Experimental study on cyclic steps formed by surge-type turbidity currents

Abstract:

Field observations of turbidity currents and seabed topography on the Squamish delta in Howe Sound, British Columbia, Canada have been undertaken which found bedwaves actively migrating in the upstream direction in channels formed on the prodelta slope (Hughes Clarke et al., 2012a; 2012b; 2014; Figure 1). Their topography and behaviour suggest that they are cyclic steps formed by the surge-type turbidity currents. There has been no experimental study to investigate the formative conditions of cyclic steps by the surge-type turbidity currents. We did preliminary experiments on the formation of cyclic steps due to the multiple surge-type density currents, and compare the morphology of the steps with those of Squamish delta.

The experiments had been performed at Osaka Institute of Technology. A flume, which is 3.6 m long, 0.3 m deep and 2 cm wide, was submerged into a larger flume, which is 4 m long, 0.4 m deep and 8 cm wide, filled with water. Mixture of salt water (1.18 g/cm³) and plastic particles (1.5 g/cm³, 0.1-0.18 mm in diameter) poured into the upstream end of the inner flume by hand using a funnel. For the example introduced here, the slope of the outer flume was 1.5 degrees, and the mixtures’ whole weight and volumetric concentration ranged from 310 g (3.23 vol.%) to 510 g (8.16 vol.%). These mixtures were poured 105 times, and the thickness of the deposits was measured every 50 cm by photographs. As a result, two mounds (steps) were formed ultimately, which are moving toward upstream direction. Wavelengths are 80 cm and 120 cm respectively. The two kinds of flow depth were measured from photograph, such as the whole thickness of the flow, and the thickness of the lower high-density layer. Calculating the wave steepness and non-dimensional wave number, it turns out that those values using the thickness of the lower high-density layer fall into the region very close to the Squamish data that assuming the flow depth as 0.5 m.

This could lead the following interpretations; (1) the geometry, in terms of wave steepness and non-dimensional wave number, of cyclic steps are affected by the flow types such as open-channel flow or density flow, and surge-type flow or continuous flow, (2) the thickness of the lower high-density layer of the density currents (i.e., turbidity currents) may affect the geometry of the bedforms.