Cohesive Sediment Transport in the Jiaojiang River Estuary, China

Abstract

Extensive data were obtained of the water and fine sediment dynamics during spring tides in the extremely turbid Jiaojiang River estuary at spring tides. These data enabled the calibration of a two-dimensional (2-D) width-integrated model. Four processes dominated the mud dynamics. These were, firstly, the formation at slack tide of soft mud deposits with an erosion constant much smaller than that of the underlying compacted sediment, secondly the sediment-induced buoyancy effects, thirdly the collapse of the turbulence by the sediment suspension in the fluid mud range and fourthly the inflow of sediment at the mouth of the estuary. These findings demonstrate the necessity to have detailed field data to enable quantitative, as opposed to qualitative, modelling of mud dynamics in turbid estuaries. The estuary is infilling with sediment from the East China Sea and not from riverine inflow, this sediment presumably originates from the Yangtze River located 200km further north.