Processes of transport and sedimentary structures - Flows, Sediment and Bedforms - Supercritical flow

7 important questions on Processes of transport and sedimentary structures - Flows, Sediment and Bedforms - Supercritical flow

What does the Froude nr (Fr) indicate in relation to waves?

Relationship between flow velocity (v), flow depth (h), g being acceleration to gravity:

Fr = v/sqrt(g*h)

It's a ratio of flow velocity to the velocity of a wave in the flow.

What kind of implications does the Fr nr have for sub- and supercritical flow?


subcritical: Fr <1  &  a wave can propagate upstream because it is travelling faster than the flow.

supercritical: Fr > 1  & the flow is too fast for a wave to propagate upstream and the flow is supercritical.

What is a hydraulic jump and how is this indicated by sub/supercritical flow conditions?


In natural flows a sudden change in the height of the surface of the flow, a hydraulic jump, is seen at the transition from thin, supercritical flow to thicker, subcritical flow.
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How do antidunes form and how does this relate to the flow when the Fr nr is close to 1?


Where the Froude number of a flow is close to one, standing waves may temporarily form on the surface  of the water before steepening and breaking in an upstream direction. Sand on the bed develops a bedform surface parallel to the standing wave, and as the flow steepens sediment accumulates on the upstream side of the bedform. These bedforms are called antidunes,
and, if preserved, antidune cross-bedding
would be stratification dipping upstream.

What is typical for the stratification anti-dune cross-bedding that forms from anti-dunes when preserved?

It is a stratification that is dipping upstream

Why does the stratification anti-dune cross-bedding not occur often?


As the wave breaks, the antidune bedform is often reworked, and as the flow velocity subsequently drops the sediment is reworked into upper stage plane beds by subcritical flow.

Under which conditions are anti-dune cross-beddings found?


Pyroclastic surge deposits, where high velocity flow is accompanied by very high rates of sedimentation

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