Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Natural Resource Sciences, Macdonald College of McGill University. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/07/24). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-98). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [122]-141).

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1999. / Bibliography: leaves 87-94. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-117).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-46). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Simultaneous in-situ measurements of waves, currents, water depth, suspended sediment concentrations and bed profiles were made in a rip channel on Perranporth Beach, Cornwall, UK. Perranporth is a high energy beach (annual offshore Hs = 1.6 m) which is macro-tidal (mean spring range = 6.3 m) and the grain size is medium sand (D50 = 0.28 – 0.34 mm). It can be classified as a low tide bar – rip beach and exhibits a relatively flat inter-tidal zone with pronounced rhythmic low tide bar - rip morphology. Data were collected over two field campaigns, totalling 14 tidal cycles and including 27 occurrences of rip currents, in a range of offshore wave heights (Hs = 0.5 – 3 m). The in-situ measurements were supplemented with morphological beach surveys. Sediment samples were taken for grain size analysis. The rip current was found to be tidally modulated. The strongest rip flow (0.7 m/s) occurred at mid to low tide, when waves were breaking on the adjacent bar. Rip flow persisted when the bar had dried out at the lowest tidal elevations. The rip was observed to pulse at a very low frequency (VLF) with a period of 15 - 20 minutes, which was shown to be influenced by wave breaking on the adjacent bar. The rip was completely in-active at high tide. Bedforms were ubiquitous in the rip channel and occurred at all stages of the tide. Visual observations found bedforms to be orientated shore parallel. When the rip was active, mean bedform length and height was 1.45 m and 0.06 m respectively. The size and position of the bedforms in the nearshore suggested that they were best classified as megaripples. When the rip was not active, the mean bedform length and height was 1.09 m and 0.06 m respectively. In rip conditions, with typical mean offshore flow rates of > 0.3 m/s, the bedforms migrated in an offshore direction at a mean rate of 0.16 cm/min and a maximum rate of 4.6 cm/min. The associated mean bedform sediment transport rate was 0.0020 kg/m/s, with a maximum rate of 0.054 kg/m/s. In the rip, migration rates were correlated with offshore directed mean flow strength. In non-rip conditions, bedform migration was onshore directed with a mean rate of 0.09 cm/min and a maximum rate of = 2.2 cm/min. The associated mean bedform transport rate was 0.0015 kg/m/s, with a maximum rate of = 0.041 kg/m/s. The onshore bedform transport was correlated with incident wave skewness, and was weakly correlated with orbital velocity. Over a tidal cycle, the offshore directed bedform transport was only marginally larger in rip currents than when it was when onshore directed in non-rip conditions. Sediment suspension in the rip current was shown to be dependent on the presence of waves. Suspended sediment transport was dominated by the mean flux. The mean flux contributed > 70% of total suspended transport on 19 out of the 27 observed rip current occurrences. The net contribution of the oscillatory flux was small compared to the mean flux. Within the oscillatory component, a frequency domain partitioning routine showed that the VLF motion was an important mechanism for driving offshore directed sediment transport. This was balanced by onshore directed sediment transport at incident wave frequency of a similar magnitude. Depth integration showed that the mean total suspended sediment transport was in the range of 0.03 kg/m/s to 0.08 kg/m/s. At high tide, when the rip was inactive suspended sediment transport rates were minimal compared to when the rip was active. Bedform transport was (on average) 6% of the total suspended sediment transport in a rip current. The new results presented here show that rip currents make an important contribution to offshore directed sediment transport. The magnitudes of transport indicate that future improvements to morphology change models should include rip driven offshore sediment transport.

The concept of the unit sediment graph is important and useful in the study of non-point source pollutant transport, in the estimation of sediment yield and in the design of sediment basins. At the present time, a physically sound method of deriving unit sediment graphs for ungauged small watersheds is not available. Based on synthetic principles as well as linear and time-invariant principles, applied to the systems approach of hydrology, a synthetic model has been developed to derive the unit sediment graph and to generate the sediment graph for an ungauged watershed. The model is limited to the generation of single peak sediment graphs where the sediment particle sizes of interest range from 0.002 mm to 1.0 mm. Seven small watersheds located in the lower Potomac River Basin were selected for this study. For each watershed about 12 storm events were included in the study. Available hourly rainfall and streamflow data were collected and used for model calibration. Results of both"spatial" and"temporal" verification show that agreement between the synthetic and actual sediment graphs is fairly good. A new rigorous definition regarding the unit sediment graph has been established. The study is based on a one-hour unit sediment graph which is defined as the direct sediment graph resulting from 1 unit of effective sediment yield of a storm of 1-hour duration generated uniformly over the basin at a uniform rate. Thus, the one-hour sediment graph of a storm for a specified watershed can be generated by convolving the one-hour unit sediment graph with the effective sediment erosion of one hour duration provided that the rainfall record and characteristics of that watershed are known. / Ph. D.

Beach nourishment provides an excellent opportunity for the study of intensified sediment transport gradients and associated morphological changes in a natural setting. The objectives of this study are to quantify and predict longshore and cross-shore transport gradients induced by 1) beach nourishment, 2) different storm wave conditions, and 3) the annual wave climate and long-term sediment supply. The details of sediment transport rates and gradients induced by gradual processes and high-energy events are analyzed on a macro-scale. Well-planned monitoring of the 2004 Upham Beach nourishment project in west-central Florida collected high-spatial and -temporal resolution field data. Three hurricanes passed by the project soon after nourishment was complete.Post-nourishment planform adjustment occurs immediately after nourishment via diffusion spit development at the end transitions. Thus, the initiation of planform adjustment may be abrupt, rather than gradual as pred icted by the typical diffusion models. Diffusion spit formation is dominant during relatively calm wave conditions on coasts with low wave heights and tidal ranges.Profile equilibration also may be an event-driven, rather than a gradual, process. Rapid profile equilibration following nourishment occurred not only due to hurricane passage, but also during a winter season. The duration between nourishment and the passage of the first high-energy event is an important factor controlling the time scale of profile equilibration.The passage of three hurricanes generated different wave conditions and induced different sediment transport directions, rates, and gradients due to their variable proximities to the project area. The direction of cross-shore transport was governed by wave steepness. Onshore sediment transport occurred during a storm event, in contrast with the concepts of gradual onshore transport during mild wave conditions and abrupt offshore transport during storm events, as cited in the literature.By formulating sediment budgets on various temporal and spatial scales, both event-driven and average transport rates and gradients can be resolved. Annual average transport rates for a region should not be arbitrarily applied to nourished beaches; rather, sediment budgets formulated with high-spatial and -temporal resolution field data should be formulated during the design phase of future nourishment projects.

Thesis (PhD (Civil Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Estuaries are complex water bodies and differ considerably from fluvial river systems. In estuaries the flow reverses regularly due to the tidal currents and flow depths depend primarily on the tides and not the flow. An estuary has two sources of sediment: the river during floods and the ocean that supplies marine sediment through littoral drift which is transported by tidal currents into the estuary. Oversimplified models cannot be used to investigate the hydrodynamics and geomorphology of an estuary due to its complexity. Sedimentation of South African estuaries has created several environmental and social problems. Sediment transport imbalances have been caused by changes in the river catchments such as increased sediment yields and flood peak attenuation due to dam construction. Historically floods used to flush estuaries to maintain the long-term sediment balance in the river-estuary system, but with reduced flood peaks, sediment transport capacities at the estuaries are reduced and flushing efficiency decreased, resulting in marine transport dominating in many estuaries. Two-dimensional (horizontal, 2DH) numerical models have been found to be appropriate tools for studying hydro- and sediment dynamics in SA estuaries. The modelling shows that the sediment balance in the estuary relies on a delicate balance between dominant flood and ebb flows. Although the models performed very well, there are still additional processes to include such as time varying roughness changes and cohesive sediments. For long-term and long reach simulations, onedimensional (or quasi-two-dimensional) models will also be required in future. Mathematical modeling can be used to simulate the flushing of sediments during floods, but attempts should be made to calibrate these models when adequate field data become available in the future. The modelling has shown that floods play a very important part in estuarine sediment transport processes. Physical modelling was undertaken of the breaching of an estuary mouth. The main aim was to illustrate the merits of breaching at higher water levels as well as to investigate the changes in the mouth during breaching. The data obtained from the experiments were used to calibrate and verify a mathematical model. Mathematical modelling of the breaching process at the Klein River estuary confirms what has been observed during numerous breachings in the field, i.e. that breaching at higher water levels and towards the southeast side is more effective. Sediment transport by both waves and currents was investigated. It was found that with increasing wave and stream power, sediment transport rates would increase if both waves and currents travelled in the same direction. In contrast, it seems that with the current direction opposing that of the waves, Hydraulics of Estuarine Sediment Transport Dynamics in South Africa iii greater wave heights resulted in lower sediment transport rates. A new sediment transport equation, based on stream power, wave power, as well as sediment size was calibrated and verified, and compared to the well-known Bijker formula.