Date of Award
Fall 12-2017
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Program
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Department
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Major Professor
Dr. Ioannis Georgiou
Second Advisor
Dr. Mark Kulp
Third Advisor
Dr. Alex McCorquodale
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Michael Miner
Abstract
The southern Chandeleur Islands are an ideal setting to study shoal evolution given their history of submergence and re-emergence. Here, numerical models shed light on the attendant processes contributing to shoal recovery/reemergence following a destructive storm event. Simulations of a synthetic winter storm along a cross-shore profile using Xbeach shows that convergence of wave-induced sediment transport associated with repeated passage of cold-fronts initiates aggradation, but does not lead to reemergence. A Delft3d model of the entire island chain shows that as these landforms aggrade alongshore processes driven by incident wave refraction on the shoal platform, backbarrier circulation and resulting transport become increasingly important for continued aggradation and eventual emergence. Aggradation magnitudes are a function of depth ranging from 2 – 10 mm per event (onset to recovery to near mean sea level). In the absence of big storms, this modest aggradation can be more than one meter in a few years.
Recommended Citation
Nelson, Timothy L., "Hydrodynamic Controls on the Morphodynamic Evolution of Subaqueous Landforms" (2017). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2425.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2425
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.