The shallow-water equations for two-layer inviscid flow with a free surface overlying a rigid horizontal bottom subject to gravitational forcing only are examined to determine the possible forms of conservation laws that the equations permit. In the case of a single layer with flow in only one horizontal direction, it is known that there are an infinite number of associated equations in conservation form, where the conserved quantity is a multinomial in the layer variables. The method used to determine this result is generalized to show that in the two-layer case, the result does not generalize, and it is discovered that only a finite number of conservation equations exist when the density difference between the layers is nonzero, The subsequent conservation equations are given explicitly, and a systematic method for deriving conservation laws from an arbitrary first-order system is described. For the case when the flow is in both horizontal dimensions, the method of analysis is straightforward in the one-layer case, and the finite number of conservation equations are derived. The two-layer case is similar, and the finite number of generalized conserved quantities are stated, although the question of whether or not there are only a finite number is posed as an open question. [References: 10]
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