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Sediment resuspension in tidally dominated coastal environments: new insights into the threshold for initial movement

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Abstract

An understanding of sediment resuspension and its threshold, for initial movement in shallow marine environments, is of great importance in coastal geomorphology, ecology, and harbor/fishery management applications. In the present study, in situ measurements of tides, current velocities, waves, and suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) were measured at three shallow water sites with different tidal current patterns and seabed sediment grain sizes. The sites were associated with the radial sand ridge system (B4 and D2, rectilinear currents) and the Great Yangtze Shoal (D1, rotatory currents), in the southern Yellow Sea, China, both representing tidally dominated environments. The SSC data were analyzed to identify the controlling factors associated with resuspension and advection processes. There is a significant correlation between the near-bed SSC and shear stress, indicating that SSC variations are dominated by resuspension processes. Based on integrated field measurements of SSCs and hydrodynamics, the bed shear stresses of currents and waves were calculated, and the critical shear stresses for seabed erosion of the three sites were determined. At D2 (non-cohesive sediment) and B4/D1 (cohesive sediment), the critical shear stresses for seabed erosion (or resuspension) were estimated to be 0.11 and 0.07/0.09 N m−2, respectively. Although this result is reasonable when only the three sites are compared, both values are lower than predicted by existing threshold models, with a difference between 30 and 83 %. Such discrepancies can be related to intermittent turbulence events. For both sites, statistical and quadrant analyses have revealed significant correlations between near-bed SSC variations and intermittent turbulence events. This observation implies that the threshold conditions using the critical bed shear stress, derived from the current velocity profile, have a spatial scale effect: on a small scale (e.g., a flume in laboratory), the threshold can be predicted by the current velocity profile method; however, on larger scales (e.g., shallow marine environments), the threshold is reduced because of the enhanced intensity of intermittent turbulence events.

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Acknowledgments

The data for this paper are available upon request from Y. P. Wang (ypwang@nju.edu.cn). The authors wish to thank Dr. Jian Hua Gao, Dr. Yang Yang, Professor Jia Xue Wu, Dr. Yun Ling Liu, Mr. Ning Wang, Mr. Zhuo Chen Han, Mr. Can Xu, Mr. Ming Liang Li, Mr. Jing Dong Chen, and Mr. Run Qi Liu, who participated in the field observations. Dr. Qian Yu is thanked for his help during the preparation of the paper. The authors are grateful to Professor M. B. Collins for improving the scientific content and the English language use. Financial supports for the study were provided by the Major State Basic Research Development Program (2013CB956502), the Natural Science Foundation of China (No.41376044), Geological environment investigation and evaluation on Jiangsu Coastal Economic Zone project issued by China Geological Survey (No. 1212011220005), and the PAPD of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions. This is publication No. 32 of the Sino-Australian Research Centre for Coastal Management (SARCCM). Part of this study was carried out during visits of Y. P. Wang to SARCCM. We also thank reviewers who provided suggestions to improve the original manuscript.

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  1. Ya Ping Wang

    Present address: , 163 Xianlin Road, NJU Xianlin Campus (Kunshan Bldg, Room B212), Nanjing, 210023, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Coast and Island Development, Ministry of Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Yang Yang, Ya Ping Wang, Shu Gao, Ben Wei Shi, Liang Zhou, Dan Dan Wang, Chen Dai & Gao Cong Li

  2. The Sino-Australian Research Centre for Coastal Management, UNSW Canberra at The Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, BC 2610, Australia

    Xiao Hua Wang

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Responsible Editor: Tal Ezer

This article is part of the Topical Collection on the 7th International Workshop on Modeling the Ocean (IWMO) in Canberra, Australia 1–5 June 2015

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Yang, Y., Wang, Y.P., Gao, S. et al. Sediment resuspension in tidally dominated coastal environments: new insights into the threshold for initial movement. Ocean Dynamics 66, 401–417 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-016-0930-6

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