Sediment Fractionation in turbidity currents

On June 14th the first set of experiments in Tulane’s new Deepwater basin began. The experiments were part of a pilot study done in collaboration with David Pyles and Jane Stammer from the Colorado School of Mines on the hydrodynamic fractionation of minerals, grain sizes, and grain shapes in distributive deepwater environments. During the week of the 14th we constructed a series of deepwater lobe deposits constructed from depositional turbidity currents. The turbidity currents contained sediment mixtures that will allow us to investigate fractionation caused by grain shape and density in deepwater lobe deposits. Over the course of the week we collected high resolution topography data, vertical velocity profiles for the currents, overhead photographs and deposit samples that will be analyzed to determine the degree of fractionation in the deposits. After a successful week of experiments we are now looking forward to the next set of experiments in the deepwater basin which will begin later this summer.