Self-burial of objects on sandy beds by scour: A synthesis of observations

Abstract

Factors that influence equilibrium, scour-induced burial depth (B) in sand relative to object diameter (D) are examined through analysis of over 750 observations. The main factors that increase scourinduced B/D under steady currents without waves are found to be an increased Shields parameter (θ) and small D (< 3 cm), with separate power laws applicable to clear-water and live-bed conditions. For larger D, greater cylinder density also increases B/D under steady currents. The main factor that increases scourinduced B/D under wave-dominated conditions is an increased Keulegan-Carpenter number. B/D additionally increases as the mean current component parallel to wave orbitals decreases. For cylinders under waves, B/D also increases as θ increases and as the angle between wave orbitals and a cylinder's axis increases. All else being equal, tapered cylinders bury most, followed by cylinders, then spheres, and conical frustums bury least. Parameterized models dependent on the above variables explain 85% of observed variance in B/D.

Taphonomy of marine vertebrates of the Pisco Formation (Miocene, Peru): Insights into the origin of an outstanding Fossil-Lagerstätte

“…Although there is currently no obvious evidence from modern examples and/or experimental taphonomy to elucidate this question, laboratory and field experiments investigating the burial of bivalve shells [125], cylindrical sea mines [126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133], and shipwrecks [134,135] provide suitable analogues. Results from these studies show that rapid burial in shallow-water settings may arise from impact burial and scour-induced self-burial [136].…”

Boundary condition control of fluvial obstacle mark formation – framework from a geoscientific perspective

“…plane bed‐type streams; Simons and Richardson, 1966), local scour incision can functionally be determined by: where d s is local scour depth [L], ρ is water density [ML −3 ], B is channel cross‐section [L], le o is length of obstacle in streamwise direction [L], Mb is an indicator for the mobility of a boulder‐like obstruction, due to tilting into the scoured depression which limits further evolution of local scouring and induces equilibrium more quickly (e.g. Truelsen et al ., 2005; Friedrich et al ., 2016; Euler et al ., 2017; Rennie et al ., 2017), ρ s is sediment density and d sed is the thickness of the alluvial layer [L].…”

Coupled Delft3D-Object Model to Predict Mobility and Burial of Munition on Sandy Floor

“…is crucial for scour burial of motionless object and in turn for prediction of the percentage burial parameter pB(t) = B/D [15]- [16]. Here, f is the wave friction factor [23], ρs the sediment grain density, and d50 the medium sand As pointed in [23], the equilibrium percentage burial pB,eq for motionless cylinders induced by scour tends to increase as θsed increases.…”

“…Model output from Delft3D provides the neighboring environment required parameters to the 6-DoF model to predict a munition's burial and mobility. Under the sponsorship of SERDP, experimental [13][14] and analytical [15][16] studies focus on the determination of the conditions that determine the onset of a specific and important motion, i.e., roll of munition around its main axis, both on a hard surface and on a sand bed in the presence of concurrent scour burial.…”