Mechanisms and Rates of Plucking of Experimental Bedrock Blocks

Abstract:

Plucking in bedrock channels can be the dominant erosional mechanism but is difficult to predict numerically due to variation in block shape and orientation in the flow, and the general lack of experimental data compared to alluvial sediments. In a 250 cm-long, 14 cm-wide flume, we modeled bedrock channels using a bedrock test zone consisting of < 1 cm-thick, fractured slabs of Plaster of Paris and sediment-free flow over an upstream step of 0 to 1.6 cm, a bed slope of 0.5 to1.24%, and a changing downstream backwater control on the location of a hydraulic jump. With flow velocity from 50 to 100 cm/s and depth from 3 to 10 cm, the low-density bedrock may well characterize natural bedrock plucking events in larger rivers in flood. Plucking initiated in critical to supercritical flow near hydraulic jumps. The first blocks to move lift from both the upstream and downstream sides and then other blocks slide both up- and downstream or laterally once neighbors are removed. Initiation of motion from each new bedrock slab began with different size and shape of blocks exhibiting no protrusion relative to the surrounding bed. Block erodibility increased with step height and channel slope and following the removal of the first block. A pressure gradient within the block mass near the jump and velocity differential within the channel margin set the stage for block uplift, but flow structures likely provide the variability that initiates lift. Preliminary flow visualization using Particle Image Velocimetry aids the understanding of flow structures contributing to blocks lift. Negative and positive feedback to further plucking was observed by erosion and deposition of plucked blocks. After their initial removal, blocks can accumulate downstream and slow the flow over the eroded reach or the position of jumps and jets shift with block removal to promote further plucking.