Experiments with sediment gravity currents (turbidity currents and mudflows).

 

For several semesters in Sedimentolology and Stratigraphy we have simulated turbidity currents and mud flows using simple lock-exchange tanks.
 
Here is a photo sequence of a gravity flow with mud sized grains and some videos for the final experiments we conducted in the lab during a past semeter. The video quality is not great, but we had an awesome time doing this!
 
Notice the differences in flow we observed using various grain size and sediment concentration.

Fluid Flow Videos
 Low concentration of fine sand:  strat07-turb 002.avi  (37.2 MG)
 High concentration of fine sand:  strat07-turb 006.avi  (2.1 MG)
 Mud:                                         strat07-turb 007.avi  (5.7 MG)


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