A Numerical Investigation of the Effects of Wave-Induced Soil Deformation on Solute Release from Submarine Sediments

Abstract

The sustainable development of marine environments requires a deep understanding of their chemical and biological conditions. These are significantly impacted by the exchange of substances such as contaminants, heavy metals, and nutrients between marine sediments and the water column. Although the existing literature has addressed the physics of enhanced solute migration in sediment due to sea waves, the role of coupled flow and soil deformation has often been neglected. This study investigates the effects of wave-induced soil deformation on solute release from the marine sediment using a coupled numerical model that incorporates the effect of soil deformation into the advection–diffusion equation. The results reveal that solute release is notably accelerated in deformable sediments with a smaller shear modulus, with the longitudinal dispersion coefficient increasing up to five times as the shear modulus decreases from 108 Pa to 106 Pa. This enhancement is more pronounced in shallow sediments as the sediment permeability decreases, where the longitudinal dispersion coefficient in deformable sediments can be 15 times higher than that in non-deformable sediments at a hydraulic conductivity of 1 × 10−5 m/s. Furthermore, the rate of solute release increases with decreasing sediment saturation due to the compressibility of pore water, although this rate of increase gradually diminishes.