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The flocculation state of mud in the lowermost freshwater reaches of the Mississippi River: spatial distribution of sizes, seasonal changes, and their impact on vertical concentration profiles
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  • Ryan Osborn,
  • Kieran Bernard Jiamin Dunne,
  • Thomas Christopher Ashley,
  • Jeffrey Albert Nittrouer,
  • Kyle Strom
Ryan Osborn
Virginia Tech
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Kieran Bernard Jiamin Dunne
California Institite of Technology
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Thomas Christopher Ashley
Virginia Tech
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Jeffrey Albert Nittrouer
Texas Tech University
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Kyle Strom
Virginia Tech

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

We use in situ measurements of suspended mud to assess the flocculation state of the lowermost freshwater reaches of the Mississippi River. The goal of the study was to assess the flocculation state of the mud in the absence of seawater, the spatial distribution of floc sizes within the river, and to look for seasonal differences between summer and winter. The data was also used to examine whether measured floc sizes could explain observed vertical distributions of suspended sediment concentration through a Rouse profile analysis. The surveys were conducted at the same location during summer and winter at similar discharges and suspended sediment concentrations, and in situ measures of the size distribution of the mud over the longitudinal, transverse, and vertical directions within the river were obtained using a specially developed underwater imaging system. These novel observations show that mud in the Mississippi is flocculated with median floc sizes ranging from 50 to 200 microns depending on location and season. On average flocs were found to be 40 microns larger during summer than in winter and to slightly increase in size moving downriver from the Bonnet Carré Spillway to Venice, LA. Floc size statistics varied little over the depth or laterally across the river at a given station. Bulk settling velocities calculated from size measurements matched values obtained from a Rouse profile analysis at stations with sandy beds, but underestimated settling velocities using the same equation parameters for measurements made during winter over muddy beds.