Natural Estuarine Flocculation Mechanisms and Dynamics: A Review
<p id="p1">Most estuarine deltas and coastal estuaries globally are dominated by muddy sedimentary mixtures; their transport and fate are the key factors for estuarine management and engineering projects. Mud is typically a combination of mineral particles and organic materials, resulting in sedimen...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Book Chapter |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IntechOpen
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/89843 |
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| Summary: | <p id="p1">Most estuarine deltas and coastal estuaries globally are dominated by muddy sedimentary mixtures; their transport and fate are the key factors for estuarine management and engineering projects. Mud is typically a combination of mineral particles and organic materials, resulting in sediments that have adhesive properties, and generically known as cohesive sediments. Contrarily to non-cohesive sediments, mud can flocculate into larger aggregates called flocs, posing a serious complication to modelers of estuarine sediment dynamics. Consequently, intensive research efforts in understanding mud processes reflect the pivotal role played by muddy sediments in aquatic environmental systems and the need for informed management and decision-making, especially in estuaries. This chapter aims to comprehensively review scientific progress made in understanding various aspects of muddy sediments over the past few decades. By covering topics such as estuarine sediment composition, cohesion, particle interaction, and flocculation dynamics, this chapter provides a holistic overview of the key subject matter. Background science and theory are included for each topic, along with the highlights from key research contributions and real-world examples. We envisage that this chapter will help readers grasp the complexity of muddy sediments and understand key advancements made in this field. This approach grants deeper understanding of the subject matter and its implications for research and practical applications.</p> |
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| ISBN: | 978-0-85014-423-9 |
| DOI: | 10.5772/intechopen.115673 |