Título
Erosion characteristics and floc strenght of Athabasca river cohesive sediments: towards managing sediment-related issues
Autor
JUAN ANTONIO GARCIA ARAGON
Ian Droppo
Bommanna Krishnappan
Brian Trapp
Christina Jaskot
Nivel de Acceso
Acceso Abierto
Materias
Resumen o descripción
Purpose: Most of Canada’s tar sands exploitations are located in the Athabasca river basin. Deposited cohesive sediments in Athabasca river and tributaries are a potential source of PAHs in the basin. Erosional behavior of cohesive sediments depends not only of fluid turbulence but on sediments structure and particularly the influence of organic content. This research tries to describe this behavior in Athabasca river sediments. Methods: An experimental study of cohesive sediments dynamics in one of the tributaries, the Muskeg river, was developed in a rotating annular flume. Variation of the shear stress allowed the determination of erosional strength for beds with different consolidation periods. Particle size measurements were made with a laser diffraction device operated in a continuous flow through mode. Optical analyses of flocs (ESEM and TEM) were performed with samples taken at the end of the experiments. Results: An inverse relationship between suspended sediment concentration (SS) and the consolidation period was found. The differences are related in this research to the increasing organic content of the sediments with consolidation period. The particle size measurements during the experiments showed differences on floc strength that are also related to changing organic content during different consolidation periods. ESEM and TEM observations confirm the structural differences for beds with different consolidation periods. The effects of SFGL on floc structure and in biostabilization of the bed are discussed. Conclusions: It is recommended in this paper that consolidation period should be taken into account for the modeling of erosion of cohesive sediments in the Athabasca river. Relating to transport models of pollutants (PAHs) it is highly recommended to consider flocs organic content, particularly algae, in the resuspension module.
Environment Canada, CONACYT
Editor
Springer
Fecha de publicación
23 de marzo de 2011
Tipo de publicación
Artículo
Recurso de información
Fuente
1439-0108
Idioma
Inglés
Relación
vol 11;4
Audiencia
Estudiantes
Investigadores
Repositorio Orígen
REPOSITORIO INSTITUCIONAL DE LA UAEM
Descargas
496