Contribution of waves and currents to sediment resuspension in the Yellow River Delta

The objective of this study was to investigate that the effects of different hydrodynamic conditions on sediment resuspension on a tidal mudflat in the Yellow River Estuary. A field experiment was conducted on an intertidal flat of the Yellow River Delta, China. The sediment resuspension concentrations and hydrodynamic conditions were obtained in the field from September 2-7, 2013. The resuspended sediment concentrations induced by wave loading were compared with those induced by coupled wave-current actions in Yellow River Delta. The results were as follows: (1) when the wave height was higher than 10 cm and the shear stress induced by the waves was greater than the critical stress of the seabed sediments, the surface seabed was eroded and sediment was resuspended. In addition, 60% of the significant wave heights were larger than 10 cm on the intertidal flat of the Yellow River Delta. (2) The contribution of waves to sediment resuspension was greater than 30% when the significant wave height is higher than 10 cm, and the average contribution of waves to sediment resuspension was 51%. The mechanism of wave-induced sediment resuspension and processes of sediment resuspension were described in this paper.