Cohesive Sediment Transport. I: Process Description

Abstract

Physical processes constituting fine, cohesive sediment transport in estuarial waters are described. These processes, which include settling and deposition, consolidation, erosion and transport in suspension, are typically interlinked by the cyclic nature of the tide dominated environment. Complexities in process characterization arise as a consequence of the dual dependence of sediment aggregate properties on the physico‐chemical properties of the sediment‐water mixture as well as the turbulent flow field. Present day knowledge of the processes enables reliable predictions of rates of sedimentation and erosion in navigable channels, waterways and harbors through numerical modeling. Further research is required for improving procedures for measuring settling velocities, identification of depth at which a definable bed is encountered, and the behavior of near‐bed high density suspensions.