Flow Dynamics and Sediment Entrainment in Natural Turbidity Currents Inferred from Numerical Modeling

Submarine turbidity currents derive their momentum from gravity acting upon the density contrast between sediment-laden and clear water, and so unlike fluvial systems, the dynamics of such flows are inextricably linked to the rates at which they deposit and entrain sediment. We have analyzed the sensitivity of the growth and maintenance of turbidity currents to sediment entrainment and deposition using the layer-averaged equations of conservation of fluid and sediment mass, and conservation of momentum and turbulent kinetic energy. Our model results show that the dynamics of turbidity currents are extremely sensitive to the functional form and empirical constants of the relationship between sediment entrainment and friction velocity. Data on the relationship between sediment entrainment and friction velocity for submarine density flows are few and as a result, entrainment formulations are populated with data from sub-aerial flows not driven by the density contrast between clear and turbid water. If we entertain the possibility that sediment entrainment in sub-aerial rivers is different than in dense underflows, flow parameters such as velocity, height, and concentration were found nearly impossible to predict beyond a few hundred meters based on the limited laboratory data available that constrain the sediment entrainment process in turbidity currents. The sensitivity of flow dynamics to the functional relationship between friction velocity and sediment entrainment indicates that independent calibration of a sediment entrainment law in the submarine environment is necessary to realistically predict the dynamics of these flows and the resulting patterns of erosion and deposition. To calibrate such a relationship, we have developed an inverse methodology that utilizes existing submarine channel morphology as a means of constraining the sediment entrainment function parameters. We use a Bayesian Metropolis-Hastings sampler to determine the sediment entrainment relationship that most harmonious with the observed channel morphology and measured factors such as run-up height of flows along the meander bends in submarine channels. We have applied these methods to two submarine systems, one in the deep-water Kutei basin, Indonesia, and the other offshore Nigeria. Our preliminary findings suggest that the entrainment relationships required by these natural systems are different than those inferred from the limited laboratory data available. These methods provide a rational means of understanding the temporal development of the dynamics of and deposits resulting from these flows where site calibration of entrainment parameters is possible.