Collaborative Research: High-Density Combined Flows and Bedforms

合作研究：高密度混合流和底形Jeffrey Parsons，华盛顿大学（CN-0309887）Paul Myrow，科罗拉多学院（CN-0309693）摘要PI将探索沉积物负荷、沉积物大小、波浪运动和坡度对波浪调制浊流形成和维持的关系。在一个独一无二的倾斜波管道中，实验室实验将用于限制在波浪主导环境中重力驱动运输的物理过程。与湍流对重力流的影响有关的有限工作相反，PI的早期实验似乎表明，波浪可以增强重力驱动的运输，因为那里的高浓度沉积物被“捕获”。实地考察也将有助于形成新的假设，在实验室进行测试。现场（教堂岛形成，纽芬兰;明特恩形成，科罗拉多; Westaward Ho！和Bude Formations，英格兰西南部），以突出各种陆架环境，其中沉积物负荷和波浪活动都很大。这些环境是过去气候的最佳记录之一，因为它们保存完好，并受到大气过程的强烈影响。从广义上讲，PI的工作将有助于湍流悬浮液的研究，其应用范围从化学工程到地貌学。它还将有助于限制世界各地许多浅海露头的环境条件。该研究计划的结构，使本科生将在实验室实验和实地考察中发挥积极作用。

Collaborative Research: High-Density Combined Flows and BedformsJeffrey Parsons, University of Washington(EAR-0309887)Paul Myrow, Colorado College(EAR-0309693)ABSTRACTPIs will explore the relationship between sediment loading, sediment size, wave motions and slope on the formation and the maintenance of wave-modulated turbidity currents. In a one-of-a-kind tilting wave duct, laboratory experiments will be used to constrain the physical processes responsible for gravity-driven transport in wave-dominated environments. Contrary to limited work related to the effects of turbulence on gravity currents, PIs' early experiments appear to indicate that waves can enhance gravity-driven transport owing to the "trapping" of high concentrations of sediment there.Fieldwork in several ancient environments will be conducted that will test this and other hypotheses developed during the course of the laboratory experiments. The fieldwork will also aid in the formation of new hypotheses to be tested in the lab. The field sites (Chapel Island Formation, Newfoundland; Minturn Formation, Colorado; Westaward Ho! and Bude Formations, southwest England) were chosen to highlight various shelf environments where both sediment loading and wave activity is large. These environments are one of the best records of past climate because they are both well preserved and strongly affected by atmospheric processes.In a broad sense, PIs work will aid research on turbulent suspensions, with applications ranging from chemical engineering to geomorphology. It will also help constrain the environmental conditions found in numerous shallow marine outcrops around the world. The research program is structured such that undergraduates will have an active role in both the laboratory experiments and the fieldwork.