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河河口的调查来促进对河口沉积物扩散的理解。计划对水柱沉积物通量、沉积和再悬浮进行协调研究，pi希望建立河口沉积物捕获效率作为外部强迫的函数，包括河流流量、潮汐和风。将部署一系列仪器系泊，以获得流量和悬浮沉积物浓度的连续时间序列记录，并按季节测量一套自然发生和人为产生的放射性核素。具体目标是：1)根据7Be、210Pb和137Cs的分布，确定细粒沉积物的来源、运移途径和停留时间；2)利用泥沙通量的原位观测，评价河道形态对河口及河口间输沙格局的影响；3)阐明维持河口浊度最大值的泥沙通量和捕集机制，以及泥沙从轴向河道向潮下滩涂转移的机制。

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.