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Sedimentation processes in silt-rich sediment systems

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Abstract

Sediment found in China’s Yangtze and Yellow River systems is characterized by large silt fractions. In contrast to sand and clay, sedimentation and erosion behaviour of silt and silt–clay–sand mixtures is relatively unknown. Therefore, settling and consolidation behaviour of silt-rich sediment from these river systems is analysed under laboratory conditions in specially designed settling columns. Results show that a transition in consolidation behaviour occurs around clay contents of about 10 %, which is in analogy with the transition from non-cohesive to cohesive erosion behaviour. Above this threshold, sediment mixtures consolidate in a cohesive way, whereas for smaller clay percentages only weak cohesive behaviour occurs. The settling behaviour of silt-rich sediment is found to be in analogy with granular material at concentration below 150 g/l. Above 150–200 g/l, the material settles in a hindered settling regime where segregation is limited or even prevented. The results indicate that for modelling purposes, multiple sediment fractions need to be assessed in order to produce accurate modelling results.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been carried as part of the Sino–Dutch collaboration project ‘Effects of human activities on the eco-morphological evolution of rivers and estuaries’ funded by the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (41130856) within the framework of Scientific Alliances between China and the Netherlands. Shi Benwei, Jin Can, Yuan Dailiang, Jiang Fengpei, Liu Jianhua, Zhao Jie, Zhu Lei, Pieter Leo, Yuan Lin, Richard de Reus, Christian Schwarz, Tian Xin, Ming Yang and Tom Ysebaert are acknowledged for their assistance during the fieldwork and laboratory experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Steven te Slaa & Qing He

  2. Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, The Netherlands

    Steven te Slaa, Dirk Sebastiaan van Maren & Johan Christian Winterwerp

  3. Deltares, PO Box 177, 2600 MH, Delft, The Netherlands

    Dirk Sebastiaan van Maren & Johan Christian Winterwerp

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  1. Steven te Slaa
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  2. Qing He
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  3. Dirk Sebastiaan van Maren
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  4. Johan Christian Winterwerp
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Correspondence to Steven te Slaa.

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Responsible Editor: Andrew James Manning

This article is part of the Topical Collection on the 11th International Conference on Cohesive Sediment Transport

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te Slaa, S., He, Q., van Maren, D.S. et al. Sedimentation processes in silt-rich sediment systems. Ocean Dynamics 63, 399–421 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-013-0600-x

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