The model study of Erosion and Deposition Processes in the Upper Chesapeake Bay, US

Abstract

Erosion process for suspended sediment (SS) transport model employs an empirical formulation to account for depth-limited erosion by varying τce as a function of eroded mass, a modified version of the algorithm in Lin et al. (2003) based on the empirical relationship in Sanford and Maa (2001). A point model, in which the change in SS concentration is solely determined by erosion and deposition, is employed to compare continuous deposition and mutually exclusive erosion and deposition for three size classes representative of the Upper Chesapeake Bay, US and different types of erosion environment, limited and unlimited unconsolidated, erodible sediments. The point model results show virtually identical results for the fine class regardless of the modeling method of erosion. The point model results for the medium and coarse size classes show that continuous deposition gives more reasonable behavior in SS concentration of the Upper Chesapeake Bay than exclusive erosion and deposition.