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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Earth Surface

 

Keywords

  • channel
  • dynamics
  • subsurface flow

Index Terms

  • Hydrology: Erosion
  • Hydrology: Groundwater hydrology
  • Hydrology: Modeling
  • Hydrology: Numerical approximations and analysis
  • Hydrology: Sediment transport
Abstract
Cited By (4)
 

Abstract

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 112, F03S12, 10 PP., 2007
doi:10.1029/2006JF000517

Erosive dynamics of channels incised by subsurface water flow

Alexander E. Lobkovsky

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Braunen E. Smith

Department of Physics, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Arshad Kudrolli

Department of Physics, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

David C. Mohrig

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Daniel H. Rothman

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

We propose a dynamical model for channels incised into an erodible bed by subsurface water flow. The model is validated by the time-resolved topographic measurements of channel growth in a laboratory-scale experiment. Surface heights in the experiment are measured via a novel laser-aided imaging technique. The erosion rate in the model is composed of diffusive and advective components as well as a simple driving term due to the seeping water. Steady driving conditions may exist whenever channels are incised into a flat and level erodible bed by a water table replenished via steady (on average) rainfall. Under such steady driving conditions, the model predicts an asymptotically self-similar growing shape for the channel transects. Conversely, given a transect shape that evolved under steady driving conditions and an estimate of the erosion rate at the bottom of the channel, granular transport coefficients can be inferred from the static channel shape. We report an estimate of these transport coefficients for a system of ravines incised into unconsolidated sand in the Apalachicola River basin, Florida.

Received 4 April 2006; accepted 18 October 2006; published 3 March 2007.

Citation: Lobkovsky, A. E., B. E. Smith, A. Kudrolli, D. C. Mohrig, and D. H. Rothman (2007), Erosive dynamics of channels incised by subsurface water flow, J. Geophys. Res., 112, F03S12, doi:10.1029/2006JF000517.

Cited By

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