Abstract

A numerical model of fine-grained sediment dispersion in the New York Bight of the North American continental shelf is presented. Large amounts of waste material have been dumped in this region and the dispersal patterns of this material are of great interest to environmental managers. The model assumes that fine sediment resuspension is determined by surface wave activity and that transport is determined by tidal currents. Considering surface wave activity to be a random process reduces sediment motion to a random walk which is governed by a diffusion equation. The diffusion equation is solved numerically by an implicit time difference, finite element algorithm for a number of initial conditions.

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