Models of Deltaic and Inner Continental Shelf Landform Evolution

Sergio Fagherazzi; Irina Overeem

doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.35.031306.140128

Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences

Volume 35, 2007

Review Article

Models of Deltaic and Inner Continental Shelf Landform Evolution

Sergio Fagherazzi¹, and Irina Overeem²
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Affiliations: ¹Department of Geological Sciences and School of Computational Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32301-4120 ²Department of Geotechnology, Delft University of Technology, 2628 RX Delft, The Netherlands
Vol. 35:685-715 (Volume publication date May 2007) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.35.031306.140128
First published as a Review in Advance on February 01, 2007
© Annual Reviews

Abstract

The morphology of passive continental shelves is dictated by the input of sediments from rivers and their redistribution by waves, currents, and gravity-driven flows. The pathways followed by sediments sculpt a landscape whose diversity is rarely matched on Earth's surface. Sediments are released to the shelf from triangularly shaped, elongated, and dendritic deltas. Barrier islands rise from gently sloping areas, tidal channels dissect flats and saltmarshes, fine sediments form broad convex deposits, and shallow submarine valleys convey sediments and water to the deep ocean. This morphological diversity is based on two main building elements: water and sediments. Fluxes of water and sediments are particularly suitable to be modeled with numerical methods based on the continuum hypothesis and hydrodynamics theory. In recent years, a series of models have been developed to explore and understand the formation of shelf landforms from the dynamics of sediment transport. Herein we present an overview of the most recent results on the modeling of deltaic and inner-shelf morphodynamics.

Keyword(s): delta, geomorphology, sediment transport, simulations, stratigraphy

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2007-05-30

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Models of Deltaic and Inner Continental Shelf Landform Evolution

Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 35, 685 (2007); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.earth.35.031306.140128

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Supplementary Data

Movie 1. Evolution of cuspate splits simulated with the model of Ashton et al. (2001). The wave distribution is weighted toward high angles with the shoreline and the wave direction is predominantly from the left.

Movie 2. Simulation of barrier island evolution and related stratigraphy with the model BarSim (Storms et al. 2003).

Movie 3. Simulation of fluvial incisions in the shelf during sea level cycles utilizing the DELIM model of Fagherazzi et al. (2004). The simulation domain represents the shelf in front of Chesapeake and Delaware bays. During sea-level low stands the shelf is dissected by a network of fluvial channels.

Movie 4. Progressive incision of channel networks in an idealized square domain surrounded by channels, obtained by applying the model proposed by D'Alpaos et al., (2005). The initial outlet is chosen in the middle of the lower side, while the remaining two outlets are selected by the internal dynamics of the model. Under the assumption that the water surface gradients drive the erosion process, the model mimics the incision of a tidal network and its progressive headward extension, by the erosion of the portion of tidal expansion in which the local shear stress exceeds a threshold value.

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