Effects on Dredging due to Diversions from the Lower Mississippi River

Contrasted sediment processes and morphological adjustments in three successive cutoff meanders of the Danube delta

“…Physically conceptual models to predict the hydraulic and geomorphic conditions for an avulsion process were developed by many authors (Mackey and Bridge, 1995;Slingerland and Smith, 1998;Barbe et al, 2000;Winer and Raphelt, 2005;Edmonds and Slingerland, 2008;Letter et al, 2008). They showed that the avulsion depends on the main channel to former meander channel bed slopes ratio, the bed grain size, water surface elevation at the bifurcation areas, the diversion angle, etc.…”

Mixing and Transport

“…The authors made use of a probability density function of bed elevation to develop the appropriate expressions, and they noted that the formulas developed in this paper are appropriate for both sediment mixtures and tracers in uniform sediment. Barbe et al (2000) investigated the longterm effects of dredging activities on the lower section of Mississippi River. Using the HEC-6 model, they showed that the water and sediment primarily exit the river via diversions in this section of the river.…”

One-Dimensional Modeling of Sedimentation Impacts for the Mississippi River at the West Bay Diversion

“…A diversion of water without an appropriate amount of diverted sediment increases the potential for induced sediment deposition in the main channel [6][7][8]. If the diverted sediment-to-water ratio is less than that of the main channel, then a disproportionate amount of water is being diverted relative to sediment.…”

“…If the diverted sediment-to-water ratio is less than that of the main channel, then a disproportionate amount of water is being diverted relative to sediment. By reducing the sediment transport capacity in the main channel without a corresponding reduction in sediment load will result in downstream deposition along the main channel [8]. Ref.…”