Threshold of motion and orientation of bivalve shells under current flow

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Felipe Rafael Secco da
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Borges, Ana Luiza de Oliveira, Toldo Junior, Elirio Ernestino, Fick, Cristiano, Puhl, Eduardo, Oliveira, Vinicius Carbone Bernardes de, Cruz, Francisco Eduardo Gomes da
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10183/263833
• topic: bivalve shells; shell orientation; threshold of motion; flume experiments; unidirectional flow.

Disarticulated shells of three bivalve mollusk species (Anomalocardia brasiliana, Codakia orbicularis, and Divaricella quadrisulcata) were experimentally tested in laboratory flumes to determine the threshold of motion and final orientation of the valves. A total of 150 current flow experiments were conducted on single shells resting on a fixed sand bed. This study demonstrated that shells in the convex-up position are more resistant to flow when the umbo is pointing downstream rather than upstream. Moreover, species with higher frontal areas were more likely to be entrained at lower flow velocities. Results of dimensionless shear stress exhibited values far below the threshold of grains movement for beds of uniform roughness (Shields curve). It was observed that circular shells in convex-up positions were mostly orientated with the umbo pointing downstream. Conversely, elliptical shells in convex-up position tended to align their longer axis parallel to the flow with the posterior side of the valve pointing downstream. These results are not only directly applicable in interpretations of incipient shell motions and in paleocurrent analyses from field and sample data, but also support construction of accurate geological models.