Collaborative Research: Sediment Sources, Transport Mechanisms, and Fluxes in a Coastal Plain Estuary

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-2）资助的。该研究将通过对特拉华州河口的调查，促进对河口沉积物扩散的理解。 协调的水柱沉积物通量，沉积和再悬浮的研究计划和PI希望建立作为外部强迫，包括河流流量，潮汐和风的函数河口的沉积物截留效率。将部署一系列装有仪器的系泊设备，以获得流量和悬浮泥沙浓度的连续时间序列记录，以及一套季节性测量的自然发生和人为放射性核素。具体目标是：1）根据7 Be、210 Pb和137 Cs的分布确定细颗粒泥沙的来源、输运途径和停留时间; 2）利用泥沙通量的现场观测，评估河道形态对沿着和跨河口泥沙输移和沉积模式的作用;阐明维持河口最大浑浊度的泥沙通量和截留机制，以及泥沙从轴向槽向潮下带转移的机制。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-2).The study will promote understanding of sediment dispersal in estuaries through an investigation of the Delaware River estuary. Coordinated studies of water-column sediment flux, deposition, and resuspension are planned and the PIs hope to establish the sediment trapping efficiency of the estuary as a function of external forcings, including river discharge, tides and wind. An array of instrumented moorings will be deployed to obtain continuous time-series records of flow and suspended-sediment concentration, and a suite of naturally occurring and anthropogenic radionuclides measured seasonally. Specific objectives are: 1) to identify the sources, transport pathways, and residence times of fine sediment based on distributions of 7Be, 210Pb, and 137Cs; 2) to asses the role of channel morphology on along- and across-estuary patterns of sediment transport and deposition using in-situ observations of sediment flux; and 3) to elucidate the mechanisms of sediment flux and trapping responsible for maintaining the estuary turbidity maximum, and which transfer sediment from the axial channel to subtidal flats.