediment transport, i.e. conditions that induce the same annual transport as measured in the field. Driven by these representative conditions, simulations run from the 1993 bathymetry show that the tide is responsible for the opening of a new channel at the extremity of the sand spit (where tidal currents are the strongest), while waves induce a littoral transport responsible for the longshore drift of sand bodies across the inlet. One particular simulation consisted in running the model from a hypothetical initial topography where the channels are filled with sand and the entire inlet is set to a constant depth (3 m). The results show the reproduction of a channel and bar system comparable to historical observations, which supports the idea that the lagoon is unlikely to be disconnected from the ocean, provided tide and wave conditions remain fairly constant in the following decades.
Sea trials were performed on two zones with different fishing efforts on the continental shelf of the Bay of Biscay (‘Grande-Vasière’ area of muddy sand) in order to assess particulate matter ...resuspension and seabed disturbances (i.e., penetration, reworking, grain size changes) induced by different types of trawls. Optical and acoustic measurements made in the water column indicate a significant trawling-induced resuspension mainly due to the scraping action of doors. It manifests as a highly dynamic turbid plume confined near the seabed, where suspended sediment concentrations can reach 200 mg l
−1
. Concentration levels measured behind an “alternative” configuration (trawls with jumper doors instead of classical doors penetrating the sediment) are significantly lower (around 10–20 mg l
−1
), which indicates a potential limiting impact regarding the seabed. Grain size analyses of the surficial sediment led to highlight a potential reworking influence of bottom trawling. On the intensively trawled zone, this reworking manifests as an upward coarsening trend in the first 5 cm of the cores. A significant decrease in mud content (30 %) has been also witnessed on this zone between 1967 and 2014, which suggests an influence on the seabed evolution. The geometric analysis of bottom tracks (4–5-cm depth, 20-cm width) observed with a benthic video sledge was used to compute an experimental trawling-induced erosion rate of 0.13 kg m
−2
. This erosion rate was combined with fishing effort data, in order to estimate trawling-induced erosion fluxes which were then compared to natural erosion fluxes over the Grande-Vasière at monthly, seasonal and annual scales. Winter storms control the annual resuspended load and trawling contribution to annual resuspension is in the order of 1 %. However, results show that trawling resuspension can become dominant during the fishing high season (i.e., until several times the natural one in summer). In addition, the contribution of trawling-induced resuspension is shown to increase with water depth, because of the rapid decay of wave effects. Finally, the seasonal evolution of the respective contributions for erosion (mainly trawling and waves) could be mapped for the whole study area.
The Río de la Plata is one of the largest and most turbid estuaries of the world, carrying a total of 160 million tonsy−1 of suspended sediments. The knowledge of their spatial distribution and their ...scales of variability is fundamental for management and scientific reasons, but has been limited by the scarcity of observations. During 2009 and 2010, in-situ data (CTD and turbidity profiles, and water and bottom sediment samples) were collected at 26 sites during six repeated cruises and from three fixed instruments deployed in the frame of the FREPLATA/FFEM experiment. In this paper we complement the analysis of this in-situ data base with 10 years of daily intermediate resolution (1km) MODIS-Aqua observations processed for surface suspended matter using the IFREMER algorithm for coastal turbid waters. The aim of this work is to provide a comprehensive characterization of the annual mean suspended matter concentration distribution, to study its variability on seasonal time scale and to identify the involved physical mechanisms. The comparison between the statistics of the direct and remote sensed data is satisfactory, showing a good agreement in the magnitude and spatial distribution of the mean suspended sediments concentration, its standard deviation, so as the seasonal variability. Our data show that all along the year the concentration of surface suspended matter maximizes along the southern coast of the upper and intermediate estuary and at the tips of Samborombón Bay. This fact is linked in part with the higher solid discharge of the Paraná River – flowing along the southern coast – compared to the Uruguay River which flows following the northern coast. The former receives most of the sediments load to the Río de la Plata from the Bermejo River. The observed mean pattern is also related to the stronger tidal currents along the southern coast of the estuary and at the tips of Samborombón Bay, which act re-suspending sediments near the bottom. Then, wind waves during storms enhance vertical mixing, increasing the surface concentration. The concentration of suspended sediments rapidly falls seawards the Barra del Indio shoal, in the area of the salt wedge. In the outer estuary, suspended matter concentration is also strongly associated to the wind-forced motion of the freshwater plume. Suspended matter concentration exhibits a maximum in winter and a minimum in summer, that cannot be fully explained in terms of the seasonal cycle of the solid discharge of the tributaries, but seems to be related to a raise in the frequency of the storms in winter, increasing the frequency of strong winds and higher wind waves, and the associated re-suspension and mixing.
•We analyze in-situ and remote suspended matters observations in the Río de la Plata.•SM's pattern in the interior estuary is controlled by solid discharge and tides.•In the outer estuary SM concentration decays seawards by flocculation and decantation.•SM displays a seasonal cycle with a maximum in fall-winter and a minimum in summer.•Waves during storms play a key role resuspending sediments all along the estuary.
Moreira, D.; Simionato, C.G.; Dragani, W.; Cayocca, F., and Luz Clara Tejedor, M., 2016. Characterization of bottom sediments in the Río de la Plata estuary. Bottom sediments and surface water ...samples were collected in the intermediate and outer Río de la Plata (RDP) estuary, South America, during 2009–10, in six repeated cruises, with 26 stations each. Samples were processed for grain size and for water and organic matter content. The aim of this work is to analyze this new data set to provide a comprehensive and objective characterization of the bottom sediment distribution, to study the composition, and to construct a conceptual model of the involved physical mechanisms. Principal components analysis is applied to the bottom sediment size histograms to investigate the spatial patterns. Variations in grain size parameters contain information on possible sediment transport patterns, which were analyzed by means of trend vectors. Sediments show a gradational arrangement of textures: sand dominant at the head, silt in the intermediate estuary, and clayey silt and clay at its mouth. Textures become progressively more poorly sorted offshore, and the water and organic matter content increase and seem to be strongly related to the geometry and the hydrodynamics. Along the northern coast of the intermediate RDP, well-sorted medium and fine silt predominates, whereas along the southern coast, coarser and less sorted silt prevails from differences in tidal currents, in the tributaries' water pathways, or both. Around Barra del Indio, clay prevails over silt and sand, and the water and organic matter content reach a maximum, probably because of flocculation and reduction of the currents. Immediately seaward of the bottom salinity front, net transport reverses its direction, and well-sorted, coarser sand from the adjacent shelf dominates. Relict sediment is observed between the Santa Lucía River and Montevideo, consisting of poorly sorted fine silt and clay. The inferred net transport suggests convergence at the bottom salinity front, where the limit of the estuarine deposits is observed.
Shellfish farming, particularly oyster farms, suffers from strong siltation phenomena which are harmful to the production of shellfish. The lack of knowledge about the impact of an oyster farm on the ...wave propagation and on the flow remains a significant difficulty for the comprehension of sediment transport processes in coastal zones. These effects are one of the possible sources of sedimentation. The study presented here focuses on describing finely hydrodynamical phenomena (velocity fields, turbulence parameters) around oyster tables. The analysis is based on experimental trials carried out in a flume tank on reduced models of oyster tables. Experiments highlight the flow perturbations in the near field and constitute a database for validation of numerical models developed at the same time. The model based on Navier–Stokes equations offers the possibility to study the impact of more realistic table lengths on the flow and to simulate the perturbation produced by a group of oyster tables. Both experimental and numerical results are presented in this paper.
Oyster farming structures are artificial obstacles which disturb tidal flow and wave propagation. These effects can induce modifications of erosion and sedimentation patterns, turbidity changes, ...local silting up and can be threatening for the shellfish farming itself. The understanding of the impact of these structures in terms of hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics in the far-field, i.e. at the scale of a bay, is a very challenging task.
In order to investigate the far-field impact, it is very important to understand in the first place all the changes which occur at a smaller scale, i.e. at the scale of a single table for a farm consisting of oyster tables made of metallic wire structures on which porous bags of oysters are laid. This work is carried out through the idealized representation of the in-situ flow in a free surface flume tank. The flow characteristics around the overall structure are determined from velocity measurements obtained by laser velocimetry. The results highlight an asymmetric development of the boundary layers which suggest the existence of preferential areas for silting up and suspended matter fragmentation under the table.
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