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An Investigation Of Sand Transport Phenomena In The Rappahannock River Estuary, Virginia, Charles Joseph Natale
An Investigation Of Sand Transport Phenomena In The Rappahannock River Estuary, Virginia, Charles Joseph Natale
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Quantitative evidence supplied by bottom sediment textural analysis, Fourier grain-shape analysis and Q-mode factor analysis indicate that river-borne sand-sized sediment originating in the upper reaches of the Rappahannock is actively transported downstream and ultimately delivered to the estuarine sediment regime. Current velocity observations in the upper estuary as well as suspended sediment concentrations measured at stream gaging stations, indicate that short-term extreme hydrological events such as periodic river flooding provide a plausible transport mechanism to move river-borne sands into the estuarine sediment regime.Events of this nature can disrupt average partly-mixed estuarine circulation patterns by displacing the salt-wedge to a more …