Geometric characteristics of subaqueous bedforms, such as height, length and leeside angle, are crucial for determining hydraulic form roughness and interpreting sedimentary records. Traditionally, bedform existence and geometry predictors are primarily based on uniform, cohesionless sediments. However, mixtures of sand, silt and clay are common in deltaic, estuarine, and lowland river environments, where bedforms are ubiquitous. Therefore, we investigate the impact of fine sand and silt in sand-silt mixtures on bedform geometry, based on laboratory experiments conducted in a recirculating flume. We systematically varied the content of sand and silt for different discharges, and utilized a UB-Lab 2C (a type of acoustic Doppler velocimeter) to measure flow velocity profiles. The final bed geometry was captured using a line laser scanner. Our findings reveal that the response of bedforms to an altered fine sediment percentage is ambiguous, and depends on, among others, bimodality-driven bed mobility and sediment cohesiveness. When fine, non-cohesive material (fine sand or coarse silt) is mixed with the base material (medium sand), the hiding-exposure effect comes into play, resulting in enhanced mobility of the coarser material and leading to an increase in dune height and length. However, the addition of weakly-cohesive fine silt reduces the mobility, suppressing dune height and length. Finally, in the transition from dunes to upper stage plane bed, the bed becomes unstable and bedform heights vary over time. The composition of the bed material does not significantly impact the hydraulic roughness, but mainly affects roughness via the bed morphology, especially the leeside angle.

Sustainable river management often requires long-term morphological simulations. As the future is unknown, uncertainty needs to be accounted for, which may require probabilistic simulations covering a large parameter domain. Even for one-dimensional models, the simulation times can be long. One of the strategies to speed up simulations is simplification of models by neglecting terms in the governing hydrodynamic equations. Examples are the quasi-steady model and the diffusive wave model, both widely used by scientists and practitioners. Here, we establish under which conditions these simplified models are accurate. Based on the results of linear stability analyses of the St. Venant-Exner equations, we assess migration celerities and damping of infinitesimal, but long riverbed perturbations. We did this for the full dynamic model, i.e. no terms neglected, as well as for the simplified models. The accuracy of the simplified models was obtained from comparison between the characteristics of the riverbed perturbations for simplified models and the full dynamic model. We executed a spatial-mode and a temporal-mode linear analysis and compared the results with numerical modelling results for the full dynamic and simplified models. The numerical results match best with the temporal-mode linear stability analysis. The analysis shows that the quasi-steady model is highly accurate for Froude numbers up to 0.7, probably even for long river reaches with large flood wave damping. Although the diffusive wave model accurately predicts flood wave migration and damping, key morphological metrics deviate more than 5% (10%) from the full dynamic model when Froude numbers exceed 0.2 (0.3).

River bedforms influence fluvial hydraulics by altering bed roughness. With increasing flow velocity, subaqueous bedforms transition from flat beds to ripples, dunes, and an Upper Stage Plane Bed. Although prior research notes increased bedform height variation with flow strength and rapid shifts between bed configurations, the latter remains understudied. This study reanalyzes data from earlier experiments, and reveals a bimodal distribution of dune heights emerges beyond a transport stage of 18. Dune heights flicker between a low and high alternative state, indicating critical transitions. Potentially triggered by local sediment outbursts, these shifts lead to dune formation before returning to an Upper Stage Plane Bed. This flickering behavior challenges the adequacy of a single snapshot to capture the system's state, impacting field measurements and experimental designs, and questions the classical equilibrium equations. This study calls for further research to understand and quantify flickering behavior in sediment beds at high transport stages.

Land reclamations influence the morphodynamic evolution of estuaries and tidal basins, because altered planform changes tidal dynamics and associated residual sediment transport. The morphodynamic response time to land reclamation is long, impacting the system for decades to centuries. Other human interventions (e.g., deepening of fairways or port construction) add a morphodynamic adaptation timescale to a system that may still adapt as the result of land reclamations. Our understanding of the cumulative effects of anthropogenic interference with estuaries is limited, because observations usually do not cover the complete morphological adaptation period. We aim to assess the impact of land reclamation works and other human interventions on an estuarine system by means of digital reconstructions of historical morphologies of the Ems Estuary over the past 500 years. Our analysis demonstrates that the intertidal-subtidal area ratio altered due to land reclamation works and that the ratio partly restored after land reclamation ended. The land reclamation works have led to the degeneration of an ebb- and flood channel system, transitioning the estuary from a multichannel to a single-channel system. We infer that the 20th-century intensification of channel dredging and re-alignment works accelerated rather than cause this development. The centennial-scale observations suggest that estuarine systems responding to land reclamations follow the evolutionary trajectory predicted by tidal asymmetry-based stability theory as they move towards a new equilibrium configuration with modified tidal flats and channels. Existing estuarine equilibrium theory, however, fails in linking multichannel stability to the loss of intertidal area, emphasizing the need for additional research.

A document by Joris Beemster. Click on the document to view its contents.

Accurate particle size distribution (PSD) measurements of suspended particulate matter composed of flocs and aggregates are important to improve understanding of ecological and geomorphological processes, and for environmental engineering applications. PSD can be measured in situ (in the field) using a submersible sensor, or ex situ (in the laboratory) using samples. The methodological choice is often guided by logistical factors, and the differences in PSDs acquired by in situ and ex situ measurements are not acknowledged. In this study, a laser-diffraction instrument (LISST-200X) was used to compare in situ and ex situ PSD measurements. Samples measured ex situ were stored for three consecutive weeks and measured each week in a laboratory using different stirrer speeds. We observed that ex situ measurements display a higher D50 (median particle size) than in situ measurements of the same sample (up to 613% larger, 112% on average). Our experiments show that the difference between in situ and ex situ measurements can be explained by flocculation of the riverine sediments during the first week of storage. During the subsequent ex situ measurements, the stirring results in a significantly lower D50. Ex situ measurements are therefore unsuitable for flocculated suspended particulate matter. This study provides recommendations for optimizing PSD measurements by calculating the measurement times required to obtain robust PSD measurements (exceeding three minutes per sample), which are larger for field samples with coarser particles and wider PSDs.

Intratidal variability in stratification, referred to as internal tidal asymmetry, affects the residual sediment flux of an estuary by altering sediment transport differently during ebb and flood. While earlier studies suggest that flood-dominant mixing increases the residual landward sediment flux, the role of ebb-dominant mixing remains largely unknown. Based on field data, we investigate the mechanisms that cause ebb-dominant mixing and its effect on the residual sediment flux in a stratified estuarine channel. Observations based on two tidal cycles show that the pycnocline remains largely intact during flood. Vertical mixing during flood is inhibited by a strong fresh water outflow, confining landward transport of suspended sediment to the bottom layer. During ebb, the pycnocline height decreases until it interacts with the bottom boundary layer, resulting in enhanced vertical mixing and sediment transport extending further to the surface. Thus, ebb-dominant mixing increases the residual sediment flux in seaward direction. The long ebb period further contributes to the residual ebb-flux. This is noteworthy since a long ebb duration, as it corresponds to flood dominance, is often associated with a landward residual sediment flux. Although our data represent average conditions and may not be representative for high river discharge or storm conditions, we conclude that asymmetries in vertical mixing considerably affect the residual sediment flux.

In deltas and estuaries throughout the world, a fluvial-to-tidal transition zone (FTTZ) exists where both the river discharge and the tidal motion drive the flow. It is unclear how bedform characteristics are impacted by changes in tidal flow strength, and how this is reflected in the hydraulic roughness. To understand bedform geometry and variability in the FTTZ and possible impacts on hydraulic roughness, we assess dune variability from multibeam bathymetric surveys, and we use a calibrated 2D hydrodynamic model (Delft3D-FM) of a sand-bedded lowland river (Fraser River, Canada). We focus on a period of low river discharge during which tidal impact is strong. We find that the fluvial-tidal to tidal regime change is not directly reflected in dune height, but local patterns of increasing and decreasing dune height are present. The calibrated model is able to predict local patterns of dune heights using tidally-averaged values of bed shear stress. However, the spatially variable dune morphology hampers local dune height predictions. The fluvial-to-tidal regime change is reflected in dune shape, where dunes have lower leeside angles and are more symmetrical in the tidal regime. Those tidal effects do not significantly impact the reach-scale roughness, and predicted dune roughness using dune height and length is similar to the dune roughness inferred from model calibration. Hydraulic model performance with a calibrated, constant roughness is not improved by implementing dune-derived bed roughness. Instead, large-scale river morphology may explain differences in model roughness and corresponding estimates from dune predictors.

Sustainable river management can be supported by models predicting long-term morphological developments. Even for one-dimensional morphological models, run times can be up to several days for simulations over multiple decades. Alternatively, analytical tools yield metrics that allow estimation of migration celerity and damping of bed waves, which have potential for being used as rapid assessment tools to explore future morphological developments. We evaluate the use of analytical relations based on linear stability analyses of the St. Venant-Exner equations, which apply to bed waves with spatial scales much larger than the water depth. With a one-dimensional numerical morphological model, we assess the validity range of the analytical approach. The comparison shows that the propagation of small bed perturbations is well-described by the analytical approach. For Froude numbers over 0.3, diffusion becomes important and bed perturbation celerities reduce in time. A spatial-mode linear stability analysis predicts an upper limit for the bed perturbation celerity. For longer and higher bed perturbations, the dimensions relative to the water depth and the backwater curve length determine whether the analytical approach yields realistic results. For higher bed wave amplitudes, non-linearity becomes important. For Froude numbers ≤0.3, the celerity of bed waves is increasingly underestimated by the analytical approach. The degree of underestimation is proportional to the ratio of bed wave amplitude to water depth and the Froude number. For Froude numbers exceeding 0.3, the net impact on the celerity depends on the balance between the decrease due to damping and the increase due to non-linear interaction.

Existing tidal input reduction approaches applied in accelerated morphodynamic simulations aim to capture the dominant tidal forces in a single or double representative tidal cycle, often referred to as a “morphological tide”. These heavily simplified tidal signals fail to represent the tidal extremes, and hence poorly allow to represent hydrodynamics above the intertidal areas. Here, a generic method is developed to construct a synthetic spring-neap tidal cycle that (1) represents the original signal; (2) is exactly periodic; and (3) is constructed directly from full-complexity boundary information. The starting point is a fortnightly modulation of the semi-diurnal tide to represent spring-neap variation, while conserving periodicity. Diurnal tides and higher harmonics of the semi-diurnal tide are included to represent the asymmetry of the tide. The amplitudes and phases are then adjusted to give a best fit to histograms of water levels and water level gradients. A depth-averaged model of the Ems estuary (The Netherlands) demonstrates the effects of alternative tidal input reduction techniques. Adopting the new approach, the shape of the tidal wave is well-represented over the entire length of the estuary, leading to an improved representation of extreme tidal conditions. In particular, representing intertidal dynamics benefits from the new approach, which is reflected by hydrodynamics and residual sand transport patterns that approach non-schematized tidal dynamics. Future morphodynamic simulations forced with the synthetic signal are expected to show a more realistic exchange of sediment between the channels and tidal flats, likely improving their overall predictive capacity.

Deltas and estuaries worldwide face the challenge of capturing sufficient sediment to keep up with relative sea level rise. Knowledge about sediment pathways and fluxes are crucial to combat adverse effects on channel morphology, e.g. erosion which enhances risk of bank collapse and increasing tidal penetration. We constructed sediment budgets which quantify annual changes for the urbanized delta of the Netherlands affected by fluvial and coastal fluxes of sediment, engineering works and dredging and dumping activities. The Rhine-Meuse delta shows a negative sediment budget in recent decades due to anthropogenic intervention. Following a large offshore port expansion, dredging in ports and harbours in the region has doubled in the past five years, likely due to the induced change in net sediment fluxes. In addition, the deeper navigation channels, ports and harbours are trapping siltier sediment than before, changing sediment composition in the mouth. The removal of sediment from the system through dredging is adverse to the necessity for sediment in heavily eroding branches. To allow for sustainable sediment management in the future and to cope with sea level rise, further measurements are required to properly quantify the amount of incoming sediment from the rivers and the seaward boundary and the mechanisms of transport which are key to solving the sediment issues in the delta. The varied response of the branches has important consequences for navigation, ecology and flood safety and management of the sediment in the system will be of pivotal importance in coming decades and for other deltas worldwide.

Dunes dominate the bed of sandy rivers and they respond to flow by changing shape and size, modifying flow and sediment transport dynamics of rivers. Our understanding and ability to predict dune adaptation, particularly dune growth and decay, remains incomplete. Here we investigate dune growth from an initial flatbed in a laboratory setting by continuously mapping the 3D bed topography using a line laser scanner combined with a 3D camera. High-resolution profiles of flow velocity and sediment concentration providing both bedload and suspended sediment fluxes were obtained by deploying Acoustic Concentration and Velocity Profiler technology. Our analysis reveals that the magnitude of the dune slipface angle, which determines flow separation and controls turbulence production, adjusts to the imposed flow at time scales similar to the evolution of dune height and length. The initiation of a flow separation zone intensifies through scour, and results in acceleration of the dune growth. Gradients in sediment transport and the rate of dune growth are inherently linked to spatial variations in slipface angles. During dune growth, the slipface angle evolves differently than the ratio of dune height to length, which immediately reaches its equilibrium value after dune initiation.