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Introduction to Fluid Motions and Sediment Transport (Southard)

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    This text begins by introducing students to aspects of fluid dynamics relevant to transport and deposition of particulate sedimentary materials. Emphasis is on the structure of turbulent shear flows and the forces exerted by fluid motions on bed of loosed sediment. With fluid dynamics as background, the course deals with sediment movement as bed load and suspended load, and with the geometry, kinematics, and dynamics of ripple and dune bed forms. The text concludes with basic material on the styles of current-generated primary sedimentary structures, with emphasis on cross stratification.

    Thumbnail: The Wave, a rock formation at Coyote Buttes North. This area is an exposure of cross-bedded aeolian sandstone. Blowing wind created inclined dunes, which turned into sandstone with tilted layers. (CC BY-NC-SA; Henry Morgan on flickr).

    This page titled Introduction to Fluid Motions and Sediment Transport (Southard) is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by John Southard (MIT OpenCourseware) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.