Prof SN Lane
1st March 2002 – 28th February 2005
Natural Environment Research Council
Channel confluences are ubiquitous features of all fluvial networks and represent sites of complex, three dimensional flows & sediment dynamics. However, current understanding of these sites is based largely on laboratory experiments & study of small-scale field sites, and no studies have documented the dynamics of large, natural channel junctions. Our ability to model & manage these key sites is thus severely limited. Here, we propose use of acoustic Doppler current profiling and digital echo-sounding to quantify the fluid and sediment dynamics of one of the world’s largest confluences between the Parana & Paraguay Rivers, Argentina. This will quantify scale-invariance in junction flow dynamics & provide validation data & output from a numerical model of flow. Study of bed form kinematics will also yield an understanding of the development of bed morphology at these sites.