  Propagating (intensity) disturbances (PDs) are well reported in observations
of coronal loops and polar plumes in addition to recent links with co-temporal
spicule activity in the solar atmosphere. However, despite being reported in
observations, they are yet to be studied in depth and understood from a
modelling point of view. In this work, we present results from a 3D MHD
numerical model featuring a stratified solar atmosphere which is perturbed by a
p-mode wave driver at the photosphere, subsequently forming spicules described
by the rebound shock model. Features with striking characteristics to those of
detected PDs appear consistent with the co-temporal transition region dynamics
and spicular activity resulting from nonlinear wave steepening and shock
formation. Furthermore, the PDs can be interpreted as slow magnetoacoustic
pulses propagating along the magnetic field, rather than high speed plasma
upflows, carrying sufficient energy flux to at least partially heat the lower
coronal plasma. Using forward modelling, we demonstrate the similarities
between the PDs in the simulations and those reported in observations from IRIS
and SDO/AIA. Our results suggest that, in the presented model, the dynamical
movement of the transition region is a result of wave dynamics and shock
formation in the lower solar atmosphere, and that PDs are launched
co-temporally with the rising of the transition region, regardless of the
wave-generating physical mechanisms occurring in the underlying lower solar
atmosphere. However, it is clear that signatures of PDs appear much clearer
when a photospheric wave driver is included. Finally, we present the importance
of PDs in the context of providing a source for powering the (fast) solar wind
