Transport and Mixing at River Confluences

Methods:  Field measurements, field-based experiments, numerical modeling

Objects:  Field measurements on the  confluences of the Ledra and Torennte Sorgive die Bars (Italy) and the Oder-Neisse (Germany), field-based experiments on the Tagliamento River (Italy)

Abstract:

River confluences – locations where rivers merge with their tributaries – are common in fluvial systems and represent their most complex hydrodynamic environments. Contrasts in composition, bathymetry, flow structure and temperature make the confluences highly heterogeneous and bio-diverse river environments.The knowledge on the processes within river confluence is important for prediction of the river state downstream the junctions.Although the fluvial dynamics of confluences have been studied extensively, the role that confluences play in mixing of main river and tributaries has not been examined comprehensively and is still incompletely understood.

This research project is aiming at a transformational improvement in knowledge of mixing and transport  of  substances  at  and  immediately  downstream of  river confluences and  it  will  provide  fundamental  theory-based  insight  into  the factors  that  control mixing  processes.