Quantifying the 3D structure and function of porosity and pore space in natural sediment flocs
dc.contributor.author | Lawrence, TJ | |
dc.contributor.author | Carr, SJ | |
dc.contributor.author | Wheatland, JAT | |
dc.contributor.author | Manning, Andrew | |
dc.contributor.author | Spencer, KL | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-05-04T23:27:08Z | |
dc.date.available | 2023-05-04T23:27:08Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2022-12 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1439-0108 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1614-7480 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/20801 | |
dc.description.abstract |
Purpose Flocculated cohesive suspended sediments (flocs) play an important role in all aquatic environments, facilitating the transport and deposition of sediment and associated contaminants with consequences for aquatic health, material fluxes, and morphological evolution. Accurate modelling of the transport and behaviour of these sediments is critical for a variety of activities including fisheries, aquaculture, shipping, and waste and pollution management and this requires accurate measurement of the physical properties of flocs including porosity. Methods Despite the importance of understanding floc porosity, measurement approaches are indirect or inferential. Here, using μCT, a novel processing and analysis protocol, we directly quantify porosity in natural sediment flocs. For the first time, the complexity of floc pore spaces is observed in 3-dimensions, enabling the identification and quantification of important pore space and pore network characteristics, namely 3D pore diameter, volume, shape, tortuosity, and connectivity. Results We report on the complexity of floc pore space and differentiate effective and isolated pore space enabling new understanding of the hydraulic functioning of floc porosity. We demonstrate that current methodological approaches are overestimating floc porosity by c. 30%. Conclusion These new data have implications for our understanding of the controls on floc dynamics and the function of floc porosity and can improve the parameterisation of current cohesive sediment transport models. | |
dc.format.extent | 3176-3188 | |
dc.language | en | |
dc.publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC | |
dc.title | Quantifying the 3D structure and function of porosity and pore space in natural sediment flocs | |
dc.type | journal-article | |
dc.type | Journal Article | |
plymouth.issue | 12 | |
plymouth.volume | 22 | |
plymouth.publication-status | Published | |
plymouth.journal | Journal of Soils and Sediments | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1007/s11368-022-03304-x | |
plymouth.organisational-group | |Plymouth | |
plymouth.organisational-group | |Plymouth|Research Groups | |
plymouth.organisational-group | |Plymouth|Faculty of Science and Engineering | |
plymouth.organisational-group | |Plymouth|Faculty of Science and Engineering|School of Biological and Marine Sciences | |
plymouth.organisational-group | |Plymouth|Research Groups|Marine Institute | |
plymouth.organisational-group | |Plymouth|REF 2021 Researchers by UoA | |
plymouth.organisational-group | |Plymouth|Users by role | |
plymouth.organisational-group | |Plymouth|Users by role|Academics | |
plymouth.organisational-group | |Plymouth|REF 2021 Researchers by UoA|UoA07 Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences | |
dcterms.dateAccepted | 2022-08-01 | |
dc.date.updated | 2023-05-04T23:26:57Z | |
dc.rights.embargodate | 2023-8-16 | |
dc.identifier.eissn | 1614-7480 | |
dc.rights.embargoperiod | forever | |
rioxxterms.versionofrecord | 10.1007/s11368-022-03304-x |