Comments on the transition between cohesive and cohesionless sediment bed exchange

The presence of both cohesive and cohesionless particles in estuarine and lacustrine sediments makes it essential to model bed exchange of both types of particles. The usual practice is to select a purely empirical estimate of particle diameter marking the transition between the two behaviors. Based on available data on particle erosion and deposition in non-oscillating flows and viscoplastic properties of bed sediment, we have attempted to examine the likelihood of identifying the transition diameter within a less empirical framework. From the relationship between diameter and bed shear stress for a variety of cohesive and cohesionless sediments, it appears that two transition diameters can be defined. One is the largest diameter of clay mineral particles at which cohesion is considered to vanish. The other is the smallest diameter at which cohesionless behavior is assumed to end at the limit of the well-known Shields' relationship extended to very fine particles. These two diameters appear to be reasonably close for mainly inorganic mineral sediments. Assuming they are equal, six zones of bed exchange are identified in terms of diameter and bed shear stress. Depending on these two variables, zones of only erosion, no erosion or deposition, and only deposition can be designated. Realistic modeling of bed exchange of multi-size sediments requires that the full range of diameters be considered. Extension of this analysis to organic-rich sediments is pending better understanding of their rheological properties.