TITLE:

MODELING OF SUBMARINE SEDIMENT WAVES: HOW THEIR GROWTH CONTROLS THE EVOLUTION OF CHANNEL-LEVEE COMPLEXES

DATE:

Friday, May 14th, 2010

TIME:

3:30 PM

LOCATION:

GMCS 214

SPEAKER:

Svetlana Kostic, Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, San Diego State University

ABSTRACT:

Submarine sediment waves are the largest rhythmic bedforms on Earth. They are major agents for reshaping the seafloor in the oceans worldwide. Sediment waves have been commonly observed on the backside of levees of submarine channels. Numerical modeling and field information is used to quantify for the first time the morphodynamic interaction between deep-sea sediment waves and the flows that sculpt them. Of particular interest are the key mechanisms that govern formation, migration and architecture of sediment waves on levees, and their effect on the evolution of submarine channel-levee complexes. Numerical experiments reveal that under right conditions asymmetrical sediment waves can form on the levees by a process of flow stripping. As levees grow in time, they become high enough to confine the coarser-grained flows to the main channel. Thus, only finer-grained flows can continue to spill over levees. These flows under right conditions can give rise to “inverse” asymmetrical or symmetrical sediment waves. The appeal of this topic is related to the current production of hydrocarbons from sediment-wave deposits.

HOST:

Jose Castillo

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