More Like this

1. Sediment control on subduction plate speeds

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.08.057  

   Behr, Whitney M.; Becker, Thorsten W. (November 2018, Earth and Planetary Science Letters)
2. Impact of Salt on Cohesive Sediment Transport

   https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.1005893  

   Benaich, Soukaina; Q_Yang, Judy (July 2024, IntechOpen)

   The erosion and transport of cohesive sediment are more difficult to study than non-cohesive sediment, largely because these processes vary with the salt in the water. Clay minerals are the major components that contribute to the cohesiveness of cohesive sediment because they have significantly larger surface charges and surface area-to-volume ratio than non-cohesive sediment. The electrochemically active clay surfaces can adsorb ions on their surfaces, form an electrical double layer, and cause clay particles to aggregate or form a gel. In this chapter, we first discuss the properties of clay minerals, including the structure of clay primary particles, their surface charge and area, and their interaction with ions in water. The surface charges and surface areas of clay are several orders of magnitude larger than non-cohesive sand, thus predisposing it to interactions with salt in aqueous environments. Second, we summarize studies that reveal the role of salts, specifically salinity and sodium absorption ratio (SAR), on sediment aggregation, stability, and settling speed. An increase in salinity from 0.15 to 1.5 ppt has been shown to increase the erosion threshold of smectite clay by more than 10 times. These findings underscore the crucial role of salt in shaping cohesive sediment transport. 

   more » « less
3. Sediment size on talus slopes correlates with fracture spacing on bedrock cliffs: Implications for predicting initial sediment size distributions on hillslopes.

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-9-1073-2021  

   Verdian, J.; Sklar, L. S.; Riebe, C. S.; Moore, J. R. (January 2021, Earth surface dynamics)
4. Influence of relict milldams on riparian sediment biogeochemistry

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03507-w  

   Peck, Erin K.; Inamdar, Shreeram P.; Peipoch, Marc; Gold, Arthur J. (June 2023, Journal of Soils and Sediments)
5. Summertime Sediment Storage on the Alaskan Beaufort Shelf and Implications for Ice‐Sediment Rafting and Shelf Erosion

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JC022624  

   Eidam, E F (July 2025, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans)

   Abstract Arctic coastlines are known to be rapidly eroding, but the fate of this material in the coastal ocean (and the sedimentary dynamics of Arctic continental shelves in general) is less well‐constrained. This study used summertime mooring data from the Alaskan Beaufort Shelf to study sediment‐transport patterns which are dominated by waves and wind‐driven currents. Easterly wind events account for most of the seasonal sediment transport, and serve to focus sediment on the inner shelf. This is a key finding because it means that sediment is readily available for wave‐driven resuspension and sea‐ice entrainment during fall storms. Sediment‐ice entrainment has been previously implicated as a major mechanism for Arctic Shelf erosion—and so the summertime focusing of sediment observed in this study may actually serve to enhance shelf erosion rather than promote shelf sediment accumulation. In a pan‐Arctic context, the Alaskan Beaufort Shelf is somewhat similar to the Laptev Sea Shelf, where previous work has shown that sediment is also focused during the summer months (but for different reasons related to estuarine‐like circulation under the Laptev plume). The Alaskan Beaufort Shelf example contrasts with previous work on the Canadian Beaufort Shelf, where dominant winds from the opposite direction (northwest) likely promote strong seaward dispersal of sediment rather than inner‐shelf convergence. This study thus highlights the importance of understanding dominant wind patterns when considering seasonal and inter‐annual storage, transport, and erosion of sediments from Arctic continental shelves. 

   more » « less