Sediment delivery to the Fraser River Delta; sediment transport mechanisms and modeling framework

这项研究计划的目的是提高我们的知识的机制砂层河道，特别是开发基于物理的预测工具，沉积物如何移动之间的源和最终汇在海洋中。 该计划的目的是使用砂层达到较低的弗雷泽河作为一个自然的实验室，调查和量化的过程。 弗雷泽还将作为SFU新景观动力学实验室更详细观察的原型，最终将为砂层河道的形态动力学建立一个基于物理的预测模型，特别是弗雷泽河。 目前，有多少沉积物移动到弗雷泽河的砂层河段，有多少沉积在弗雷泽的三角洲和潮滩，但负责移动沉积物通过85公里的河段，通过不列颠哥伦比亚省的低陆平原的机制，只有概念上的理解。 河流中沉积物的动力学控制着河流、三角洲和潮滩环境对洪水的响应和栖息地的质量。 需要一个基于物理的沉积物路径模型，以可靠地预测砂层河道和三角洲环境将如何应对各种扰动（即气候变暖、水通量变化、与土地利用做法相关的沉积物通量变化以及当代海平面变化）。 有一个紧迫的需要，使泥沙输运的预测砂层河流，空入海，如较低的弗雷泽河，因为它们往往是激烈的城市发展的网站，这些自然景观过程的动态显着影响这种发展的社会经济可行性。

The objective of this research program is to advance our knowledge of the mechanics of sand-bedded river channels and, in particular, to develop physically-based predictive tools for how sediments move between their source and ultimate sink in the ocean. The program is designed to use the sand-bedded reach of the lower Fraser River as a natural laboratory to investigate and quantify processes. The Fraser also will serve as a prototype for more detailed observations in SFU's new Landscape Dynamics Laboratory that will ultimately lead to a physically-based predictive model for the morphodynamics of sand-bedded river channels, and the Fraser River in particular. At present, there is some understanding of how much sediment is moving into the sand-bedded reach of the Fraser River and how much is being deposited on the Fraser's delta and tidal flats, yet the mechanisms responsible for moving sediment through the 85 km river reach that passes through British Columbia's Lower Mainland is understood only conceptually. The dynamics of sediment in the river control response to flood flows and the quality of habitat in the channel, delta, and tidal flat environments. A physically-based model for sediment routing is required to make reliable predictions of how the sand-bedded channel and the delta environments will respond to various perturbations (i.e. a warmer climate, changes in water flux, changes in sediment flux associated with land use practices, and contemporary variation in sea level). There is a pressing need to make predictions of sediment transport in sand-bedded rivers that empty into the sea, such as the lower Fraser River, because they are often sites of intense urban development world-wide and the dynamics of these natural landscape processes significantly affect the socio-economic viability of this development.