Sediment trapping by haloclines of a river plume in the Pearl River Estuary

• Large floc particles are concentrated on the halocline of a river plume.
• Sediment trapping is induced by salinity stratification and buoyancy-induced instability.
• The roles of stratification in ETM formation and long-distance sediment transportation are highlighted.

Sediment trapping by the halocline of a river plume was investigated over a spring-neap tidal cycle in the 2010 dry season in the Pearl River Estuary. Benthic tripod observations and concurrent shipboard measurements were conducted to examine mean and turbulent flows, and sediment distributions. The field observations showed that suspended particles are apparently concentrated on the halocline of the river plume, forming a patchy high-concentration suspension with larger floc sizes. This sediment trapping occurred only on the neap tide when the estuary was highly stratified. An estimation of the gradient Richardson number indicates that stratification suppression is dominant below the halocline, whereas shear-induced instability occurs above the halocline. The turbulent kinetic energy balance demonstrates that the buoyancy flux dominates over viscous dissipation in turbulence destruction. Therefore, the trapping of suspended sediment with large floc sizes on the halocline is induced by both salinity stratification and buoyancy-induced instability. This finding can explain the role of salinity stratification in the mechanism for estuarine turbidity maxima and long-distance transportation of suspended sediment.