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Numerical simulation on the evolution of sediment waves caused by turbidity currents

  • Articles
  • Oceanology
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

Interest in the forming mechanism of sediment waves increases recently because of its significance on submarine engineering, sedimentary dynamics and hydrocarbon reservoir prediction in deep water. In this paper, the time-averaged continuity equations and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are applied in the numerical simulation of fluid dynamics. The modeling results are used to illuminate the effects of topography on turbidity current and explore the origin of submarine sediment waves. The research results show that (1) deposition occurs firstly at the lower ramp due to the deceleration of fluid, increase of density, loss of flow capacity and longer duration of flow passage; (2) density increase at the upslope due to the local jam results in velocity decrease and pressure increase; (3) sediment waves begin to be formed and migrated toward upstream in an area far away from the source with increase of the turbidity events; (4) deposition becomes more slowly with decrease of grain sizes, but the shape and sequences of these deposits are controlled by topography, not grain size.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Earth Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Jiang Tao, Xie XiNong, Tang SuLin, Zhang Cheng & Du XueBin

  2. Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 164-8639, Japan

    Jiang Tao

Authors
  1. Jiang Tao
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  2. Xie XiNong
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  3. Tang SuLin
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  4. Zhang Cheng
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  5. Du XueBin
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Correspondence to Jiang Tao.

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40476025 and 40672089), Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. MSGL0506), National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2007CB411700), and the Research Foundation for Outstanding Young Teachers, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (Grant No. CUGQNL0604)

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Jiang, T., Xie, X., Tang, S. et al. Numerical simulation on the evolution of sediment waves caused by turbidity currents. CHINESE SCI BULL 52, 2429–2434 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-007-0348-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-007-0348-0

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