scholarly journals A Two Decadal (1993–2012) Numerical Assessment of Sediment Dynamics in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengchen Zang ◽  
Z. George Xue ◽  
Kehui Xu ◽  
Samuel J. Bentley ◽  
Qin Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Transport ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Sedimentation Rate ◽  
River Discharge ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Sediment Dynamics ◽  
Sediment Flux ◽  
Northern Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Sensitivity Tests ◽  
The Impact

We adapted the coupled ocean-sediment transport model to the northern Gulf of Mexico to examine sediment dynamics on seasonal-to-decadal time scales as well as its response to decreased fluvial inputs from the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River. Sediment transport on the shelf exhibited contrasting conditions in a year, with strong westward transport in spring, fall, and winter, and relatively weak eastward transport in summer. Sedimentation rate varied from almost zero on the open shelf to more than 10 cm/year near river mouths. A phase shift in river discharge was detected in 1999 and was associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, after which, water and sediment fluxes decreased by ~20% and ~40%, respectively. Two sensitivity tests were carried out to examine the response of sediment dynamics to high and low river discharge, respectively. With a decreased fluvial supply, sediment flux and sedimentation rate were largely reduced in areas proximal to the deltas, which might accelerate the land loss in down-coast bays and estuaries. The results of two sensitivity tests indicated the decreased river discharge would largely affect sediment balance in waters around the delta. The impact from decreased fluvial input was minimum on the sandy shoals ~100 km west of the Mississippi Delta, where deposition of fluvial sediments was highly affected by winds.

Mass balance controls on sediment scour and bedrock erosion in waterfall plunge pools

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel S. Scheingross ◽  
Michael P. Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Transport ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
River Discharge ◽  
Sediment Load ◽  
Sediment Flux ◽  
Habitat Availability ◽  
Flux Divergence ◽  
Plunge Pool ◽  
Bedrock Erosion ◽  
Recurrence Intervals

Waterfall plunge pools experience cycles of sediment aggradation and scour that modulate bedrock erosion, habitat availability, and hazard potential. We calculate sediment flux divergence to evaluate the conditions under which pools deposit and scour sediment by comparing the sediment transport capacities of waterfall plunge pools (Qsc_pool) and their adjacent river reaches (Qsc_river). Results show that pools fill with sediment at low river discharge because the waterfall jet is not strong enough to transport the supplied sediment load out of the pool. As discharge increases, the waterfall jet strengthens, allowing pools to transport sediment at greater rates than in adjacent river reaches. This causes sediment scour from pools and bar building at the downstream pool boundary. While pools may be partially emptied of sediment at modest discharge, floods with recurrence intervals >10 yr are typically required for pools to scour to bedrock. These results allow new constraints on paleodischarge estimates made from sediment deposited in plunge pool bars and suggest that bedrock erosion at waterfalls with plunge pools occurs during larger floods than in river reaches lacking waterfalls.

Impact of strong El Niño events on river discharge in South America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Deppner ◽  
Bedartha Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Missing Data ◽  
South America ◽  
River Discharge ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Missing Values ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
Streamflow Data ◽  
The Impact

<p>The impact of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on rivers are well known, but most existing studies involving streamflow data are severely limited by data coverage. Time series of gauging stations fade in and out over time, which makes hydrological large scale and long time analysis or studies of rarely occurring extreme events challenging. Here, we use a machine learning approach to infer missing streamflow data based on temporal correlations of stations with missing values to others with data. By using 346 stations, from the “Global Streamflow Indices and Metadata archive” (GSIM), that initially cover the 40 year timespan in conjunction with Gaussian processes we were able to extend our data by estimating missing data for an additional 646 stations, allowing us to include a total of 992 stations. We then investigate the impact of the 6 strongest El Niño (EN) events on rivers in South America between 1960 and 2000. Our analysis shows a strong correlation between ENSO events and extreme river dynamics in the southeast of Brazil, Carribean South America and parts of the Amazon basin. Furthermore we see a peak in the number of stations showing maximum river discharge all over Brazil during the EN of 1982/83 which has been linked to severe floods in the east of Brazil, parts of Uruguay and Paraguay. However EN events in other years with similar intensity did not evoke floods with such magnitude and therefore the additional drivers of the 1982/83  floods need further investigation. By using machine learning methods to infer data for gauging stations with missing data we were able to extend our data by almost three-fold, revealing a possible heavier and spatially larger impact of the 1982/83 EN on South America's hydrology than indicated in literature.</p>

scholarly journals Suspended sediment fluxes in an Indonesian river draining a rainforested basin subject to land cover change

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 7137-7175 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. A. Buschman ◽  
A. J. F. Hoitink ◽  
S. M. de Jong ◽  
P. Hoekstra
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Suspended Sediment ◽  
River Discharge ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Suspended Sediment Concentration ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Sediment Flux ◽  
Sediment Fluxes ◽  
Suspended Sediment Flux ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Forest clearing for reasons of timber production, open pit mining and the establishment of oil palm plantations generally results in excessively high sediment loads in the tropics. The increasing sediment fluxes pose a threat to coastal marine ecosystems such as coral reefs. This study presents observations of suspended sediment fluxes in the Berau river (Indonesia), which debouches into a coastal ocean that can be considered the preeminent center of coral diversity. The Berau is an example of a small river draining a mountainous, relatively pristine basin that receives abundant rainfall. Flow velocity was measured over a large part of the river width at a station under the influence of tides, using a Horizontal Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (HADCP). Surrogate measurements of suspended sediment concentration were taken with an Optical Backscatter Sensor (OBS). Tidally averaged suspended sediment concentration increases with river discharge, implying that the tidally averaged suspended sediment flux increases non-linearly with river discharge. Averaged over the 6.5 weeks observations covered by the benchmark survey, the tidally averaged suspended sediment flux was estimated at 2 Mt y−1. Considering the wet conditions during the observation period, this figure may be considered as an upper limit of the yearly averaged flux. This flux is significantly smaller than what could have been expected from the characteristics of the catchment. The consequences of ongoing clearing of rainforest were explored using a plot scale erosion model. When rainforest, which still covered 50–60 % of the basin in 2007, is converted to production land, soil loss is expected to increase with a factor between 10 and 100. If this soil loss is transported seaward as suspended sediment, the increase in suspended sediment flux in the Berau river would impose a severe sediment stress on the global hotspot of coral reef diversity. The impact of land cover changes will largely depend on the degree in which the Berau estuary acts as a sediment trap.

scholarly journals Role of Near-Inertial Internal Waves in Subthermocline Diapycnal Mixing in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (12) ◽  
pp. 3137-3154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhao Jing ◽  
Ping Chang ◽  
Steven F. DiMarco ◽  
Lixin Wu
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Internal Waves ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Diapycnal Mixing ◽  
Northern Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
The Impact

AbstractMoored ADCP data collected in the northern Gulf of Mexico are analyzed to examine near-inertial internal waves and their contribution to subthermocline diapycnal mixing based on a finescale parameterization of deep ocean mixing. The focus of the study is on the impact of near-inertial internal waves generated by an extreme weather event—that is, Hurricane Katrina—and by month-to-month variation in weather patterns on the diapycnal mixing. The inferred subthermocline diapycnal mixing exhibits pronounced elevation in the wake of Katrina. Both the increased near-inertial (0.8–1.8f, where f is the Coriolis frequency) and superinertial (>1.8f) shear variances contribute to the elevated diapycnal mixing, but the former plays a more dominant role. The intense wind work on near-inertial motions by the hurricane is largely responsible for the energetic near-inertial shear variance. Energy transfer from near-inertial to superinertial internal waves, however, appears to play an important role in elevating the superinertial shear variance. The inferred subthermocline diapycnal mixing in the region also exhibits significant month-to-month variation with the estimated diffusivity in January 2006 about 3 times the values in November and December 2005. The subseasonal change in the diapycnal mixing mainly results from the subseasonal variation of the near-inertial wind work that causes intensification of the near-inertial shear in January 2006.

scholarly journals Catchment Sediment Dynamics and the Role of Deep-Seated Landslide-Dams; Waipaoa Catchment, Raukumara Peninsula, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Richard James Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Transport ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Gully Erosion ◽  
Sediment Dynamics ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Sediment Delivery ◽  
Ground Shaking ◽  
Landslide Dams ◽  
The Impact

<p>Sediment volumes retained by landslide-dams of the Waipaoa are small at 1.85x10⁶m³ compared to the 24.5km³ (Marden et al., 2008b) of sediment eroded in the landscape since the last glacial maximum. Landslide-dams do however represent a major perturbation to sediment transport, although due to their mainly short life span this disruption is discontinuous representing a pulsing in the transport network. The objective of this study is to investigate the sedimentary dynamics of the Waipaoa catchment by providing insights into the role that deep-seated landslides play and asks the questions: What is the impact on sediment transport imposed by the landslide-dams of the Waipaoa catchment? and; What do the sediments impounded in landslide-dammed lakes tell us about catchment sediment dynamics through time? The Waipaoa River on the East Cape of New Zealand‘s North Island delivers volumes of sediment to the coast which are considered high by global standards. Catchment erosion is controlled by soft marine sediments, combined with a history of tectonic fracturing and frequent intense rain storms. Erosion events are driven by intense cyclonic systems rain storms which deliver ≥200mm/24hr rainfall and induce catchment wide gully erosion as well as shallow surficial landslides. Under current land covers gully erosion provides the dominant source of sediments, with high degrees of slope channel coupling and steep gradient river profiles providing for efficient delivery to the coast. Offshore in the Poverty Bay, sediments delivered by the Waipaoa River show considerable variability over a range of temporal scales. Valley slopes within the Waipaoa catchment are also susceptible to large deep-seated landslide failures, with movement depths greater than 5 metres often on internal structural failure planes. These large slope movements can be produced by both extreme storm events (≥300mm/24hr) which occur on a return periods of 1 in 5 years and seismic ground shaking of 1 in 1000-2000 years. Where these large events block channels and are able to persist for long periods, sediments accumulated upstream to provide a unique record of the catchments sedimentary history. There have been some 1100 historic large scale features which have been identified within the Waipaoa region, with this study selecting seven that have shown evidence of channel blockage. The project aims to provide insights into the age of a sample of deep-seated landslides that have dammed channels to determine how long landslide-dams survive in the landscape and quantify the volumes of sediment they have trapped. Further, the project aims to determine what the spatial and temporal distribution of these blockages has meant to sediment delivery and whether there have been changes in sediment dynamics in their upper catchments over time. The project uses the detailed mapping of the trapped body of sediments, GIS modelling of the palaeo and present landscapes and age control determinations provided by tephra and 14C dating to provide both volumes and rates of sediment delivery.</p>

scholarly journals The impact of roads and sediment basins on simulated river discharge and sediment flux in an experimental catchment designed to improve ecosystem services

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. I. Saad ◽  
J. Mota da Silva ◽  
H. R. Rocha
Keyword(s):  
Best Management Practices ◽  
River Discharge ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Sediment Flux ◽  
Environmental Services ◽  
Unpaved Roads ◽  
Water And Sediment ◽  
Retention Basins ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Payment of Environmental Services (PES) projects have grown our perception on the dependency of nature, yet the quantification and valuation of Environmental Services (ES) are key to evidence-base management. The modelling of the effect of deforestation in the water and sediment budgets of rural catchments usually prescribes baseline scenarios with fully pristine vegetation. Such comparison however is hardly associated with the landscape conditions where observational data is collected to provide model calibration. For example, the existence of unpaved roads and small water retention basins (containments) are potential controls of runoff and erosion in small catchments. This work shows the impact of roads and barraginhas (small sediment retention basins nearby the roads) on the water and sediment fluxes in a 12 km2 catchment area in Extrema city, Brazil, which provides water for the Cantareira System's water reservoirs that supply about 50 % for the Sao Paulo megacity, and enrolled in the Water Producer Program (Water National Agency) as the first Brazilian PES project. Simulations with the InVEST model using high spatial resolution (5 m × 5 m) included the description of unpaved roads and barraginhas. Calibration used river discharge and sediment flux estimated from water turbidity measurements. Sediment concentration was estimated both with the observation and simulations, and annual comparisons seemed reasonable for mean annual estimates. Unpaved roads produced sediment export 5 times higher compared to a scenario with no roads, and potentiated the effect of barraginhas on sediment reduction. This study showed the benefit from understanding effects of representation of the landscape particularities in modelling such as the roads, which apart from affecting calibration, are important issue for providing efficient modelling of the effect of the Best Management Practices in the landscape scale. We also demonstrated usefulness of our research methodology and its possible applications on simulations of sediment concentration and streamflow in InVEST with few samples of observed data and thus quantify the impacts of land use change on hydrology in any other watershed.

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