Modeling cave cross-section evolution including sediment transport and paragenesis     

Max P. Cooper  Matthew D. Covington 《地球表面变化过程与地形》2020,45(11):2588-2602

Deposits within caves are often used to interpret past landscape evolution and climate conditions. However, cave passage shapes also preserve information about past conditions. Despite the usefulness of passage shape, no previous models simulate cave cross-section evolution in a realistic manner. Here we develop a model for evolving cave passage cross-sections using a shear stress estimation algorithm and a shear stress erosion rule. Our model qualitatively duplicates observed cave passage shapes so long as erosion rates vary with shear stress, as in the case of transport limited dissolution or mechanical erosion. This result provides further evidence that erosion rates within caves are not typically limited by surface reaction rates, even though current speleogenesis models predict surface-rate limitation under most turbulent flow conditions. By adding sediment transport and alluviation to the model we successfully simulate paragenetic channels. Simulations duplicate the hypothesized dynamics of paragenesis, whereby: 1) the cross-section of a phreatic passage grows until shear stress is sufficiently reduced that alluviation occurs, 2) the floor of the passage becomes armored and erosion continues on the ceiling and walls, 3) negative feedback produces an equilibrium cross-sectional area such that shear stress is sufficient to transport incoming sediment. We derive an approximate scaling relationship that indicates that equilibrium paragenetic channel width scales with the square root of discharge, and weakly with the inverse of sediment supply. Simulations confirm this relationship and show that erosion mechanism, sediment size, and roughness are secondary controls. The inverse scaling of width with sediment supply in paragenetic channels contrasts with surface bedrock channels, which respond to larger sediment supplies by widening. Our model provides a first step in simulating cave cross-section evolution and points to the need for a better understanding of the dominant erosion mechanisms in soluble bedrock channels. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

The effect of flood intermittency on bifurcations in fluviodeltaic systems: Experiment and theory     

Max S. Daniller-Varghese  Wonsuck Kim  David C. Mohrig 《Sedimentology》2020,67(6):3055-3066

The dimensions and organization of deltaic islands and channels dictate delta morphology. This study presents experimental results modelling deposition at a river mouth and flow bifurcation around delta islands. Mouth bar formation and channel bifurcation is achieved in a laboratory setting by alternating input of suspended load transport and bedload transport. These two modes of transport produce two characteristic deposits with different advection lengths. Suspended load transport creates a steep deposit far from the inlet, while bedload creates a low angle, levéed deposit near the inlet. This study found that flow bifurcations occur where the proximal and distal deposits encroach on one another; and determined that there is a relationship between the frequency of suspended load transport and the length to channel bifurcation. Frequent flooding causes shorter length to bifurcations, whereas infrequent flooding causes greater length to bifurcations. This work overturns the hitherto understood mechanism of bifurcation location as a function of only high-transport conditions. Instead, the interactions between the sediment transport and deposition from normal flow and large-scale flooding events dictate delta island morphology.  相似文献   

Insights into Holocene relative sea-level changes in the southern North Sea using an improved microfauna-based transfer function     

Juliane Scheder  Friederike Bungenstock  Kristin Haynert  Anna Pint  Frank Schlütz  Peter Frenzel  Achim Wehrmann  Helmut Brückner  Max Engel 《第四纪科学杂志》2022,37(1):71-85

In light of global warming and rising relative sea level (RSL), detailed reconstructions of RSL histories and their controlling processes are essential in order to manage coastal-protection challenges. This study contributes to unravelling Holocene RSL change on the East Frisian North Sea coast in high resolution and with a new approach for the German Bight. For the first time, a transfer function (vertical error: 29.7 cm ? ~11% of the mean tidal range) for RSL change based on a combined training set of benthic foraminifers and ostracods from the back-barrier tidal basin of Spiekeroog is applied to the Holocene record of the back-barrier tidal basin of Norderney. The resulting RSL curve for the Norderney tidal basin is corrected for decompaction and shows a deceleration in RSL rise between 6000 and 5000 cal bp. The smallest possible error envelope (~1 m) results from the good suitability of salt-marsh layers between 5000 and 4000 cal bp. The RSL curve provides an approach towards the closure of the common data gap of peat-based curves for the southern North Sea related to a lack of basal peats in the youngest age range, and verifies regional differences in glacial isostatic adjustment.  相似文献