scholarly journals Appraisal of hydro-ecology, geomorphology, and sediment behavior during low and high floods in the Lower Indus River Estuary

Author(s):  
Muhammad Waseem Boota ◽  
Chaode Yan ◽  
Shan-e-hyder Soomro ◽  
Ziwei Li ◽  
Muhammad Zohaib ◽  
...  

Abstract The riverine ecosystem is beholden by the freshwater; however, morphological changes and sediment load destabilize the natural river system which deteriorates the ecology and geomorphology of the river ecosystem. The Lower Indus River Estuary (LIRE) geomorphological response was synthesized using satellite imagery (1986–2020) and evaluated against the field measurements. The estuary sinuosity index has an increasing trend from 1.84 (1986) to 1.92 (2020) and the estuary water area is increased from 101.41 km2 (1986) to 110.24 km2 (2020). The sediment load investigation at Kotri barrage indicated that the median size of bed material samples during the low-flow period falls between 0.100 and 0.203 mm and the bed material after the high flow has clay and silt (<0.0623 mm) ranging from 17–95% of the total weight of samples. The vegetated land loss on the banks is positively correlated with the peak runoff at Kotri barrage (r2=0.92). The bank erosion was computed with high precision (r2=0.84) based on an improved connection of the coefficient of erodibility and excess shear stress technique. This study will be helpful for policymakers to estimate the ecological health of LIRE, and sediment fluxes play an essential role in the mega-delta system and coastal management.

Author(s):  
Muhammad Waseem Boota ◽  
Chaode Yan ◽  
Muhammad Bilal Idrees ◽  
Ziwei Li ◽  
Shan-e-hyder Soomro ◽  
...  

Abstract The Lower Indus reaches – Guddu and Sukkur – are among the most complicated areas in terms of reach migration. Both climate change and human activities in recent periods along with pond system operation accelerated riverine channel morphology. A GIS-based approach using multi-temporal Landsat images (1986–2020) was employed to characterize the morphometric parameters. Results showed that width of the study reaches varied from 2.1 to 12 km. The braiding index (BI) value for Guddu reach varied from 3.47 to 7.18, and BI value for Sukkur reach varied from 2.11 to 4.92. It is observed that no erosive activity of banks occurred for peak runoff value of <5,880 m3s−1. The sediment load during low flow (LF) period was estimated to be 0.715 million tons/day which comprised 77% fine sediment and 23% sand. The sediment load during high flood (HF) period was about 1.296 million tons/day. The median size (D50) of bed material during the HF period was 0.101–0.206 mm and during LF period was <0.0625 mm. The rough set theory (RST) showed that velocity, shear stress, slope, runoff, and sediment load factors are majorly causing the river shape changes. This study is a standpoint of planning flood recovery, riverine regulations, and navigation safety.


Author(s):  
Alla Savenko ◽  
Alla Savenko ◽  
Oleg Pokrovsky ◽  
Oleg Pokrovsky ◽  
Irina Streletskaya ◽  
...  

The distribution of dissolved chemical elements (major ions, nutrients, and trace elements) in the Yenisei River estuary and adjacent water area in 2009 and 2010 are presented. These results were compared to the data obtained during previous hydrochemical studies of this region. The transport of major cations (Na, K, Mg, Ca) and some trace elements (Rb, Cs, Sr, B, F, As, Mo, U) in the estuary follows conservative mixing. Alkalinity also belongs to conservative components, however this parameter exhibits substantial spatial heterogeneity caused by complex hydrological structure of the Yenisei Bay and adjoining part of the Kara Sea formed under the influence of several sources of desalination and salty waters inflow. Concentrations of Pmin, Si, and V in the desalinized waters of photic layer decrease seaward owing to uptake by phytoplankton. The losses of these elements reach 30–57, 30, and 9% of their supply by river runoff, respectively. The content of dissolved phosphates and vanadium in the intermediate and near-bottom layers of the Yenisei River estuary strongly increases with salinity due to regeneration of precipitated organic matter, whereas silica remineralization is much less pronounced. Barium is characterized by additional input of dissolved forms in the mixing zone in the quantity comparable to that carried out by river runoff. This may be caused by its desorption from river suspended matter due to ion exchange. The transport of dissolved Al and Mn in the estuarine zone is probably controlled by the coagulation and flocculation of organic and organomineral colloids, which is indicated by a decrease in the concentration of these elements at the beginning of the estuary (31 and 56%, respectively) followed by a stable concentration further seaward.


1988 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Carey ◽  
J. H. Hart

Abstract The identity and concentrations of chlorophenolic compounds in the Fraser River estuary were determined under conditions of high and low river flow at three sites: a site upstream from the trifurcation and at downstream sites for each main river arm. Major chlorophenolics present under both flow regimes were 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP), 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol (2,3,4,6-TeCP), pentachlorophenol (PCP), tetrachloroguaiacol (TeCG) and a compound tentatively identified as 3,4,5-trichloroguaiacol (3,4,5-TCG). Under high flow conditions, concentrations of the guaiacols were higher than any of the Chlorophenols and concentrations of all five chlorophenolics appeared to correlate. Under low flow conditions, concentrations of chloroguaiacols were higher than Chlorophenols at the upstream site and at the downstream site on the Main Arm, whereas at the downstream site on the North Arm, concentrations of 2,3,4,6-TeCP and PCP were higher than the chloroguaiacols in some samples. Overall, the results indicate that pulp mills upstream from the estuary are important sources of chlorophenolics to the estuary under all flow conditions. Additional episodic inputs of 2,3,4,6-TeCP and PCP from lumber mills occur along the North Arm. When these inputs occur, they can cause the concentrations of Chlorophenols in the North Arm to exceed provisional objectives. If chloroguaiacols are included as part of the objective, concentrations of total chlorophenolics in water entering the estuary can approach and exceed these objectives, especially under low flow conditions.


2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggy Zinke ◽  
Nils Reidar Bøe Olsen ◽  
Jim Bogen ◽  
Nils Rüther

A 3D numerical model was used to compute the discharge distribution in the channel branches of Lake Øyeren's delta in Norway. The model solved the Navier–Stokes equations with the k–ɛ turbulence model on a 3D unstructured grid. The bathymetry dataset for the modelling had to be combined from different data sources. The results for three different flow situations in 1996 and 1997 showed a relative accuracy of the computed discharges within the range of 0 to±20% compared with field measurements taken by an ADCP at 13 cross sections of the distributary channels. The factors introducing the most error in the computed results are believed to be uncertainties concerning the bathymetry. A comparison between the computational results of the older morphology data from 1985–1990 and the model morphology from 1995–2004 indicated that morphological changes in this period had already had consequences for the flow distribution in some channels. Other important error sources were the inevitable use of averaged water level gradients because of unavailable water level measurements within the delta.


2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean C Mitchell ◽  
Richard A Cunjak

Stream discharge has long been associated with abundance of returning adult spawning salmonids to streams and may also affect body size distribution of adult salmon as low flows interfere with returns of larger-bodied fish. We examined these relationships of abundance and body size within Catamaran Brook, a third-order tributary to the Miramichi River system of New Brunswick, Canada, to investigate the causes of a declining trend in annual returns of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) to this stream. Regression models of adult abundance, proportion of the run as grilse, and body size of returning adults as functions of maximum daily stream discharge during the period of upstream spawner migration were constructed. Adult abundance shows a logarithmic relationship with stream discharge and provides good predictive ability, while appearing to not be significantly related to adult abundance in the larger Miramichi system. The proportion as grilse in the run and female body size are also logarithmically related to stream discharge, with low flow years being very influential in the regressions. These relationships of Atlantic salmon population abundance and body size characteristics have implications with respect to stock integrity and production of the following generation.


1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 1061-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric J. Schiller ◽  
A. Charles Rowney

Experiments were conducted to assess ways in which an imposed sediment load can affect the formation and final nature of an armoured bed. A flume loaded with a quartz aggregate of known composition was subjected to various sediment-laden flows of water to produce armoured beds. Characteristic parameters of the armoured beds were then compared.In general, it was found that the final armoured bed can be significantly altered by an imposed sediment load. As the size of the input sediment increased, the amount of bed material that was eroded, the resulting particle size of the bed, and the total roughness of the bed all decreased. The formation of bed forms was very important in this process. The trends observed in these experimental tests indicate that the presence or absence of upstream sediment sources has a direct influence on the resulting armoured layer.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1325-1334 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. G. Morianou ◽  
N. N. Kourgialas ◽  
G. P. Karatzas ◽  
N. P. Nikolaidis

In the present work, a two-dimensional (2D) hydraulic model was used for the simulation of river flow and sediment transport in the downstream section of the Koiliaris River Basin in Crete, Greece, based on two different structured grids. Specifically, an important goal of the present study was the comparison of a curvilinear grid model with a rectilinear grid model. The MIKE 21C model has been developed to simulate 2D flows and morphological changes in rivers by using either an orthogonal curvilinear grid or a rectilinear grid. The MIKE 21C model comprises two parts: (a) the hydrodynamic part that is based on the Saint-Venant equations and (b) the morphological change part for the simulation of bank erosion and sediment transport. The difference between the curvilinear and the rectilinear grid is that the curvilinear grid lines follow the bank lines of the river, providing a better resolution of the flow near the boundaries. The water depth and sediment results obtained from the simulations for the two different grids were compared with field observations and a series of statistical indicators. It was concluded that the curvilinear grid model results were in better agreement with the field measurements.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sardar Ateeq-Ur-Rehman ◽  
Minh Bui ◽  
Shabeh Hasson ◽  
Peter Rutschmann

A number of significant investigations have advanced our understanding of the parameters influencing reservoir sedimentation. However, a reliable modelling of sediment deposits and delta formation in reservoirs is still a challenging problem due to many uncertainties in the modelling process. Modelling performance can be improved by adjusting the uncertainty caused by sediment load boundary conditions. In our study, we diminished the uncertainty factor by setting more precise sediment load boundary conditions reconstructed using wavelet artificial neural networks for a morphodynamic model. The model was calibrated for hydrodynamics using a backward error propagation method. The proposed approach was applied to the Tarbela Reservoir located on the Indus River, in northern Pakistan. The results showed that the hydrodynamic calibration with coefficient of determination (R2) = 0.969 and Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) = 0.966 also facilitated good calibration in morphodynamic calculations with R2 = 0.97 and NSE = 0.96. The model was validated for the sediment deposits in the reservoir with R2 = 0.96 and NSE = 0.95. Due to desynchronization between the glacier melts and monsoon rain caused by warmer climate and subsequent decrease of 17% in sediment supply to the Tarbela dam, our modelling results showed a slight decrease in the sediment delta for the near future (until 2030). Based on the results, we conclude that our overall state-of-the-art modelling offers a significant improvement in computational time and accuracy, and could be used to estimate hydrodynamic and morphodynamic parameters more precisely for different events and poorly gauged rivers elsewhere in the world. The modelling concept could also be used for predicting sedimentation in the reservoirs under sediment load variability scenarios.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Newbould ◽  
Mark Powell ◽  
Mick Whelan

<p>Plastic accumulation in the marine environment is a major concern given the harmful effects and longevity of plastics at sea. Although rivers significantly contribute to flux of plastic to marine systems, plastic transport in rivers remains poorly understood and estimates of riverine plastic flux derived from field measurements and modelling efforts are highly uncertain. In this study, a new probabilistic model of plastic transport in rivers is presented which describes the main processes controlling displacement to predict the statistical distribution of travel distances for individual items of buoyant macroplastic debris. Macroplastic transport is controlled by retention in temporary stores (or traps) created by vegetation, bank roughness elements and other obstacles. The behaviour of these traps is represented in the model via a series of Bernoulli trials conducted in a Monte Carlo simulation framework. The probability of retention or release from traps is described using physical characteristics such as the type of vegetation, channel width or channel sinuosity index. The model was calibrated using a tracer experiment with six replicates, conducted in a small 1.1 km river reach. For each replicate, 90 closed air-filled plastic bottles were injected at the upstream end of the reach and the location of each bottle was recorded several times over a 24-hour period. Bottles were chosen as ‘model’ macroplastic litter items given their high usage and littering volume. Travel distances were low (the average distance travelled over 24 hours was 231 m and no bottles travelled more than 1.1 km, the length of the study reach) and variable (the coefficient of variation for the replicates ranged between 0.54 and 1.41). The travel distance distributions were controlled by the location and characteristics of discrete traps. The numerical model described the observed travel distance distributions reasonably well (particularly the trapping effect of overhanging trees and flow separation at meander bends), which suggests that modelling plastic transport for longer reaches and even whole catchments using a stochastic travel distance approach is feasible. The approach has the potential to improve estimates of total river plastic flux to the oceans, although significant knowledge gaps remain (e.g. the rate and location of plastic supply to river systems, the transport behaviours of different types of plastic debris in rivers and the effectiveness of different traps in different types of river system).</p>


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