Research

Studying sediment transport is crucial for understanding the dynamic processes that shape our planet’s landscapes, from river channels and mountain slopes to coastal zones and even the deep ocean. This is because sediment transport makes the physical link between fluid flow and landscape evolution that gives rise to morphodynamic change.

Our research in this theme is broadly defined by an interest to understand the interactions between moving fluids and sediments. We have used field observation, theory, numerical modeling, and laboratory experiments to advance the science of sediment transport.

Figure 1: Mean signed deviation, calculated as difference between predicted Rouse profiles and best-fit Rouse profiles demonstrates a progressive increase in offset with increasing shear stress. This is interpreted as an increase in the effect of the density stratification due to increased concentrations with the increased stresses. All measurements collected from Yellow River, China, near Kenli.

Group publications in this theme

1. Moodie, A. J., Nittrouer, J. A., Ma, H., Carlson, B. N., Wang, Y., & Lamb, M. P. (2021). Suspended-sediment induced stratification inferred from concentration and velocity profile measurements in the flooding lower Yellow River, China. Water Resources Research. doi: 10.1029/2020WR027192
2. Ma, H., Nittrouer, J. A., Wu, B., Lamb, M. P., Zhang, Y., Mohrig, D., Fu, X., Naito, K., Wang, Y., Moodie, A. J., Wang, G., Hu, C., & Parker, G. (2020). Universal relation with regime transition for sediment transport in fine-grained rivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1911225116
3. de Leeuw, J., Lamb, M. P., Parker, G., Moodie, A. J., Haught, D., Venditti, J. G., & Nittrouer, J. A. (2020). Entrainment and suspension of sand and gravel. Earth Surface Dynamics. doi: 10.5194/esurf-8-485-2020
4. Lamb, M. P., Leeuw, J. de, Fischer, W., Moodie, A. J., Venditti, J. G., Nittrouer, J. A., Haught, D., & Parker, G. (2020). Mud in rivers transported as flocculated and suspended bed-material. Nature Geoscience. doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-0602-5
5. Ma, H., Nittrouer, J. A., Naito, K., Fu, X., Zhang, Y., Moodie, A. J., Wang, Y., Wu, B., & Parker, G. (2017). The exceptional sediment load of fine-grain dispersal systems: Example of the Yellow River, China. Science Advances, 3, 7. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1603114