SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES (SILICICLASTIC

ROCKS) :
BOTTOM TRACTION AND SUSPENSION
SEDIMENTOLOGI & STRATIGRAFI - GL-2012
SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES (SILICICLASTIC ROCKS)
BOTTOM TRACTION AND SUSPENSION

• OVERVIEW
• SOME CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUNDS ON UNIDIRECTIONAL
FLOW AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FLUIDS
• THE BEHAVIOUR OF FLUIDS & PARTICLES IN FLUIDS
• FLOWS, SEDIMENT AND BEDFORMS
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Bottom
Traction
&
Suspension

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Gravity
mass
flow
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Shallow marine sand ModeL
Typical Facies Associations
Sediment transport and deposition

Transport media

• Water
• Overland flow, channel flow
• Waves, tides, ocean currents
• Air
• Ice
• Gravity
• Rock falls (no transport medium involved)
• Debris flows, turbidity currents (water involved)

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SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES (SILICICLASTIC ROCKS)
BOTTOM TRACTION AND SUSPENSION

• OVERVIEW
• SOME CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUNDS ON UNIDIRECTIONAL
FLOW AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FLUIDS
• THE BEHAVIOUR OF FLUIDS & PARTICLES IN FLUIDS
• FLOWS, SEDIMENT AND BEDFORMS
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Discharge

• Discharge is volume of water flowing through a cross-

section of channel per unit time (Q)
Q=wdU
w is width of flow
d is mean flow depth
U is mean flow velocity
• X-S area of flow, a, is width x depth. So,

Q=aU

• depth, width, and velocity are flow characteristics.

Some flow terminology

• flow characteristics (depth, width, velocity) do not

change with time steady flow
• flow characteristics (depth, width, velocity) do not
change from place to place: uniform flow
• streamline -- imaginary line drawn parallel to local
mean flow direction
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Conservation of mass

 Consider a steady, non-uniform flow

 because no fluid is lost or gained between x-sections 1 and 2,
discharge is constant: a1U1 = a2U2 = Q
 This equation is the continuity equation
 Tells us that where a is small, U is large, and vice-versa.

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Conservation of mass

• In a tube that is narrower at

one end than the other (Fig.
4.3). The cross-sectional area
of the tube is less at one end
than the other.
• The same amount must go in
one end and out the other in
a given time period, to
maintain a constant transport
of the fluid along the tube.
• To get the same amount of
fluid through a smaller gap it
must move at a greater
velocity through the narrow
end.
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Plan View
a1
a2
streamlines

Streamlines -- visualization
of flow velocity -- show flow direction and
speed (spacing of
streamlines is closer where flow is faster)

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SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES (SILICICLASTIC ROCKS)
BOTTOM TRACTION AND SUSPENSION

• OVERVIEW
• SOME CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUNDS ON UNIDIRECTIONAL
FLOW AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FLUIDS
• THE BEHAVIOUR OF FLUIDS & PARTICLES IN FLUIDS
• FLOWS, SEDIMENT AND BEDFORMS
THE BEHAVIOUR OF FLUIDS AND
PARTICLES IN FLUIDS

TWO TYPES OF FLOW: LAMINAR & TURBULENT

TRANSPORT OF PARTICLES IN A FLUID
GRAIN SIZE AND FLOW VELOCITY
• There are two types of fluid flow: laminar and turbulent
flows
• In laminar flows, all molecules within the fluid move parallel
to each other in the direction of transport
• In turbulent flows, molecules in the fluid move in all
directions but with a net movement in the transport
direction
• Experiments using threads of dye in tubes show that the
lines of flow are parallel at low flow rates, but at higher flow
velocities the dye thread breaks up as the flow becomes
turbulent.
Flow:
fight between inertial and viscous forces
• Intertial F
• Object in motion tends to remain in motion
• Slight perturbations in path can have huge effect
• Perfectly straight flow lines are rare
• Viscous F
• Object flows in a laminar fashion
• Viscosity: resistance to flow (high = molasses)
• High viscosity fluid: uses so much energy to move it’s more efficient
to resist, so flow is generally straight
• Low viscosity (air): very easy to flow, harder to resist, so flow is
turbulent
Reynolds Number

• a dimensionless quantity
• Ratio of inertial forces in a fluid to viscous forces
• Inertial forces ----- accelerate
• Viscous forces ------- damp out the acceleration

Ud  is fluid density

Re  U is mean flow velocity
 d is mean flow depth
 is fluid viscosity

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Reynolds Number (cont’d)

▪ indicates the extent to

which a flow is laminar
or turbulent
▪ Turbulence is promoted by
high flow velocities and
flow depths, and low
viscosities (Re>2000);
▪ laminar flow occurs when
the reverse is the case
(Re<500)
▪ Air and water are nearly
always turbulent

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Re = Ul/
U = velocity of flow
L = depth or pipe diameter
  density of fluid
 viscosity of fluid
Re< 500 is laminar, Re > 2000 turbulent

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Laminar flow

• Streamlines nearly parallel

• Think of flow as composed of layers of fluid sliding over
each other
• There is friction between layers (bcs. fluid has viscosity)
• Momentum transferred over very small distances

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Turbulent flow

• Flow is NOT smooth layers.

• Turbulent eddies can transfer momentum over much of flow
depth.
• High speed fluid can sweep down to bed and increase amount
of sediment moved.
• River flow is almost always turbulent

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Allen, Earth Surface Processes, Blackwell Science
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What determines whether flow is laminar or turbulent?
(summary)

• Laminar flow occurs at low flow velocities and depths.

• Turbulent flow occurs at higher velocities and depths.
• Reynolds number (Re) is used to determine whether flow is
laminar or turbulent.

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THE BEHAVIOUR OF FLUIDS AND
PARTICLES IN FLUIDS

TWO TYPES OF FLOW: LAMINAR & TURBULENT

TRANSPORT OF PARTICLES IN A FLUID
GRAIN SIZE AND FLOW VELOCITY
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Sediment transport and deposition

Transport modes in a
turbulent fluid

• Traction (rolling over

the bed surface)
• Saltation (jumping
over the bed
surface)
• Suspension
(permanent
transport within the
fluid)
• Solution (chemical
transport)

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Why do particles move?

• Entrainment
• Transport/ Flow
Entrainment
• Basic forces acting on particle
• Gravity, drag force, lift force
• Gravity:
• Drag force: measure of friction between water and bottom of water
(channel)/ particles
• Lift force: caused by Bernouli effect
• Moving grains is a result of
frictional drag between the
flow and the clasts.
• need a further force to
make grains saltate and
move upwards from the
base of the flow
• This force is given by the
Bernoulli effect, which is
the fact that let birds and
aircraft to fly and yachts to
sail ‘close to the wind’
• The Bernouilli effect is
the reduction of
pressure, proportional to
the increase of flow
velocity as the flow
encounters an obstacle
(sediment particle),
leading to a lift force and
entrainment of the
particle
• Drag forces and lift
forces act together to
cause entrainment of • Bernoulli equation:
sediment grains Total energy: ¼ gh + v/2 + P
¼ gh + v/2 + P + Eloss = constant
THE BEHAVIOUR OF FLUIDS AND
PARTICLES IN FLUIDS

TWO TYPES OF FLOW: LAMINAR & TURBULENT

TRANSPORT OF PARTICLES IN A FLUID
GRAIN SIZE AND FLOW VELOCITY
• The size of grain in a flow is an
indicator of the velocity at the
time of sediment deposition
• if it deposited as isolated particles

BOTTOM TRACTION : TRAKSI
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• The settling velocity of particles in a fluid is determined by the

size of the particle, the difference in the density between the
particle and the fluid, and the fluid viscosity.

• Stokes’ Law (settling velocity in a static fluid)

gD2 (ρg  ρ f )
vg 
18 μ
• vg=settling velocity; D=grain diameter; g=grain density;
• f=fluid density; =dynamic viscosity

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• A flow decreasing in velocity
from 20 cm/s to 1cm/s will
initially deposit coarse sand
but will progressively deposit
medium and fine sand as the
velocity drops. The sand bed
formed from this decelerating
flow will be normally graded,
showing a reduction in grain
size from coarse at the
bottom to fine at the top.

..on bottom traction ?

SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES (SILICICLASTIC ROCKS)
BOTTOM TRACTION AND SUSPENSION

• OVERVIEW
• SOME CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUNDS ON UNIDIRECTIONAL
FLOW AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT
• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF FLUIDS
• THE BEHAVIOUR OF FLUIDS & PARTICLES IN FLUIDS
• FLOWS, SEDIMENT AND BEDFORMS
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Two types of Flow:
Critical vs. Supercritical Flow

• As flow velocity increases, flow can exhibit standing waves -->

critical flow.
• When flow shallow and fast, can see chutes and pools (rapids) -->
supercritical flow

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 Froude Number, Fr
59

• Dimensionless number that relates to energy of the flow

• a ratio of inertial to gravitational forces in fluid
• Ratio of velocity head to depth of flow
• Dimensionless number used to determine whether flow is
subcritical or supercritical.

U
Fr 
gd
• If Fr>1, flow is supercritical
• If Fr<1, flow is subcritical
• Fr=1 for critical flow

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Sediment transport and deposition

Froude number (subcritical vs. supercritical flow)
u
Fr 
gd

u=flow velocity; d=flow depth; gd=celerity (wave velocity)

• Flow velocities exceeding wave propagation velocities

(Fr>1) yield supercritical flow, lower velocities (Fr<1) cause
subcritical flow
• A spatial transition from subcritical to supercritical flow (or
vice versa) is characterized by a ‘hydraulic jump’

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• irregularity such as a step in the
bed caused by an accumulation
of grains, the streamlines
converge and there is an
increased transport rate.
• At the top of the step, a streamline
separates from the bed surface
and a region of boundary layer
separation forms between the
flow separation point and the
flow attachment point Expansion of flow over the step results
downstream. in an increase in pressure (the
• Beneath this streamline lies a Bernoulli effect) and the sediment
region called the separation bubble transport rate is reduced, resulting
or separation zone. in deposition on the lee side of the
step.
Nichols, 2009
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• Current ripples are small bedforms formed by the effects of
boundary layer separation on a bed of sand (Baas 1999). The
small cluster of grains grows to form the crest of a ripple and
separation occurs near this point. Sand grains roll or saltate up
to the crest on the upstream stoss side of the ripple.
Avalanching of grains occurs down the downstream or lee side
of the ripple as accumulated grains become unstable at the
crest. Grains that avalanche on the lee slope tend to come to
rest at an angle close to the maximum critical slope angle for
sand at around 308. At the flow attachment point there are
increased stresses on the bed, which result in erosion and the
formation of a small scour, the trough of the ripple.
FLOWS, SEDIMENT AND
BEDFORMS
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Ripple
marks
ripple
lamination
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Flow direction
85

• You can tell which way the water was flowing by looking at the
structures, even if the rock is millions of years old!

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Crossbedding (x-bedding)

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Crossbeds 87

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 Ud
Re 

U
Fr 
gd