Modeling flow and sediment transport dynamics in the lowermost Mississippi River, Louisiana, USA, with an upstream alluvial-bedrock transition and a downstream bedrock-alluvial transition: Implications for land building using engineered diversions

dc.citation.firstpage534en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber3en_US
dc.citation.journalTitleJournal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surfaceen_US
dc.citation.lastpage563en_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber120en_US
dc.contributor.authorViparelli, Enricaen_US
dc.contributor.authorNittrouer, Jeffrey A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorParker, Garyen_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-05-15T17:06:34Zen_US
dc.date.available2015-05-15T17:06:34Zen_US
dc.date.issued2015en_US
dc.description.abstractThe lowermost Mississippi River, defined herein as the river segment downstream of the Old River Control Structure and hydrodynamically influenced by the Gulf of Mexico, extends for approximately 500?km. This segment includes a bedrock (or more precisely, mixed bedrock-alluvial) reach that is bounded by an upstream alluvial-bedrock transition and a downstream bedrock-alluvial transition. Here we present a one-dimensional mathematical formulation for the long-term evolution of lowland rivers that is able to reproduce the morphodynamics of both the alluvial-bedrock and the bedrock-alluvial transitions. Model results show that the magnitude of the alluvial equilibrium bed slope relative to the bedrock surface slope and the depth of bedrock surface relative to the water surface base level strongly influence the mobile bed equilibrium of low-sloping river channels. Using data from the lowermost Mississippi River, the model is zeroed and validated at field scale by comparing the numerical results with field measurements. The model is then applied to predict the influence on the stability of channel bed elevation in response to delta restoration projects. In particular, the response of the river bed to the implementation of two examples of land-building diversions to extract water and sediment from the main channel is studied. In this regard, our model results show that engineered land-building diversions along the lowermost Mississippi River are capable of producing equilibrated bed profiles with only modest shoaling or erosion, and therefore, such diversions are a sustainable strategy for mitigating land loss within the Mississippi River Delta.en_US
dc.identifier.citationViparelli, Enrica, Nittrouer, Jeffrey A. and Parker, Gary. "Modeling flow and sediment transport dynamics in the lowermost Mississippi River, Louisiana, USA, with an upstream alluvial-bedrock transition and a downstream bedrock-alluvial transition: Implications for land building using engineered diversions." <i>Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface,</i> 120, no. 3 (2015) Wiley: 534-563. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003257.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014JF003257en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/80222en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherWileyen_US
dc.rightsArticle is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.en_US
dc.subject.keywordalluvial-bedrock transitionen_US
dc.subject.keywordbedrock-alluvial transitionen_US
dc.subject.keywordMississippi Riveren_US
dc.titleModeling flow and sediment transport dynamics in the lowermost Mississippi River, Louisiana, USA, with an upstream alluvial-bedrock transition and a downstream bedrock-alluvial transition: Implications for land building using engineered diversionsen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.publicationpublisher versionen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
jgrf20373.pdf
Size:
1.47 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description: