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Russian Geology and Geophysics 56 (2015) 17491756
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Placer-forming flows and mudflows as viscous fluids in river valleys

A.A. Buiskikh *
Northeast Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute, named after N.A. Shilo, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
ul. Portovaya 16, Magadan, 685000, Russia
Received 24 June 2014; accepted 29 January 2015

Abstract
The paper is concerned with geologic processes in river valleys, such as the movement of alluvial placers and mudflows, regarded as
viscous fluids. The dynamics of distribution of the placer mineral and mud-and-gravel material in a river valley was studied by modeling.
Moving material was examined as an independent flow of solid particles (solid flow), free of the enclosing rocks. The flowenvironment
interaction was specified by mass forces, friction forces, and substance sources (drains). For the mathematical description of a solid flow, a
set of viscous-liquid equations was used. The placer and mudflow parameters obtained during the numerical experiments agree satisfactorily
with the full-scale data for real objects.
2015, V.S. Sobolev IGM, Siberian Branch of the RAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: alluvial placer; icewaterrock flow; numerical simulation; viscous-liquid equations; Genaldon River

Introduction
During the geologic evolution of mountain topography,
complicated structural elements, such as river valleys, have
permanently experienced disequilibrium and equilibrium
states, with a change from one to the other. This change and
its rate and duration were controlled by exogenic and endogenic factors, not only local but also global and cosmic. The
intensity of erosion and denudation, as well as the presence
and quantity of water in different forms, played a decisive role
in the speed of rock transport along the river valley.
Two geologic bodies considerably different in their time
intervals are considered in the present paper: an icewater
rock flow and an alluvial gold placer deposit. Placers can form
for tens and hundreds of thousands of years; mudflows, for
minutes and hours. Numerical experiments with models for
objects of this type required initial geological and geocryological information. This condition was met by two objects: the
disastrous mudflow in the Genaldon river valley, North
Ossetia, and abandoned gold placer deposits in the Magadan
Region (Goncharov et al., 2002; Litvinenko, 2002; Mavlyudov, 2011).
Now only the northeastern regions of Russia continue to
yield 711 tons of placer gold annually (Gold, 2012). In 2013

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: agan@neisri.ru (A.A. Buiskikh)

13.4 tons was recovered in the Magadan Region (Mitkin,

2014).
Results of theoretical studies of different phases of formation of placer deposits and their dynamics are presented in
numerous works (Bilibin, 1955; Goldfarb, 2009; Kartashov,
1972; Korchuganova, 2010; Shilo, 2000; Trofimov, 1980). The
simplest empirical formulas of distribution of the placer along
the river valley are given in some publications (Samusikov,
2000; Shilo, 2000; Trushkov, 1975). Different viewpoints on
the transport of gold particles by water flow and river
sediments are presented in (Filippov, 1999; Trushkov, 1975;
Vinogradova and Khmeleva, 2009). Many questions related to
the dynamics of placer deposits are considered in (Goldfarb,
2009; Shilo, 2000), including the previously advanced hypothesis that placer gold cannot be transported along a river
valley together with riverborne sediments. Heavy gold particles must quickly sink during the transition of river bottom
sediments into a suspended state. However, morphostructural
analysis of gold particles and numerous physical experiments
clearly showed the mobility of a gold placer along the river
valley (Filippov, 1999; Vinogradova and Khmeleva, 2009).
Based on its main parametersflow velocity and intensity
(here the wave height), density, and volume of transported
icerock massthe Genaldon icerock slide was assigned to
ultramudflows (Petrov, 2012). Results of its instrumental study
are presented in (Mavlyudov, 2011; Petrakov et al., 2013;
Popovnin et al., 2003). Some works are concerned with
mathematical modeling of mudflows; the models are con-

1068-7971/$ - see front matter D 201 5, V.S. So bolev IGM, Siberian Branch of the RAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.2015.11.007

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A.A. Buiskikh / Russian Geology and Geophysics 56 (2015) 17491756

structed with the use of statistical processing of actual data

(input parameters were considered random and normally
distributed) (Bozhinskii et al., 2002) and laws of momentum
and mass conservation (flow dynamics without regard to
viscosity) (Takabaev, 1996; Yakhiyaev, 2008), Newtonian
motion, and interaction between particles (Chernomorets and
Mikhailov, 2012).
The search for the solution of problems related to the
genesis of placers and the passage of mudflows might favor
the increase in the efficiency of gold recovery and the
minimization of environmental and economic damage.

Substantiation of the solid-flow model

The geologic bodies under study are transported along the
valley bottom by gravity and flowing water. Mineral particles
in a placer move in jumps owing to the periodic transformation
of the riverbed, flooding, and redistribution of momentum
between the particles of river sediments. An alluvial placer
can be mobile for tens and hundreds of thousands of years,
traveling a distance of several kilometers. On the other hand,
a mudflow has enormous resources of kinetic energy, which
is partly spent as it passes along the valley bottom. If the
inclination of the bottom is large enough, the velocity of the
flow can increase and its kinetic energy can increase even
more. Note that a mudflow consisting of water, ice, block
material, and finer rock fractions can sometimes be regarded
as homogeneous owing to active turbulence.
The theoretical bases of transport in riverbeds and on the
slopes of valleys are presented in numerous publications
(Chalov, 2001; Chalov et al., 2008; Eglit, 1986; Larionov et
al., 2008; Makkaveev and Chalov, 1986; Vinogradova and
Khmeleva, 2009). The empirical reglarities of the phases of
riverbed formation have been established by physical and
mathematical modeling. Nevertheless, prediction remains an
open question, because (1) combinations of many factors
participating in riverbed formation and their variability over
time and interdependence play a significant role in this
modeling and (2) stochastic elements must be present in
calculation schemes. The factors for riverbed transport, including those playing a definite role in the formation of alluvial
placers, are analyzed in (Kartashov, 1972; Kondratev, 2004;
Kondratev et al., 1982; Simonov and Siminova, 2014). They
include:
activity of water flows and erosional incisions of the river
related to the characteristics of repeated floods within annual
and longer time intervals;
activity of river solid runoff depending on geologic
structure, rock properties, and activity of water flows;
turbulence characteristics of water flow, which determine
the intensity of slope, deep, and lateral erosion;
tectonic uplifts of watersheds and lowering of the erosion
base level, dynamic force of the flow, corrosion, bed roughness, its inclination, and hydraulic radius;
climatic factors from atmospheric to vegetation.

Also, the intensity of geologic activity of water flow (and,

therefore, the distribution of the metalliferous layer of bottom
sediments) depends on quickly changing parameters and
characteristics: structure of river bars and broads, their occurrence and extent, inclination of different riverbed areas, water
flow velocity, intensity of transport, rate of redeposition of
bottom sediments, and intensity of floods. A bottom particle
loses stability at certain initial bottom threshold velocity. The
latter depends on the density and size of sediment particles,
impact pressure, lift, water viscosity, and friction. The deposition of suspended sediments is not a less complicated
process. The maximum meltwater discharge in mountain rivers
is calculated using the parameter of flood quickness, determined based on data from analogous rivers; the calculated
layer of the total spring runoff of specified probability;
variation and asymmetry coefficients, determined by long
series of observations; and the coefficient taking into account
the inequality of the statistical parameters of the runoff layer
and the maximum discharge; and many others.
Most of the data obtained in riverbed evolution studies are
stochastic, and empirical factors are actively used in the
established regularities. Since it is extremely complicated to
take into account a large number of such parameters, it is
proposed to take a different approach to the modeling of
transport of particles of gold and other debris in the riverbed
flow.
Typical gold placers are from hundreds of meters to tens
of kilometers in length and from few tens to hundreds of
meters in width, the thickness of the productive bed being
from tens of centimeters to few meters (Guidelines, 2007,
2012). The placer considered in the paper was ~103 m in
extent. The length of the part of the Genaldon valley in which
the icewaterrock mass was transported exceeded the flow
width by tens of times. Such parameters of the objects under
study made it possible to use the 1D representation of
transport.
The valuable mineral of the placer is one of the components
taking part in the complicated transport of substance in
different forms (water flow, riverborne sediments, and suspended sediments) along the valley bottom. Let us assume that
the placer particles are transported as an independent flow and
all the characteristics of its movement are functionally related
through coefficients to the movement of the enclosing environment. For example, the viscosity factor will be responsible
for the mobility of the particles; i.e., it will possess forces
impeding their transport. The mass force pushing the particles
down the inclined surface will include the hydrodynamic
properties of the riverbed and riverbed flow. Diffusion will
characterize the dynamics of distribution of the placer material
because of its nonuniform distribution. Let a combination of
particles of only the valuable mineral moving along the valley
bottom be called solid flow (Fig. 1). This movement can be
compared to a slow flow (e.g., a viscous lava flow) down an
inclined plane. The density of a solid flow will be a mass of
only the valuable mineral contained in unit volume. Hereafter,
let us call this density conventional density of solid flow
(unlike ordinary density, which characterizes the content of

A.A. Buiskikh / Russian Geology and Geophysics 56 (2015) 17491756

all substance in unit volume). This is convenient, because all

the components of riverborne sediments (valuable mineral,
sand, and pebble gravel) move with significant different
velocities as independent flows of substance. We will single
out only one componentthe valuable mineralfrom the
general flow. In the case of an icerock slide, the conventional
density of solid flow is the mass of all substance, without
division into components (ice, water, and rock fragments), in
unit volume. Active turbulence in a mudflow homogenizes the
average distribution of substance.
In general, this approach permitted simplifying the calculation, because the description of solid flow included only a
limited number of parameters. Similarly, coefficients aggregating the numerous properties of interacting media are used
in analytical representations of heat and mass transport by the
empirical laws of Fourier, Fick, and Darcy.
With regard to the above-mentioned properties of solid
flow, it was assumed that its movement along the bottom of
a river valley is similar to the 1D unstable flow of a thin layer
of viscous fluid along an inclined surface. It was described by
a set of NavierStokes equations (Fletcher, 1988; Gebhart et
al., 1988; Lykov, 1978) consisting of momentum and density
equations:
(u) u (u2)
=

+ F,
x x
x
t

(1)

F = wg sin ,

(u)

= D
+ S + G,
t x x
x

(2)

where u = u(x, t) is the flow velocity; = (x, t), density of

solid flow; = (x, t), dynamic-viscosity coefficient of the
flow, which generally varies along the flow path; F, mass
force; w, correction factor of action of mass force; g, acceleration due to gravity; = (x, t), inclination of the flow
surface to the horizon; D, diffusion coefficient of the flow
substance density; S = S(x, t) and G = G(x, t), sources and
drains distributed along the flow path, respectively; x and t,
space and time coordinates; 0 x L, t 0; L, length of the
solid-flow path. Interdependent parameters u and are
included in both equations simultaneously.
For example, such a mathematical approach was applied to
the description of erosion in slope creeks (Larionov et al.,
2008).
The form of density equation (2) allows for possible
diffusion and the presence of sources and drains. Parameter
for solid flow indicated the placer density. On the assumption made above, only the placer substance fills unit volume;
therefore, the placer density was conventional. The conditional-diffusion coefficient D of density was introduced for
active influence on the substance transport during numerical
experiments.
In most numerical schemes, the result of modeling is
seriously influenced by calculation errors, including numerical
dissipation (Fletcher, 1988; Gebhart et al., 1988; Oran and
Boris, 1987). Its role is expressed as the diffusion flattening
(decrease in amplitude and widening of wings) of a propagat-

1751

Fig. 1. Fragment of the bottom of a river valley. a, Alluvial placer; b, placer with
no enclosing rocks. 1, alluvium; 2, placer. , inclination of the valley bottom.

ing wave (e.g., concentration wave). On the other hand, the

wave of gold or mud distribution in the natural processes under
consideration flattens owing to the natural diffusion of the
nonuniformly distributed moving substance. In the numerical
experiments, the diffusion values approximately ensured a
natural distribution of together with the other parameters.
As diffusion has both natural and numerical components, it
was called conventional diffusion.
The equations had the following boundary and initial
conditions:
left boundary (input): u(0, t) = C1; (0, t) = C2; C1, C2, in
the general case, time-dependent functions; at the right
boundary, the condition of flow transport of the parameter was
set: u/x|L = 0; /x|L = 0; at the initial moment, u(x, 0) = 0;
(x, 0) = 0.
The coefficient w, using which mass force can be controlled, was introduced to take into account the peculiarities of
movement of a solid flow: the jumpy movement of a placer
along the valley bottom and the initial acceleration of the
icerock flow, acquired during the collapse of the ice mass
from mountain slopes.
The problem amounted to the search for velocity and
density fields meeting the condition
|Ac AN|/AN ,

(3)

where Ac and AN are the calculated and natural values of these

parameters, respectively; , specified error.
Problems (1) and (2) with the above-mentioned boundary
conditions were solved by the finite-differences method using
an unconditionally stable implicit scheme with upwind differences, which had second-order approximation in time and
space (Oran and Boris, 1987; Samarskii, 1977).
To determine the sensitivity of the calculation scheme to
variations in the input parameters, a series of numerical
experiments was performed in which they varied widely. The
boundaries of these intervals were selected with the use of
data from different sources (Kocheryan, 2009; Sorokhtin and
Ushakov, 2002).
For example, let us consider the influence of some
parameters on the intensity of rapid rock transport along the

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A.A. Buiskikh / Russian Geology and Geophysics 56 (2015) 17491756

Fig. 2. Position of the solid-flow wave depending on the environment properties. 14, viscosity = 800 Pas; inclination of the bottom is 5, 8, 12, and 20,
respectively; 5, = 2000 Pas, inclination of 5.

valley bottom. Figure 2 shows the position of solid-flow waves

at the same moment (520 s) of variation in its viscosity and
the inclination of the flow surface to the horizon. The bottom
inclination, taken into account in mass force, had a considerable influence on the velocity of wave propagation (Fig. 2,
curves 14). As inclination increases, velocity increased and
the wave height somewhat decreased owing to the widening
of its base. The increase in the viscosity (in fact, friction) of
the solid flow slowed down its movement along the inclined
plane (Fig. 2, curves 1, 5).
To perform numerical experiments and to verify the
calculation scheme, we selected natural objects whose descriptions include enough initial data.

Placer dynamics
Active endogenic ore genesis in northeastern Russia took
place in the late JurassicCretaceous (Goldfarb, 2009; Shilo,
2000). Dike, quartz-vein, veinlet, and stockwork deposits
served as the main primary sources of prolific placer deposits,
the most prolific of which are PleistoceneHolocene alluvial
deposits.
The placer deposit of the Pavlik Creek is localized in the
central Magadan Region. The Pavlik Creek is a right tributary
of the Omchak River. The deposit belongs to the Omchak
oreplacer cluster on the OkhotskKolyma Upland (Goncharov et al., 2002; Litvinenko, 2002). This is a ~2.3 km long
valley placer, which passes into the ~0.8 km long placer of
the Krutoi Creek in its upper part. The bottom of the valleys
of both creeks is filled with a thick layer of alluvium: 30 m
in the canyon part of the valley, 29 m in the upper reaches
of the ancient floodplain, and 35 m in the lower reaches. The
floodplain sediments are assigned to the Middle Pleistocene.
The sediments include pebble gravel, sandclay loam, rubble,
and clay underlain by fractured shales and sandy shales. The
sand thickness reached 1.02.7 m in the upper part of the
deposit and 1.93.5 m in the lower one. The maximum gold
content in some parts of the placer (0.204 kg/m3), varying
from 0.001 to 0.018 kg/m3 for different placer streams.

The possibility of achievement of a realistic distribution of

linear gold reserves was determined by modeling for the placer
of the Pavlik Creek. Interaction between eight placer streams
imitating the opening and decomposition of eight spaced-apart
primary sources was studied in numerical experiments (on the
assumption that the number of sources is equal to the number
of peaks in the distribution of gold over the valley (Bulgakov,
1984)). The resulting distribution was determined as the
superposition of these placer streams moving down the valley.
The required natural distribution of the placer was difficult
to obtain in the calculations, because the determined distribution is a product of processes in the river valley which lasted
for thousands of years. Erosion cycles, climate change, the
properties of rocks and their distribution over the valley, and
many other factors might have had an influence here. The
models were constructed on the assumption that the properties
of the environment under study changed gradually, but their
dramatic change was also possible.
During the calculations there was a change not only in the
values of the governing parameters (coefficients of equations)
but also in the geometric characteristicslengths of the
sources and their relative position. Results of modeling of the
placer dynamics are shown in Fig. 3, which presents a
comparison between the calculated distributions of linear
reserves of the valuable mineral and those determined for the
placer during the deposit development (Litvinenko, 2002). The
distribution of the valuable mineral along the river valley at
20 and 100 ka is shown in Fig. 3b. Conditional density (x, t),
which was taken to be equivalent to linear reserves, was
calculated in kg/m. The calculation of different versions
yielded a satisfactory similarity between these distributions.
The placer distribution at the Pavlik deposit, determined
during the mining was the superposition of mineral flows from
different sources. As the placer streams moved down the
valley with time, peaks were smoothed gradually and their
wings overlapped one another (Fig. 3b). The highest peaks
might have been formed by several sources, as evidenced by
their significant asymmetry.
The shape of the total curve of the placer distribution
suggests that all the processes in the river valley stopped
influencing the transport of the valuable mineral at some
moment. Since then the placer has been buried under alluvium.
The following values of parameters were used in the
calculations: = 3 1014 Pas, D = 7 1010 m2/s, sources
S = 1.5 10122.5 1011 kg/m3s, and gravity drain G =
3 1014 kg/m3s, = 3. For example, source 1 was 90 m in
length, the intensity of gold supply to the placer being
4.7 1012 kg/m3s; source 7, 25 m and 1.4 1011 kg/m3s;
and source 9, 240 m and 1.0 1011 kg/m3s. Gold was
supplied from sources (exposed orebodies) for 6.4 1011 s
(~20 kyr). Discharge, which determined the intensity of loss
of mineral by the placer (under real conditions, its deposition
on the placer rock floor), was active through the calculation
time. The calculation was terminated as soon as condition (3)
had been met.
The numerical experiments showed that the placer might
have spread over the valley bottom as shown in Fig. 3 within

A.A. Buiskikh / Russian Geology and Geophysics 56 (2015) 17491756

1753

Fig. 3. Distribution of linear gold reserves in the placer of the Pavlik deposit. a, Comparison between natural data (1 (Litvinenko, 2002)) and results of numerical
modeling (2); b, gold distribution along the river valley at 20 (1) and 100 (2) ka; a, b, 3, distribution of primary gold sources along the valley in accordance with their
extent.

~100 kyr. It was later buried under river sediments and,

probably, remained such for millions of years (Goldfarb,
2009; Smirnov, 2012). The calculation versions allowed for a
longer period of the placer formation. In that case the
distribution curve deformed actively, becoming increasingly
smoothed and unrealistic. The different distribution of sources
along the valley bottom and their different intensities or
lengths led to the deviation of the numerical distribution of
the mineral from the natural one, which significantly increased
with time. Thus, the only satisfactory distribution of sources
of placer material was selected in that model.

Mudflow modeling
The icerock slide which surged through the Genaldon
valley in 2002 had the following parameters: The zone of the
flow transit from Kolka Glacier to Karmadon Gorge was
~14 103 m in length; the flow width, 400500 m; and the
wave height, 100150 m (Petrakov et al., 2013; Popovnin et
al., 2003). The volume of the ice body which filled the
Genaldon valley in the Karmadon depression is estimated at
115 million m3. The minimum and maximum possible velocities of the ice flow might have reached 37 and 80 m/s, and
the time of its movement with an average velocity of 60 m/s
was no more than 3 102 s. Remnants of the ice flow as a
waterrock slide (estimated volume of 35 million m3) passed
below the Karmadon Gorge. The wave height at the gorge
opening might have been 30 m, and the movement velocities
might have corresponded to the velocities of ordinary mudflows.
The following values of parameters were used as the initial
data for the mudflow model: for the upper part of the valley
from Kolka Glacier to Karmadon Gorge, = 8 102 Pas;
D = 105 m2/s; no sources or drains distributed along the

valley; = 14.5; w = 0.040; and an initial velocity of 40 m/s.

For the first 50 s, a conventional density of (0, t) = 2.05
105 kg/m was preserved at the input (played the role of a
source at the input). By conventional density in the 1D model
under consideration, the height of the column of icewater
rock mass per 1 m2 of the flow was meant. The mudflow
density was taken to be equal to 1500 kg/m3 (Petrov, 2012;
Talapov, 2007). Therefore, in accordance with the given (0, t)
value, the initial height of the icerock slide wave might have
been 137 m. These initialboundary conditions ensured the
supply of a mudflow volume of 115 million m3, the flow width
being 420 m, to the calculation domain, which coincides with
the natural estimate (Petrakov et al., 2013; Popovnin et al.,
2003). Thus, the main characteristics of the icerock slide in
the model were realistic.
For the 17 km long lower part of the valley from the
gorge to Gizel Village: = 8 102 Pas; D = 105 m2/s;
no sources distributed along the valley; gravity drain G =
102 kg/m3s; = 5; w = 0.011; and an initial velocity of
20 m/s. For the first 166 s, a conventional density of (0, t) =
4.38 104 kg/m was preserved at the input, which corresponded to a wave height of ~30 m at the input. Under these
conditions, ~4 million m3 waterrock mass entered the
calculation domain. That value was within the estimated
interval of 35 million m3 in (Popovnin et al, 2003). Discharge (intensity with which part of mudrock material was
removed from the flow) was active through the calculation
time interval.
Results of calculation of propagation of an icerock slide
wave in the Genaldon valley are presented in Fig. 4. The
figure shows the distribution of the icewaterrock mass in
the flow for the upper and lower parts of the valley at different
moments. Wave 1 (Fig. 4a) formed within the first 50 s, when
a source of ice material was active at the left boundary. During

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A.A. Buiskikh / Russian Geology and Geophysics 56 (2015) 17491756

Fig. 4. Position of the wave of an icewaterrock flow in the upper part of the
Genaldon valley (a) at the following moments (s): 1, 50; 2, 170; 3, 260; and that
of the mud-and-gravel flow in the lower part of the valley (b) at the following
moments (s): 1, 166; 2, 350; 3, 520; 4, 690.

the propagation of the wave, its base widens and its height
decreases owing to diffusion.
The icewaterrock flow traveled for 14 km to the Karmadon Gorge within 260 s. The final position of the flow is
shown by wave 3 (Fig. 4a). The parameters of the model
ensured the ~32 m height of the wave of the mudflow which
gushed below the gorge (Fig. 4a; this corresponds to the right
edge of wave 3), which almost coincided with the published
estimates (Popovnin et al., 2003). In the upper part of the
valley, the losses of substance by the flow were insignificant,
as evidenced by photos of the valley bottom (Popovnin et al.,
2003). The same is suggested by the shape of the curves in
Fig. 4a: The wave height did not change much. In the lower
part of the valley, the character of the flow changed considerably: Moving more slowly, the weakened flow lost most of
the material. The wave height decreased from 30 to 1 m in
the area of its propagation, 10 km in length (Fig. 4b).
Afterward the mudflow proceeded as a suspended flood
(Popovnin et al., 2003). It follows from the calculations that
the mudflow traveled 17 km of its path between Karmadon
Gorge and Gizel Village within 690 s.
The mudflow velocities in different parts of the valley are
shown in Fig. 5. At the initial moment, a velocity of 40 m/s
was accepted at the left boundary of the upper part of the
valley. For 50 s of the action of the source at the input, it
increased to 45 m/s. As the flow approached the gorge, its
velocity changed from 60 to 65 m/s. In the lower part of the
valley, the wave velocity changed from 13 to 22 m/s within
the first 166 s. After that its maximum values changed from
22 to 26 m/s. The calculated wave velocities coincided with
the estimates in (Bozhinskii et al., 2002; Popovnin et al., 2003)
for the upper part of the valley. For its lower part, they are

Fig. 5. Velocity distribution in an icewaterrock flow (a) at the following

moments (s): 1, 50; 2, 170; 3, 260 and in a mud-and-gravel flow (b) at the
following moments (s): 1, 166; 2, 350; 3, 520; 4, 690.

close to the accepted average velocities of mudflows (Petrov,

2012; Talapov, 2007). The right end of each velocity distribution curve (Fig. 5) corresponds to the right edge of the wave
(Fig. 4). For convenient analysis of the plots, the upper and
lower parts of the valley have the same length (14 km) in the
figures.
Ratio (3) served as an accuracy criterion in the calculations.
The thickness of icerock deposits, obtained in numerical
experiments and glaciological expeditions by drilling methods
(Mavlyudov, 2011; Popovnin et al., 2003), was compared for
several points on the mudflow path. The calculated thickness
of the ice body which stopped at four of such points was 130,
135, 60, and 1 m (Fig. 4a; the position of wave 3 corresponds to these points). The points were located at a distance
of 0.8, 2.5, 3.5, and 5.5 km from the end of the calculation
domain (i.e., from the gorge), respectively. The difference
between the calculated thicknesses at these points and those
measured in boreholes was <10%. The mass of substance
supplied by the mudflow and its distribution along the flow
path in the lower part of the valley with regard to deposition
are also close to natural estimates.

Conclusions
Placer transport along the bottom of a valley is a typical
process of substance transport under the effect of gravity and
water flow. For example, a water flow and transported
sediments can move with velocities of 15 m/s, passing part
of their energy to gold particles. Gold particles move in jumps
and remain at their places for a long time. The entire placer
flow has an average velocity of ~108 m/s. Thus, studies of
placer dynamics require that two processes with substantially
different physical parameters be considered in combination:
rapid (by geological standards) transport of bottom sediments

A.A. Buiskikh / Russian Geology and Geophysics 56 (2015) 17491756

and slow transport of the valuable mineral. If the calculation

scheme were based on the adaptation of rapid processes to
slow ones, it would require the knowledge of numerous
hydrologic parameters averaged for intervals thousands of
years long. The lack of such information led to a change of
the perspective on modeling placer movement. Extremely slow
placer movement was represented as a highly viscous solid
flow. It was hypothesized that viscosity in such a slow flow
includes not only the properties of inner friction but also those
of the water flow containing transported sediments. As the
properties of a water flow are determined by its interaction
with the environment, it was presumed that all the types of
this interaction are reflected in the properties of a solid flow:
change in the geologic structure of the riverbed for different
reasons, its roughness, and flow intensity in different periods
of the valley evolution, and others. As a parameter of solid
flow, diffusion determined the intensity of dissipation of
substance in the environment owing to its gradient distribution.
On the other hand, that coefficient permitted controlling solid
flow in the mathematical model.
A mudflow was regarded as a viscous solid flow. The
values of the mudflow parameters used in numerical experiments ensured not only realistic thicknesses of the ice body
stopped by the gorge but also the height of the wave of the
mud-and-gravel flow moving from the Karmadon Gorge to
the confluence of the Genaldon and Gizeldon Rivers and to
Gizel Village.
The viscous properties of a solid flow imitating a placer
were selected during the numerical experiments. By orders of
magnitude, they ranged from the properties of asphalts to those
of ice (Chemical Encyclopedia, 1998; Shkadov, 1967). Realistic values of parameters, determined by the study of the
consequences of mudflow passage along river valleys, were
used for a mudflow in the calculations.
Realistic distributions of the thickness of the stopped
icewaterrock flow and the valuable mineral in the placer
have been obtained in the numerical experiments. This was
considered to be the main criterion for estimating the modeling
results. The studies have shown that the movement of geologic
bodies can be modeled by their representation as a solid flow
with the properties of a viscous fluid.

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Editorial responsibility: A.S. Borisenko