Collaborative Research: High-Density Combined Flows and Bedforms

合作研究：高密度组合水流和河床杰弗里·帕森斯，华盛顿大学(EAR-0309887)保罗·迈罗，科罗拉多学院(EAR-0309693)ABSTRACTPI将探索泥沙负荷、泥沙尺寸、波浪运动和坡度之间的关系，以及波浪调制浑浊流的形成和维持。在一种独一无二的倾斜波管中，实验室实验将被用来限制在以波浪为主的环境中由重力驱动的传输的物理过程。与与湍流对重力流的影响相关的有限工作相反，PI的早期实验似乎表明，波浪可以增强重力驱动的输送，因为那里有高浓度的沉积物。将在几个古代环境中进行实地考察，以检验这一假设和在实验室实验过程中提出的其他假设。实地考察工作还将有助于形成新的假说，并在实验室进行测试。现场(纽芬兰的教堂岛组；科罗拉多州的明特尔组；威斯特威德！和英格兰西南部的布德组)，以突出各种沉积负荷和波浪活动都很大的陆架环境。这些环境是过去气候的最好记录之一，因为它们都保存得很好，而且受到大气过程的强烈影响。从广义上说，PI的工作将有助于湍流悬浮物的研究，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众多浅海露头的环境条件。研究计划的结构使本科生在实验室实验和实地工作中都能发挥积极的作用。

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.