Numerical modeling of hydro-morphodynamics in fluvial/tide-dominated coastal environments: From the tidal channel to the inner shelf

Abstract

This Thesis is about coastal environments processes linked to a set of factors that drive and control the dynamic of two main basis elements that co-evolve in time and space: water and sediment. The interplay between these two elements introduces the termhydro-morphodynamics as the mutual coupling and bidirectional readjustment of the fluxes of water and sediments and the surface morphology of subaqueous landscapes. The methodology followed to address this feedback interaction is based on the employment of high-resolution, physically-based numerical models and on the self-development of simplified long-term hydro-morphodynamic models. These numerical models provide virtual laboratories that allow to quantitatively investigate the physical processes that produce the rich diversity of coastal landforms. We apply these numerical methods to several morphological units of the coastal environment, encompassing the different regions of coastal environments, from the coastal plain to the continental shelf, and including the intermediate shoreface. These morphological units are controlled by a set of environmental conditions that provide the energy responsible for their evolution. Among these environmental conditions, this work focuses on morphological units dominated by terrestrial (river-dominated) or by marine (tide-dominated) sources of coastal energy. The structure of this Thesis is then based on a sequential methodology organized around the spatial zonation of different coastal units subjected to fluvial or tidal sources of energy responsible for their evolution.