Bedform segregation and locking increase storage of natural and synthetic particles in rivers
Dallmann J. Phillips C.B. Teitelbaum Y. Saavedra Cifuentes E.Y. Sund N. Schumer R. Arnon S. Packman A.I.
December 2021Nature Research
Nature Communications
2021#12Issue 1
While the ecological significance of hyporheic exchange and fine particle transport in rivers is well established, these processes are generally considered irrelevant to riverbed morphodynamics. We show that coupling between hyporheic exchange, suspended sediment deposition, and sand bedform motion strongly modulates morphodynamics and sorts bed sediments. Hyporheic exchange focuses fine-particle deposition within and below mobile bedforms, which suppresses bed mobility. However, deposited fines are also remobilized by bedform motion, providing a mechanism for segregating coarse and fine particles in the bed. Surprisingly, two distinct end states emerge from the competing interplay of bed stabilization and remobilization: a locked state in which fine particle deposition completely stabilizes the bed, and a dynamic equilibrium in which frequent remobilization sorts the bed and restores mobility. These findings demonstrate the significance of hyporheic exchange to riverbed morphodynamics and clarify how dynamic interactions between coarse and fine particles produce sedimentary patterns commonly found in rivers.
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Department Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
Center for Preparatory Studies, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States
Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben‐Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel
Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, United States
Department Mechanical Engineering
Center for Preparatory Studies
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research
Desert Research Institute
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