Mobile Bay Model Study. Report 1. Effects of Proposed Theodore Ship Channel and Disposal Areas on Tides,Currents, Salinities,and Dye Dispersion.

摘要

The Mobile Bay model was a fixed-bed model constructed to linear scale ratios of 1:1000 horizontally and 1:100 vertically. The model reproduced about 268 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico from Pine Beach on lthe east to about the west end of Dauphin Island, and in a southerly direction to about the -70-ft contour in the Gulf; all of Mobile and Bon Secour Bays; a portion of Mississippi Sound; and the Mobile and Tensaw Rivers and adjacent marshes to the junction of the two rivers at Mt. Vernon, some 40 miles upstream from Mobile. Thee model was equipped with the necessary appurtenances for accurate reproduction and measurement of tides, tidal currents, salinities, freshwater inflows, density effects, and other important prototype phenomena. The purpose of the model study was to determine the impact of a proposed access channel, referred to as Theodore Ship Channel, and the necessary islands designed to hold the initial construction material and subsequent maintenance dredging on salinities and flow patterns with special interest centered on the oystter industry at the lower end of Mobile Bay.