Turbidity current flow structure and its modulation by contour currents: Insights from 3D flume experiments

IF 2.6 3区地球科学 Q2 GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Marine Geology Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI:10.1016/j.margeo.2024.107469

P.H. Adema , J.T. Eggenhuisen , J. Bleeker , R. Silva Jacinto , E. Miramontes

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Turbidity currents are the main agent transferring sediment, carbon, nutrients and pollutants (e.g. micro-plastics) from the continents to the deep sea. They flow through submarine canyons, connecting the continents to the oceans. Along their trajectory, these flows may interact with a suite of oceanographic processes, such as geostrophic contour currents, forming a mixed system, entraining material from the turbidity current into the large-scale ocean system. Turbidity current–contour current interaction is scarcely evaluated and their combined three-dimensional flow structure is poorly constrained. We conducted experiments showing the 3D flow structure of turbidity currents and how this structure is modified by contour currents for different contour current velocities, channel depths, and morphologies. Secondary flow cells are observed in the experimental turbidity currents inside the straight channel. This secondary flow is bi-cellular for the purely gravity-driven experiments. Contour currents collapse this bi-cellular structure into a single cell constrained to the downstream channel margin. Additionally, the contour currents modulate the overspilling behavior of the flow by reducing overspill on the upstream overbank and making overspill thicker and faster on the downstream overbank. Our results illustrate the importance of secondary circulation in turbidity currents and their structural modulation by contour currents.

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来源期刊

Marine Geology 地学-地球科学综合

CiteScore

6.10

自引率

6.90%

发文量

175

审稿时长

21.9 weeks

期刊介绍： Marine Geology is the premier international journal on marine geological processes in the broadest sense. We seek papers that are comprehensive, interdisciplinary and synthetic that will be lasting contributions to the field. Although most papers are based on regional studies, they must demonstrate new findings of international significance. We accept papers on subjects as diverse as seafloor hydrothermal systems, beach dynamics, early diagenesis, microbiological studies in sediments, palaeoclimate studies and geophysical studies of the seabed. We encourage papers that address emerging new fields, for example the influence of anthropogenic processes on coastal/marine geology and coastal/marine geoarchaeology. We insist that the papers are concerned with the marine realm and that they deal with geology: with rocks, sediments, and physical and chemical processes affecting them. Papers should address scientific hypotheses: highly descriptive data compilations or papers that deal only with marine management and risk assessment should be submitted to other journals. Papers on laboratory or modelling studies must demonstrate direct relevance to marine processes or deposits. The primary criteria for acceptance of papers is that the science is of high quality, novel, significant, and of broad international interest.