Geology topics

B. E. Jaffe

Publications and source records attributed to B. E. Jaffe.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

USGS2002

Flow and sediment suspension events on the inner shelf of central California

The US Geological Survey conducted a field experiment in the late spring and early summer of 1998 off northern Santa Cruz County, California, to study sediment fluxes along the central California shelf. As part of this study, a bottom-mounted instrument package was deployed in a sediment-filled paleo-stream channel (h=12 m) off a pocket beach to measure waves, currents, suspended-sediment concentration, temperature, salinity, and seabed-level changes. The observations of suspended-sediment concentration revealed intermittent, intense periods of sediment suspension near the bed that were associated with the passage of individual large waves or wave groups. We used an ensemble averaging technique to characterize the temporal structure of near-bed sediment suspension events (SSEs) defined as when the near-bed instantaneous concentration exceeded the mean by three standard deviations. During the 800 h of deployment, over 9500 SSEs occurred. The 3917 SSEs that began under onshore flow were found to have a different temporal structure than the 5650 events that began during offshore flow. The longer mean duration of the onshore flow events caused an average of 83% of the sediment suspended during the course of the events to be carried offshore after the reversal of flow. All of the sediment suspended during the offshore events was carried offshore due to the shorter mean duration of these events. SSEs are shown to contribute 12% on average and up to 95% of the total sediment suspended by mass, demonstrating the importance of these events to sediment transport in this type of environment. Suspended-sediment transport models developed for the shelf, which use the product of the mean current and the mean suspended-sediment concentration, cannot accurately model the magnitude and direction of suspended-sediment transport on this energetic inner shelf due to the lack of information regarding the instantaneous coupling between fluid flow and sediment suspension. We conclude that time-variant models must be used to accurately model suspended-sediment transport in this type of environment.

California↗

USGS2002

Using tsunami deposits to improve assessment of tsunami risk

In many places in the world the written record of tsunamis is too short to accurately assess the risk of tsunamis. Sedimentary deposits left by tsunamis can be used to extend the record of tsunamis to improve risk assessment. The two primary factors in tsunami risk, tsunami frequency and magnitude, can be addressed through field and modeling studies of tsunami deposits. Recent advances in identification of tsunami deposits and in tsunami sedimentation modeling increase the utility of using tsunami deposits to improve assessment of tsunami risk.

Conference Paper↗

USGS1997

Massive sediment bypassing on the lower shoreface offshore of a wide tidal inlet: Cat Island Pass, Louisiana

Analysis of a series of historical bathymetric and shoreline surveys along the Louisiana coast west of the Mississippi River mouth detected a large area of deposition in water depths of 2.0–8.5 m offshore of a 9-km-wide tidal inlet, the Cat Island Pass/Wine Island Pass system. A 59.9 · 106 m 3 sandy deposit formed from the 1930s–1980s, spanning 27 km in the alongshore direction, delineating the transport pathway for sediment bypassing offshore of the inlet on the shoreface. Bypassing connected the shorefaces of two barrier island systems, the Isles Dernieres and the Bayou Lafourche. The processes responsible for formation of this deposit are not well understood, but sediment-transport modeling suggests that sediment is transported primarily by wind-driven coastal currents during large storms and hurricanes. Deposition appears to be related to changes in shoreline orientation, closing of transport pathways into a large bay to the east and the presence of tidal inlets. This newly documented type of bypassing, an offshore bypassing of the inlet system, naturally nourished the immediate downdrift area, the eastern Isles Dernieres, where shoreface and shoreline erosion rates are about half of pre-bypassing rates. Erosion rates remained the same farther downdrift, where bypassing has not yet reached. As this offshore bypassing continues, the destruction of the Isles Dernieres will be slowed.

Louisiana↗

USGS1997

Accelerated relative sea-level rise and rapid coastal erosion: Testing a causal relationship for the Louisiana barrier islands

The role of relative sea-level rise as a cause for the rapid erosion of Louisiana's barrier island coast is investigated through a numerical implementation of a modified Bruun rule that accounts for the low percentage of sand-sized sediment in the eroding Louisiana shoreface. Shore-normal profiles from 150 km of coastline west of the Mississippi delta are derived from bathymetric surveys conducted during the 1880s. 1930s and 1980s. An RMS difference criterion is employed to test whether an equilibrium profile form is maintained between survey years. Only about half the studied profiles meet the equilibrium Criterion this represents a significant limitation on the potential applicability of the Bruun rule. The profiles meeting the equilibrium criterion, along with measured rates of relative sea-level rise, are used to hindcast shoreline retreat rates at 37 locations within the study area. Modeled and observed shoreline retreat rates show no significant correlation. Thus in terms of the Bruun approach relative sea-level rise has no power for hindcasting (and presumably forecasting) rates of coastal erosion for the Louisiana barrier islands.

Marine Geology↗

USGS1997

Bathymetric comparisons adjacent to the Louisiana barrier islands: Processes of large-scale change

This paper summarizes the results of a comparative bathymetric study encompassing 150 km of the Louisiana barrier-island coast. Bathymetric data surrounding the islands and extending to 12 m water depth were processed from three survey periods: the 1880s, the 1930s, and the 1980s. Digital comparisons between surveys show large-scale, coherent patterns of sea-floor erosion and accretion related to the rapid erosion and disintegration of the islands. Analysis of the sea-floor data reveals two primary processes driving this change: massive longshore transport, in the littoral zone and at shoreface depths; and increased sediment storage in ebb-tidal deltas. Relative sea-level rise, although extraordinarily high in the study area, is shown to be an indirect factor in causing the area's rapid shoreline retreat rates.

Louisiana↗

USGS1996

Using nonlinear forecasting to learn the magnitude and phasing of time-varying sediment suspension in the surf zone

The time-dependent response of sediment suspension to flow velocity was explored by modeling field measurements collected in the surf zone during a large storm. Linear and nonlinear models were created and tested using flow velocity as input and suspended-sediment concentration as output. A sequence of past velocities (velocity history), as well as velocity from the same instant as the suspended-sediment concentration, was used as input; this velocity history length was allowed to vary. The models also allowed for a lag between input (instantaneous velocity or end of velocity sequence) and output (suspended-sediment concentration). Predictions of concentration from instantaneous velocity or instantaneous velocity raised to a power (up to 8) using linear models were poor (correlation coefficients between predicted and observed concentrations were less than 0.10). Allowing a lag between velocity and concentration improved linear models (correlation coefficient of 0.30), with optimum lag time increasing with elevation above the seabed (from 1.5 s at 13 cm to 8.5 s at 60 cm). These lags are largely due to the time for an observed flow event to effect the bed and mix sediment upward. Using a velocity history further improved linear models (correlation coefficient of 0.43). The best linear model used 12.5 s of velocity history (approximately one wave period) to predict concentration. Nonlinear models gave better predictions than linear models, and, as with linear models, nonlinear models using a velocity history performed better than models using only instantaneous velocity as input. Including a lag time between the velocity and concentration also improved the predictions. The best model (correlation coefficient of 0.58) used 3 s (approximately a quarter wave period) of the cross-shore velocity squared, starting at 4.5 s before the observed concentration, to predict concentration. Using a velocity history increases the performance of the models by specifying a more complete description of the dynamical forcing of the flow (including accelerations and wave phase and shape) responsible for sediment suspension. Incorporating such a velocity history and a lag time into the formulation of the forcing for time-dependent models for sediment suspension in the surf zone will greatly increase our ability to predict suspended-sediment transport.

Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans↗

USGS1994