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SALINITY AND WATER CIRCULATION IN THE VELLAR ESTUARY
Author(s) -
Dyer K. R.,
Ramamoorthy K.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1969.14.1.0004
Subject(s) - halocline , estuary , freshwater inflow , meander (mathematics) , geology , oceanography , discharge , hydrology (agriculture) , stratification (seeds) , inflow , salinity , estuarine water circulation , shoal , environmental science , drainage basin , geotechnical engineering , geography , seed dormancy , botany , geometry , mathematics , cartography , germination , dormancy , biology
This paper reports a series of measurements of salinity, temperature, and current velocity in the Vellar estuary. This typical bar‐built estuary is shown, by comparison with dimensionless stratification parameters, to be a salt wedge at high river discharge and well stratified at low river discharge. During the tidal cycle, the salt wedge near the bottom became isolated in a series of basins during ebb tide; short period diffusion along the intense halocline seems to have been an important process in the salt balance of the water column. The water circulation at high river discharge was dominated by a meander system of alternating scour holes, with the high seaward flow in the deepest areas. Superimposed on this was a secondary lateral circulation system that broke down and reversed its sense at low river flows when the saline inflow developed.