Controls on suspended aggregate size in partially mixed estuaries

Abstract

Knowledge of aggregate size in estuaries is important to determining the fate and transport of suspended sediment and particle adherent contaminants. We have used a suite of in situ instruments to determine the controls of aggregate size distributions in three muddy, partially mixed estuaries in the mid-Atlantic USA. A novel method is presented to estimate turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) production and the resulting Kolmogorov microscale ( λ K) using a profiling acoustic Doppler velocimeter that has been contaminated by boat motion. The physical processes that control particle size distribution differ in the three estuaries due to the different hydrodynamics and benthic characteristics. Controls within each estuary also vary with different depth regimes. Surface particle size dynamics in all the studied estuaries are affected by irregular advection events. In the hydrodynamically energetic York River, mid-depth regions are controlled tidally by the combined processes of small λ K decreasing particle size at high TKE and differential settling increasing particle size during lower TKE, more stratified conditions. Mid-depth regions in the lower energy Elizabeth River are controlled by irregular resuspension and trapping at the pycnocline of large low density particles. Bottom regions in all estuaries are most strongly influenced by resuspension, tidally in the energetic estuaries and irregularly in the low energy estuary. Near-bed particle size distributions are controlled by both λ K and the distribution of particles in the bed in the higher energy estuaries. Just above the bed, large porous particles survive resuspension in the lower energy Elizabeth River, particles become smaller with decreased λ K in the more energetic York River, and biological aggregation causes large dense particles to resist turbulent breakup in the Chesapeake Bay, which has a more active benthic community. The net result just above the bed is that particle size and settling velocity are positively correlated to TKE production and sediment concentration in the estuary with higher currents and a biologically active bed, negatively correlated in the estuary with higher currents and a bed reworked by rapid erosion and deposition, and poorly correlated in the estuary with lower currents and a disturbed and contaminated bed.