Infiltration Depth of Mineral Particles in Gravel-Bed Rivers

This article discusses the results of an experimental study of a spill of mineral particles in gravel-bed rivers due to mining accidents. The purpose of this research is to characterize the dynamics of the fine mining particles spilled on a bed of immobilized gravel as a hyper-concentrated mixture and to experimentally characterize the infiltration phenomenon. We analyzed the type of infiltration considering the dimensionless coarse to fine particle size relationship, the dimensionless weight of the fine particles, the relative density of the particles, and the relationship between the subsurface and surface velocities, in addition to the densimetric Froude and Reynolds numbers of the fine particles. We found that the dimensionless infiltration depth is not associated with hydraulic parameters or the weight of the fine sediment spilled; however, fine sediment deposition decreases with depth, and infiltration depth may increase if subsurface flow decreases over time. Finally, a relationship of the dimensionless maximum infiltration depth with the relative density of the mining particles, the ratio of the bed sediment and the mining particles sizes, and the ratio between the subsurface and surface velocities is established.

Entrainment and deposition of boulders in a gravel bed river

Rivers transports coarse sediment (gravel, cobbles, or boulder) as bedload. During a flood, when the discharge is high enough, the sediment grains move by rolling and bouncing on the river bed. Measuring bedload transport in the field is notoriously difficult. Here, we propose a new method to characterize bedload transport by floods. Using a drone equipped with a high resolution camera, we recorded yearly images of a bar of the Vieux-Habitants river, a gravel-bed river located on Basse-Terre Island (Guadeloupe, French West Indies). These images, combined with high frequency measurements of the river discharge, allow us to monitor the evolution of the population of boulders on the river bed. Based on this dataset, we estimate the smallest discharge that can move the boulders, and calculate the effective transport time of the river. We find that transport occurs about 10 hours per year. When plotted as a function of this effective transport time, likelihood of a given boulder remaining at the same location decreases exponentially, with an effective residence time of 17 hours. We then propose a rough estimate of the average number of boulders that the river carries every year.