Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Assessment Of Hydrodynamic And Water Quality Impacts For Channel Deepening In The Thimble Shoals, Norfolk Harbor, And Elizabeth River Channels : Final Report On The “Hydrodynamic Modeling”, Yinglong J. Zhang, Harry V. Wang, Fei Ye, Zhengui Wang

Reports

For over twenty years, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Virginia Port Authority (VPA), representing the Commonwealth Secretary of Transportation, have collaborated on projects key to port development that also preserve the environmental integrity of both Hampton Roads and the Elizabeth River. The USACE and the VPA are working to investigate channel deepening in this region to provide access to a new generation of cargo ships (e.g., Panamax-class). The main goal of this project is to investigate the feasibility for Norfolk Harbor channel deepening in the lower James and Elizabeth Rivers and assess the environmental impact …

Incorporating Sea Level Change Scenarios Into Norfolk Harbor Channels Deepening And Elizabeth River Southern Branch Navigation Improvements Study : Final Report On The “Hydrodynamic Modeling”, Zhuo Liu, Harry V. Wang, Yinglong J. Zhang, Fei Ye

Reports

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) team has applied a 3D unstructured-grid hydrodynamic model SCHISM in the study of the impact of channel dredging on hydrodynamics in the lower Chesapeake Bay project area. This report is a companion report to that of Zhang et al. (2017; doi:10.21220/V5MF0F) and focuses on the impact of channel dredging specifically under the projected future sea-level change (SLC) of 1 meter rise by 2100. This is an average of the high end of semi-empirical, global sea-level rise (SLR) projections adopted by the Virginia Port Authority (VPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District, …

Incorporation Of Sea Level Change Scenarios Into Norfolk Harbor And Channels Deepening Study & Elizabeth River Southern Branch Navigation Improvements Study : Final Report, Rico Wang, Jian Shen, Mac Sisson

Reports

Previously the VIMS modeling group has studied the impact of channel deepening on the water quality in lower James River, including Norfolk Harbor and Elizabeth River. A study of the response of the water quality to future Sea Level Change (SLC) is required by present USACE guidance (ER 1100-2-8162 and ETL 1100-2-1). ETL 1100-2-1 recommends analyzing the effects of SLC on the projects at three future time periods of post-construction, including 20 years, 50 years, and 100 years. The future change of sea level is mainly caused by the sea level rise (SLR) in this region. This document provides results …

Assessment Of Hydrodynamic And Water Quality Impacts For Channel Deepening In The Thimble Shoals, Norfolk Harbor, And Elizabeth River Channels, Jian Shen, Rico Wang, Mac Sisson

Reports

To investigate the feasibility for Norfolk Harbor channel deepening in the lower James and Elizabeth Rivers, one of the key services of the project is to evaluate the impacts of deepening the Atlantic Ocean Channel to 55 feet (from 50 feet), Thimble Shoal Channel to 55 feet (from 50 feet), Elizabeth River (north of Lambert Point) to 50 feet (from 45 feet) and the Southern Branch (north of the I64 Bridge) to 50/45/45 feet. In general, the shipping channel dredging will result in enhancement of estuarine gravitational circulation, accentuate the tidal and wind wave influence upstream, and affect the ecosystem …

Hampton Roads Crossing Study Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement: Evaluation Of Potential Impact On Surface Water Elevation, Flow, Salinity, And Bottom Shear Stress, Yinglong J. Zhang, Harry V. Wang, Zhuo Liu, Mac Sisson, Jian Shen

Reports

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential impacts of the proposed alternatives for the highway crossing in Hampton Roads on physical characteristics of surface water elevation, flow, salinity, and bottom shear stress. The analysis is part of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the Federal Highway Administration, and other stakeholders’ Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for Hampton Roads Crossing Study (HRCS).

Resistivity, Magnetic Susceptibility And Sediment Characterization Of The York River Estuary In Support Of The Empirical Investigation Of The Factors Influencing Marine Applications Of Emi (Year 2 Of Serdp Project Mr-2409) Final Report., Grace M. Massey, Carl T. Friedrichs

Reports

Vessel and personnel support was provided for a series of cruises to three salinity regimes along the York River. Data and samples from a standard suite of hydrographic and sedimentological measurements, as well as electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility, were collected and analyzed for each location. These cruises provided opportunities to obtain information that is being used to quantify the unique marine contributions to the early time TEM noise, including conductivity variations in the water and variability in bottom sediment properties in real marine environments, for use in the parallel modeling and electromagnetic-induction sensor work ongoing in the same project. …

Evaluation Of The Potential Impact On Flow And Sediment Transport From Proposed James River Crossings, Yinglong J. Zhang, Harry V. Wang, Zhuo Liu, Mac Sisson, Jian Shen

Reports

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential impact on flow and sedimentation potential due to the proposed new crossings on the lower James River by VDOT. This project was built upon previous effort in the same area (Boon et al. 1999); the latter used VIMS’ 3D Hydrodynamic-Sedimentation Model (HYSED) to study the impact of the bridge-tunnel infrastructure on the physical characteristics (including tides, currents, circulation, salinity and sedimentation) under the existing and alternative scenarios. Due to various limitations at that time, smaller bridge pilings were not resolved but instead parameterized. In this update study, we used an …

Shoreline Evolution: City Of Chesapeake, Virginia Elizabeth River Shorelines Data Summary Report, Donna A. Milligan, Christine Wilcox, C. Scott Hardaway Jr.

Reports

City of Chesapeake is situated between the Cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth along several branches of the Elizabeth River (Figure 1). Because the City's shoreline is continually changing, determining where the shoreline was in the past, how far and how fast it is moving, and what factors drive shoreline change will help define where the shoreline will be going in the future. These rates and patterns of shore change along Chesapeake Bay’s estuarine shores will differ through time as winds, waves, tides and currents shape and modify coastlines by eroding, transporting and depositing sediments.

The purpose of this report is …

Vertical One-Dimensional (1-D) Simulations Of Horizontal Velocity Profiles, Jerome P.Y. Maa, Jian Shen, Xiaoteng Shen, Shao Yuyang

Reports

Details of a vertical 1-D hydrodynamic model to simulate the horizontal velocity profiles for tidal estuarial flows with possible stratifications caused by salinity or Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC) are presented. The standard 2nd order k-ε model was implemented to address the turbulent flow with possible stratification effects. Simulation results are verified with two field measurements for steady nonstratified flows and a field measurement for tidal estuary non-stratified flow. The stratification effect of salinity and suspended sediment concentration are also checked with the following descriptions: “Salinity stratification will change the typical logarithmic velocity profile to a linear profile for most of …

Chesapeake Bay Land Subsidence And Sea Level Change : An Evaluation Of Past And Present Trends And Future Outlook, John D. Boon, John M. Brubaker, David R. Forrest

Reports

Ten Chesapeake Bay water level stations presently have a combined total of 647 years of water level measurements with record lengths varying between 35 years (1975-2009) at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, VA, and 107 years (1903-2009) at Baltimore, MD. All ten stations, with the exception of Gloucester Point, VA, are active stations in the National Water Level Observation Network of water level stations maintained by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services.

New technologies such as sea surface range measurements from earth-orbiting satellites now provide a global assessment of absolute sea level …

Mathews County Shoreline Management Plan, C. Scott Hardaway Jr., Donna A. Milligan, Carl H. Hobbs Iii, Christine A. Wilcox, Kevin P. O'Brien, Lyle M. Varnell, Shoreline Studies Program

Reports

This report has several sections. General coastal zone management considerations and existing conditions along the Mathews County shoreline are discussed. The overall Mathews shoreline was divided into three reaches: Reach 1, Piankatank River, Hills Bay, and Queens Creek; Reach 2, New Point Comfort to Gwynn’s Island including Milford Haven; and Reach 3, Mobjack Bay, East River, and North River. Each reach is discussed in terms of specific shore conditions as well as design considerations and shore stabilization recommendations. Reach 2 is slightly different from the other reaches in that it includes the high energy Chesapeake Bay shoreline. For this section …

Laser In-Situ Scattering And Transmissometer (Lisst) Observations In Support Of The Sensor Insertion System Duck, Nc October, 1997, Grace M. Massey, Carl T. Friedrichs

Reports

The objective of this portion of the study was to collect LIS ST time series at times corresponding to collection of pumped samples of suspended sediment across the width of the surf zone during a major field experiment called SandyDuck '97. The pumped samples were analyzed for total percent sand (>60 micron), total percent mud (0.8 - 60 micron), organic content and sand size distribution. The LISST measures the particle size distribution from 5-500 microns. The purpose was to provide a high quality data set of pumped samples with which to later test the sensitivity of indirect measurements of …

Data Report: Pump Sampling And Sediment Analysis In Support Of The Sensor Insertion System Duck, N.C. April And October, 1997, Grace M. Massey, Carl T. Friiedrichs, Amo De Kruif, Daan C. Rijks

Reports

The objectives of this study were to (i) construct a pumping system, (ii) operate the system and collect samples of suspended sediment across the width of the surf zone during two major field experiments planned for the SIS in 1997, and (iii) analyze the resulting samples for sand concentration, sand size distribution, total percent sand, total percent mud, and organic content. The purpose was to provide a high quality data set of pump samples with which to later test the sensitivity of indirect measurements of suspended sand concentration to the presence of suspended mud. The response of OBSs is known …

Sediments And Shallow Stratigraphy Of A Portion Of The Continental Shelf Of Southeastern Virginia, Carl H. Hobbs Iii

Reports

A network of high-resolution, seismic-reflection profiles and grab samples of the surficial sediments of the inner continental shelf of southeastern Virginia demonstrate that the Quaternary geology of the region is more complex than indicated by earlier studies. The spatial variability of the surficial sediments depicts active processes, such as outflow from Chesapeake Bay, as well as the underlying geology in outcrops of finer grained sediments near False Cape.

The complexity of the Quaternary geology results from large and small scale fluctuations in sea level. Individual, relatively large-scale, seismostratigraphic units are separated by erosional surfaces formed during the major changes in …

Geological And Geophysical Character Of The East China And Yellow Seas, John D. Milliman, Nicole D. Scott

Reports

The East China and Yellow seas represent one of the broadest shallow seas in the global ocean, with water depths generally less than 80 m and stretching nearly 750 km from the Shandong Peninsula to the Okinawa Trough (Fig. 1). This area is also unique in terms of the vast amount of sediment it receives from the Huanghe (Yellow River; presently discharging in the adjacent Gulf of Bohai) and the Changjigang (Yangtze River, which flows into the East China Sea). Together, this region receives about ten percent of the river-derived sediment reaching the ocean, and as such, the region has …

Public Beach Assessment Report Gloucester Point Public Beach, Gloucester County, Virginia, Donna A. Milligan, C. Scott Hardaway Jr., George R. Thomas

Reports

Gloucester Point Public Beach is located at the southern end of Gloucester County, Virginia on the York River. It is a southeastward facing shoreline about 960 ft long and it is part of a larger stretch of moderately low shore between Sarah Creek and the George P. Coleman Bridge. While no shoreline improvement projects have taken place at the public beach, shore protection projects updrift and including the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) affect it. In 1983, erosion along the shoreline at VIMS just updrift of the public beach led to the installation of a riprap revetment in front …

A Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic-Eutrophication Model (Hem-3d) : Description Of Water Quality And Sediment Process Submodels, Kyeong Park, Albert Y. Kuo, Jian Shen, John M. Hamrick

Reports

Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) has been developing a general purpose three-dimensional hydrodynamic and sediment transport model, Environmental Fluid Dynamics Computer Code (EFDC; Hamrick 1992). The real-time model simulates density and topographically-induced circulation as well as tidal and wind-driven flows, and spatial and temporal distributions of salinity, temperature and sediment concentration. The model also is capable of handling the wetting and drying of shallow area, hydraulic control structures, vegetation resistance for wetlands and Lagrangian particle tracking. The information of physical transport processes, both advective and diffusive, simulated by the hydrodynamic model can be used to account for the transport …

Virginia Beach Offshore Sediment Study, C. R. Berquist Jr., Naomi Gomillion

Reports

This investigation was initiated from discussions among members of the Minerals Management Service-Virginia Task Force in an effort to locate a nearby and offshore source of beach-quality sand for the resort strip at Virginia Beach. Because of the increasing difficulty of relying upon land-based material, attention has been focused on investigating offshore sources. Previous work (Kimball and others, 1991) suggests an offshore deposit of beach-quality sands is located on a shoal between 3 and 8 km east of Sandbridge. Planned vibracoring on this shoal during the fall of 1993 should establish the viability of the sand occurrence. Although material from …

Sediment Characterization Of Chesaapeake Bay And Its Tributaries, Maynard M. Nichols, S. C. Kim, C. M. Brouwer

Reports

Sediment characterizations for the following estuaries and rivers:

• Chesapeake Bay
• Potomac River
• Rappahannock River
• York River
• James River
• Chester River
• Choptank River

Study Of Economic Heavy Minerals Of The Virginia Inner Continental Shelf, C. R. Berquist, C. H. Hobbs Iii

Reports

No abstract provided.

Cross-Shoreface Suspended Sediment Transport : A Response To The Interaction Of Nearshore And Shelf Processes, Fall 1994 Duck, Nc Field Experiment, D. A. Hepworth, Carl T. Friedrichs, John Brubaker

Reports

Deployment : The tripods were assembled, tested and secured onboard the RIV Sea Diver, which left the Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk, Virginia early on 26 September. While underway to the deployment site, the continuous surface water conductivity and temperature survey was run and several CTD casts were made. The tripods were deployed on 26 September and secured to the sea floor with sand anchors by VIMS divers. The R/V Sea Diver then began the series of on/off shore transects at the tripod deployment site for approximately 12 hours. The vessel returned to port on 27 September .

Recovery: …

Reconnaissance Of Economic Heavy Minerals Of The Virginia Inner Continental Shelf, C. R. Berquist, C. H. Hobbs Iii

Reports

No abstract provided.

Baseline Sediment Studies To Determine Distribution, Physical Properties, Sedimentation Budgets And Rates In The Virginia Portion Of The Chesapeake Bay : Final Report, Robert J. Byrne, Carl H. Hobbs Iii, Michael J. Carron

Reports

No abstract provided.

Report To The Coastal Erosion Abatement Commission Commonwealth Of Virginia Concerning The Inventory Of Sand Supplies In The Southern Chesapeake Bay, Robert J. Byrne, Carl H. Hobbs Iii, Robert A. Gammish

Reports

In its report to the Governor and the General Assembly of Virginia (Senate Document No. 4, Commonwealth of Virginia, 1979), the Coastal Erosion Abatement Commission found that "there is a need to locate sources of sand supplies for rebuilding public beaches. Certain bottom areas in the lower Chesapeake Bay should be studied as possible sources of sand supply for public beaches." And toward that end, the Commission recommended that "The School of Marine Science, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, study and analyze possible sources of sand supply in the lower Chesapeake Bay and vicinity for …

Eolian Sedimentation In Coastal Areas, Victor Goldsmith

Reports

The importance of eolian deposition in coastal areas is clearly demonstrated by the size and bulk of coastal sand dunes in many of these areas. The dune fields of Coos Bay, Oregon (Fig. :1), the southern end of Lake Michigan (Fig. 2) and the Cape Cod dune fields southeast of Provincetown (Fig. 3) and on Sandy Neck (Fig. 4) are just a few outstanding examples. Smaller sand dune accumulations are a:1:1 integral part of almost all depositional coasts. More subtle form of eolian deposition on beaches, marshes, intertidal sand beaches, and in shallow bays and estuaries may not be as …

Physical And Geological Studies Of The Proposed Bridge-Tunnel Crossing Of Hampton Roads Near Craney Island, C. S. Fang, B. J. Neilson, A. Y. Kuo, R. J. Byrne, C. S. Welch

Reports

Part 1: James River Hydraulic Model Tests

Part 2: Impact on Shoreline, Hampton Flats and Newport News Point Area

Part 3: Drogue Study, Hampton Flats and Newport News Point

Part 4: Hydraulic Model Test Results