Purpose of Activity

The goal of this exercise is to enable students to explore some of the controls on fluid flow by having them simulate turbidity currents using lock-gate exchange tanks while varying the bed slope and the turbidity. Observational data are compared with theoretical relationships known from the scientific literature. The exercise promotes collaborative/peer learning and critical thinking while using a physical model and analyzing results.

Ortiz, J.D., and A.A. Klompmaker. 2015. Turbidity currents: Comparing theory and observation in the lab. Oceanography 28(3):220–227, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2015.73.

» Lab Instructions and Worksheet (1.1 MB)

» Accompanying Spreadsheet (48 KB Excel spreadsheet): The Excel spreadsheet includes a table that can be used to solve Equations 8 and 9 in this lab exercise.

An, R.-D., and J. Li. 2010. Characteristic analysis of the plunging of turbidity currents. Journal of Hydrodynamics 22:274–282, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1001-6058(09)60055-X.
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