Influence of salinity on sediment erosion-resistance: evidence from annular flume studies

The temporal and spatial change of salinity field in the Yellow River estuary is affected by runoff, ocean dynamics and climate. It influences not only the transportation of nutrients and pollutants, but also the deposition and consolidation of sediments, and so that the erosion-resistance of the sediments. In order to study the effect of salinity on the erosion-resistance of sediments, the sediments from the Yellow River estuary were used to carry out in-door annular flume experiments to simulate the process of sediment erosion and resuspension under different salinity conditions. The results show that the critical shear stress of fine sediments in the Yellow River estuary varies significantly in the salinity range of 0～36‰, and may be up to 0.055 6～0.080 6 Pa. Under same consolidation degree, the critical shear stress is logarithmically proportional to the increase in salinity, especially the salinity is less than 9‰. Under different consolidation degree, however, the effect of salinity on the critical shear stress of sediments decreases with the consolidation time.