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2014 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

4. The Mechanics of Soft Cohesive Sediments During Early Diagenesis

Authors : Bernard P. Boudreau, Mark Barry, Christopher L’Esperance, Christopher K. Algar, Bruce D. Johnson

Published in: Processes, Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sediments

Publisher: Springer New York

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Abstract

Natural, surficial, cohesive (clay-bearing), aquatic sediments are subject to a variety of phenomena in which physics, rather than say chemistry, plays an essential role; this includes, but is not limited to, bioturbation, self-weight compaction, and phase growth. Scientific monographs (e.g., Berner, 1971, 1980; Boudreau, 1997; DiToro, 2001; Burdige, 2006; Schultz and Zabel, 2006) that focus on early diagenesis, i.e., those changes occurring in the top 1–10 meters (m) of aqueous sediments, make only passing reference to the physics of early diagenetic phenomena. In contrast, civil engineers, soil physicists and geophysicists have afforded great attention to the physics/mechanics of compaction, particularly in soils, anthropogenic sediments and basin-scale studies (e.g., Yong and Warkentin, 1966; Giles, 1997; Wang, 2000; Craig, 2004; Mitchell and Soga, 2005; Das, 2008); yet, this knowledge has not been effectively transferred to obtain a better understanding of early diagenesis.

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Appendix
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Footnotes
1
We use “cohesive” in the physics sense of “the sticking together of particles,” without the geological restriction that these sediments be muds. Thus, we have found that clay-bearing sands are often cohesive, and are treated that way.
 
2
Many papers in the literature plot strain, ε, or strain rate (velocity), \( \dot{\varepsilon} \), on the x-axis, probably for historic reasons, i.e., you could see the strains or strain rates, but stresses were hard to measure. Figure 4.1 plots the stress, σ, on the x-axis to be consistent with the scientific tradition of placing the independent variable (cause) on the abscissa. There will be an advantage to this when we consider compaction.
 
3
Old North American proverb, indicating very slow to the eye.
 
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Metadata
Title
The Mechanics of Soft Cohesive Sediments During Early Diagenesis
Authors
Bernard P. Boudreau
Mark Barry
Christopher L’Esperance
Christopher K. Algar
Bruce D. Johnson
Copyright Year
2014
Publisher
Springer New York
Book
Processes, Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sediments

Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6725-0

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4614-6726-7

Copyright Year: 2014

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6726-7_4