No description available.

This thesis integrates existing work on surface accretion rates with more recent advances in the understanding of creek hydrodynamics. Concepts drawn from various disciplines are formulated into a revised framework within which marsh sedimentation may be better understood. Channel flux studies that treat the marsh as a 'black box' contribute little to our understanding of marsh functioning, whatever the accuracy of their execution. Marshes are better conceptualised as complex bio-sedimentary systems, characterised not only by an intimate relationship with adjacent tidal waters, but also by numerous internal pathways along which transport of water and materials may take place. Data relating to surface sediments, surface sedimentation, channel and over-marsh hydrodynamics, and suspended sediment composition and settling behaviour have been obtained within a relatively mature back-barrier marsh, 54 ha in area, at Scolt Head Island, on the north Norfolk coast. Tidal range averages 3.2m at neaps and 6.4m at springs. The annual sediment input to the marsh surface is estimated at 675 tonnes, equivalent to a mean accretion rate of approximately 0.26 cm/year. The broad pattern in sedimentation reflects surface topography via its control over inundation frequency. Locally, however, proximity to the creek system as an intermediate sediment source determines the rate and nature of sedimentation. The formation of composite particles via the action of flocculation and organic binding agents determines the depositional behaviour of fine cohesive sediment introduced to the marsh. Particle fall velocities are thereby enhanced, with settling from over-marsh tidal flows being a continuous process and not confined to slack water. Reworking of newly deposited material by deposit feeding gastropods appears to be intense over much of the marsh, and may be an explanation for the paucity of sedimentary structures. The marsh surface acts as a topographic threshold separating markedly different spring and neap creek flow regimes. Morphological development of the creeks is effectively confined to ebb-dominated spring tides, when export of sand occurs. Though the creeks act as effective conduits for material transport, a large proportion of the total spring tidal prism may be exchanged directly over the marsh edge. These results may be viewed in the context of present concern over rising sea levels linked to human-induced global warming. Scenarios for future sea-level change vary widely, though most estimates put the present rate of eustatic rise at approximately 1-2 mm/year. Subsidence along this coast is around 1mm/year. Thus many marshes exist in delicate equilibrium with present relative sea level. A numerical model incorporating quasi-continuous deposition, annual tide data, and eustatic and crustal movements successfully simulates historic marsh sedimentation along the north Norfolk coast and provides an insight into the possible effects of future eustatic changes.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Observations of the temporal evolution of ripples are analyzed in terms of geometry, migration, crest orientation, and their predicted geometry by models using wave orbital velocities. Two weeks of bedform data were obtained in the surf zone during the RIPEX/SBE in April, 2001. Bed sediment consists of medium- to coarse-grained sand (D50=0.43mm). Models capture temporal trends in ripple geometry, but regression analyses show that they do not handle the range in forcing characteristics and geometries in the surf zone well. Transport models of bedload and total load formulated under uni-directional flows qualitatively capture the temporal evolution of observed transport by ripples, suggesting that under low to moderate forcing, bed load and suspended load occur mostly within the bed-following bottom boundary layer, andare measurable by ripple migration alone. Models predict large transport rates when flat beds were observed, so that at higher forcing ripples cannot be used to measure total sediment transport. Using a two-dimensional probability density function (PDF) of vector displacement peaks, a new ripple analysis model is proposed, incorporating a hierarchy of forcing complexity that includes such physical processes as directional spreading, axis rotation, orbital asymmetry, superimposed currents and infragravity wave velocities. The two-dimensional PDF's are compared with concurrent three-dimensional bed maps and are found to assist in describing ripple sizes, types, orientations, and migration velocities. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

Soil erosion and sedimentation are key environmental problems in the Upper Yangtze because of the ongoing Three Gorges Project (TGP), the largest hydro-power project in the world. There is growing concern about the rapid increase of soil erosion over the last few decades and its consequence for potential sedimentation in the reservoir. The study aims to examine controls on the spatial and temporal distributions of sediment transfer within the Upper Yangtze and the hydrological consequences of land use changes, using varied approaches at different catchment scales. First, soil erosion and sedimentation are examined using the radionuclide Cs-137 as a tracer within a small reservoir catchment in the Three Gorges Area. The results indicates that soil erosion on sloping arable land and the rates of reservoir sedimentation have been severe during the past 40 years, mainly due to cultivation on steep slopes. Changes in reservoir sedimentation rates are mainly attributed to land use changes. The suitability of the Cs-137 techniques for investigating soil erosion and sedimentation in intensely cultivated subtropical environments is also considered. The use of the technique for erosion investigation may have limitations due to the abundance of coarse soil textures, uncertainty about fallout deposition rates and the high incidence of human disturbance, but the technique shows promising perspectives for sedimentation investigation since a few dating horizons might be identified. Second, sediment and runoff measurement data for around 30 years from over 250 hydrological stations within the Upper Yangtze have been examined within a GIS framework. The dataset has been integrated with catchment characteristics derived from a variety of environmental datasets and manipulated with Arc/Info GIS. The analysis of the sediment load data has permitted identification of the most important locations of sediment sources, the shifting pattern of source areas in relation to land use change and sub-catchments exhibiting trending sediment yields corrected for hydrological variability. The study demonstrates the importance of scale dependency of sediment yield in both the identification of temporal change and the modelling of relationships between sediment yield and environmental variables, suggesting that the treatment of the scale problem is crucial for temporal-spatial studies of sediment yield.

Thesis (M.C.E.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Nobuhisa Kobayashi, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Timothy P. Stanton, Edward B. Thornton. Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-83). Also available online.