Morfologia e estrutura de fluxo na formação de ambientes de confluência: estudo de caso dos rios Paraná e Piquiri

Abstract

Confluence environments are sites in the drainage network that present a complex flow structure, with specific sediment transport and bed morphology characteristics. In this context, the general objective is to characterize the confluence environment between Paraná and Piquiri rivers, considering the flow structure, bed morphology and sediment concentration. The materials and procedures included: (i) doing fieldwork for suspended and bottom load and its treatment in the laboratory, (ii) using equipment such as the Acustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) to estimate parameters such as discharge, temperature, flow direction, iii) the Ecosonde for the bathymetric survey and mapping of the bed from ordinary kriging, (iv) elaboration of the regression model to estimate the concentration of suspended sediments from the correlation of the ADCP signal return with the material collected in both rivers. The results concerning the bed morphology at the confluence show the position of the Paraná River thalweg on the left bank and the Piquiri River in the channel center. The bed discordance at the confluence indicates that the Piquiri River is deeper than the Paraná River. The confluence morphology indicates the presence of the sediment accumulation zone and the lateral bar on the Paraná River left bank. About the flow structure, it is dominated by the Paraná River. The behavior of the secondary flow and of the helical movements are distinct in the two channels. In the Paraná River, they are influenced by the curvature upstream of the confluence, set of islands, bed discordance and the interaction of the flow with the Piquiri River. In the Piquiri River is influenced by the upstream curvature and bed depth variation. We also identified the flow stagnation zone, flow deflation zone, maximum speed zone and shear layer. The channels showed a difference of 2ºC of the temperature in the confluence environment, evidencing the mixing interface of the flows. Two regression models were used to estimate the suspended sediments, one for each channel. The Piquiri River presents a higher concentration of suspended load. The granulometry of the Paraná River bed load presents fractions of coarser sediments in relation to its tributary. The granulometric distribution for both channels varies according to the areas of greatest and lowest flow velocity. The results achieved were important for understanding this environment. However, the studies should be continued taking into consideration elements such as: performance of the set of islands in the structure and dynamics of the area flow, realization of accurate bathymetric mesh to enhance the features of the bed, and increase the number of collection points of suspended and bottom sediments.