%0 Journal Article %T Hydrodynamic and suspended sediment transport controls on river mouth morphology %+ Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) %A Falcini, F. %A Piliouras, A. %A Garra, R. %A Guerin, A. %A Jerolmack, D. J. %A Rowland, J. %A Paola, C. %< avec comité de lecture %@ 2169-9003 %J Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface %I American Geophysical Union/Wiley %V 119 %P 1-11 %8 2014 %D 2014 %Z 2014JGRF..119....1F %R 10.1002/2013JF002831 %K river mouth %K suspended sediment %K potential vorticity %Z Sciences of the Universe [physics]Journal articles %X mouths building into standing bodies of water have strikingly varied growth habits. This presents a compelling pattern formation problem that is also of great practical relevance for subsurface prediction and managing coastal wetlands. Here we present a generalized 2.5-dimensional potential vorticity (PV) theory that explains sedimentation patterns of a sediment-laden stationary jet by coupling an understanding of vorticity with suspended sediment concentration fields. We explore the physical meaning of this new sediment-PV definition, and its impact on outflow depositional patterns, by analyzing data from a shallow wall-bounded plane jet experiment and by discussing new theoretical insights. A key result is that lateral advection and diffusion of suspended sediment are directly proportional to jet vorticity, a feature that reveals the mechanistic process that forms elongated channels by focused levee deposition. The new PV theory constitutes a more generalized mathematical framework that expands the Rouse theory for the equilibrium of suspended sediment. %G English %2 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03581155/document %2 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03581155/file/JGR%20Earth%20Surface%20-%202013%20-%20Falcini%20-%20Hydrodynamic%20and%20suspended%20sediment%20transport%20controls%20on%20river%20mouth%20morphology.pdf %L insu-03581155 %U https://insu.hal.science/insu-03581155 %~ INSU %~ UNIV-PARIS7 %~ AFRIQ %~ CNRS %~ IPGP %~ SORBONNE-UNIVERSITE %~ UNIV-PARIS %~ SU-TI %~ ALLIANCE-SU