A model of sediment resuspension and transport dynamics in southern Lake Michigan

Abstract

A quasi‐three‐dimensional suspended sediment transport model was developed and generalized to include combined wave‐current effects to study bottom sediment resuspension and transport in southern Lake Michigan. The results from a three‐dimensional circulation model and a wind wave model were used as input to the sediment transport model. Two effects of nonlinear wave‐current interactions were considered in the sediment transport model: the changes in turbulence intensity due to waves and the enhancement of induced bottom shear stresses. Empirical formulations of sediment entrainment and resuspension processes were established and parameterized by laboratory data and field studies in the lake. In this preliminary application of the model to Lake Michigan, only a single grain size is used to characterize the sedimentary material, and the bottom of the lake is treated as an unlimited sediment source. The model results were compared with measured suspended sediment concentrations at two stations and several municipal water intake turbidity measurements in southern Lake Michigan during November–December 1994. The model was able to reproduce the general patterns of high‐turbidity events in the lake. A model simulation for the entire 1994–1995 two‐year period gave a reasonable description of sediment erosion/deposition in the lake, and the modeled settling mass fluxes were consistent with sediment trap data. The mechanisms of sediment resuspension and transport in southern Lake Michigan are discussed. To improve the model, sediment classifications, spatial bottom sediment distribution, sediment source function, and tributary sediment discharge should be considered.