rin Most estuaries have been made narrower, deeper and straighter, with a more r

Question

rin Most estuaries have been made narrower, deeper and straighter, with a more regular bed, so that larger ships can enter, and to provide shoreline space for industry, ports, agriculture, etc. We will discuss the dynamics effects of these changes during the course, but it is worthwhile thinking about this qualitatively. How do you think changing the entrance depth of the Columbia River estuary from about 6m deep and 10km to 18m deep and 5 km, with a narrow and quite regular channel has affected the following: a) Bed friction: higher or lower b) Salinity intrusion: more or less salt in the system c) Tidal range Explain your reasoning

Explanation / Answer

Estuary is an place where river meets the sea. it is an area having brackish water which is a mixture of fresh water and salt water. Estuaries are mostly used for tranportation.Columbia river estuary having strong tides and river flow. Increasing the depth causes the riverflow to increase because still channels are regular. bed friction becomes lower. Normally estuarine having saline water on the surface and bottom water having less salinity, but actual salinity vary throughtout the tidal cycle. Salinity becomes increasing while increasing the depth, because temperature variation will occur, for eg: temperature at the surface having around 17.7 degree celsius means, at the base it having 17.3 celsius. Temperature decrease causes the salinity to increase. Tidal range also increase while deepening the estuary.

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