Direct monitoring reveals initiation of turbidity currents from extremely dilute river plumes

Hage, Sophie; Cartigny, Matthieu J.B.; Sumner, Esther J.; Clare, Michael A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1448-3878; Hughes Clarke, John E.; Talling, Peter J.; Lintern, D. Gwyn; Simmons, Stephen M.; Silva Jacinto, Ricardo; Vellinga, Age J.; Allin, Joshua R.; Azpiroz‐Zabala, Maria; Gales, Jenny A.; Hizzett, Jamie L.; Hunt, James E.; Mozzato, Alessandro; Parsons, Daniel R.; Pope, Ed L.; Stacey, Cooper D.; Symons, William O.; Vardy, Mark E.; Watts, Camilla. 2019 Direct monitoring reveals initiation of turbidity currents from extremely dilute river plumes. Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (20). 11310-11320. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084526

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084526

Abstract/Summary

Rivers (on land) and turbidity currents (in the ocean) are the most important sediment transport processes on Earth. Yet, how rivers generate turbidity currents as they enter the coastal ocean remains poorly understood. The current paradigm, based on laboratory experiments, is that turbidity currents are triggered when river plumes exceed a threshold sediment concentration of ~1 kg.m‐3. Here we present direct observations of an exceptionally dilute river‐plume, with sediment concentrations one order of magnitude below this threshold (0.07 kg.m‐3), which generated a fast (1.5 m.s‐1), erosive, short‐lived (6 min) turbidity current. However, no turbidity current occurred during subsequent river‐plumes. We infer that turbidity currents are generated when fine‐sediment, accumulating in a tidal turbidity maximum, is released during spring tide. This means that very dilute river‐plumes can generate turbidity currents more frequently and in a wider range of locations, than previously thought.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084526
ISSN:	0094-8276
Date made live:	30 Sep 2019 15:42 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525267

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084526

ISSN:

0094-8276

Date made live:

30 Sep 2019 15:42 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525267