Modeling Channel Deformation and Pollutant Transport in Rivers in Permafrost Zone with Local Channel Curvature

Abstract

The results of laboratory and mathematical modeling of pollutant propagation from thawed sources on bank slopes in curvilinear reaches of rivers in permafrost zone are presented. Particular attention is paid to studying the effect of channel deformations caused by thermal erosion on the speed and character of pollutant spot propagation. The laboratory experiments in the hydraulic flume were primarily focused on determining the difference in the deformation dynamics and solute propagation from thawing sources at different shapes of channel curvature for the farther use of these data as input parameters of mathematical model for its verification. The analysis of a series of numerical calculations at a scale of laboratory experiment and an actual natural object suggested the conclusion regarding the effect of channel morphometric characteristics, the hydrological and thermal parameters of water flow, the characteristics of permafrost channel-forming ground on the dynamics of pollutant propagation in curvilinear reaches of the permafrost zone.