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Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Coastal Marsh Degradation Into Ponds Induces Irreversible Elevation Loss Relative To Sea Level In A Microtidal System, Lennert Schepers, Patrick Brennand, Matthew L. Kirwan, Glenn Guntenspergen, Stijn Temmerman
Coastal Marsh Degradation Into Ponds Induces Irreversible Elevation Loss Relative To Sea Level In A Microtidal System, Lennert Schepers, Patrick Brennand, Matthew L. Kirwan, Glenn Guntenspergen, Stijn Temmerman
VIMS Articles
Coastal marshes and their valuable ecosystem services are feared to be lost by sea level rise, yet the mechanisms of marsh degradation into ponds and potential recovery are poorly understood. We quantified and analyzed elevations of marsh surfaces and pond bottoms along a marsh loss gradient (Blackwater River, Maryland, USA). Our analyses show that ponds deepen with increasing tidal channel width connecting the ponds to the river, indicating a new feedback mechanism where channels lead to enhanced tidal export of pond bottom material. Pond elevations also decrease with increasing pond size, consistent with previous work identifying a positive feedback between …
Sediment Delivery To A Tidal Marsh Platform Is Minimized By Source Decoupling And Flux Convergence, Daniel J. Coleman, Neil K. Ganju, Matthew L. Kirwan
Sediment Delivery To A Tidal Marsh Platform Is Minimized By Source Decoupling And Flux Convergence, Daniel J. Coleman, Neil K. Ganju, Matthew L. Kirwan
VIMS Articles
Sediment supply is a primary factor in determining marsh response to sea level rise and is typically approximated through high‐resolution measurements of suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) from adjacent tidal channels. However, understanding sediment transport across the marsh itself remains limited by discontinuous measurements of SSC over individual tidal cycles. Here, we use an array of optical turbidity sensors to build a long‐term, continuous record of SSC across a marsh platform and adjacent tidal channel. We find that channel and marsh concentrations are correlated (i.e., coupled) within tidal cycles but are largely decoupled over longer time scales. We also find that …
Impacts Of Seagrass Dynamics On The Coupled Long‐Term Evolution Of Barrier‐Marsh‐Bay Systems, I.R.B. Reeves, L. J. Moore, E. B. Goldstein, A. B. Murray, Matthew L. Kirwan
Impacts Of Seagrass Dynamics On The Coupled Long‐Term Evolution Of Barrier‐Marsh‐Bay Systems, I.R.B. Reeves, L. J. Moore, E. B. Goldstein, A. B. Murray, Matthew L. Kirwan
VIMS Articles
Seagrass provides a wide range of economically and ecologically valuable ecosystem services, with shoreline erosion control often listed as a key service, but can also alter the sediment dynamics and waves within back‐barrier bays. Here we incorporate seagrass dynamics into an existing barrier‐marsh exploratory model, GEOMBEST++, to examine the coupled interactions of the back‐barrier bay with both adjacent (marsh) and nonadjacent (barrier island) subsystems. While seagrass reduces marsh edge erosion rates and increases progradation rates in many of our 288 model simulations, seagrass surprisingly increases marsh edge erosion rates when sediment export from the back‐barrier basin is negligible because the …
Role Of Delta-Front Erosion In Sustaining Salt Marshes Under Sea-Level Rise And Fluvial Sediment Decline, Shi Lun Yang, Xiangxin Luo, Stijn Temmerman, Matthew L. Kirwan, Et Al
Role Of Delta-Front Erosion In Sustaining Salt Marshes Under Sea-Level Rise And Fluvial Sediment Decline, Shi Lun Yang, Xiangxin Luo, Stijn Temmerman, Matthew L. Kirwan, Et Al
VIMS Articles
Accelerating sea-level rise and decreasing riverine sediment supply are widely considered to lead to global losses of deltaic marshes and their valuable ecosystem services. However, little is known about the degree to which the related erosion of the seaward delta front can provide sediments to sustain salt marshes. Here, we present dataf rom the mesomacrotidal Yangtze Delta demonstrating that marshes have continued to accrete vertically and laterally, despite rapid relative sea-level rise (approx.10 mm yr−1) and a > 70% decrease in the Yangtze River sediment supply. Marsh progradation has decelerated at a lower rate than fluvial sediment reduction, suggesting an additional …
Impacts Of Muddy Bed Aggregates On Sediment Transport And Management In The Tidal James River, Va, David W. Perkey, S. Jarrell Smith, Kelsey A. Fall, Grace M. Massey, Carl T. Friedrichs, Emmalynn M. Hicks
Impacts Of Muddy Bed Aggregates On Sediment Transport And Management In The Tidal James River, Va, David W. Perkey, S. Jarrell Smith, Kelsey A. Fall, Grace M. Massey, Carl T. Friedrichs, Emmalynn M. Hicks
VIMS Articles
Aggregation state significantly influences the size, density and transport characteristics of fine sediment. Understanding sediment transport and deposition processes in the nation’s navigable waterways is a primary mission for the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), particularly when it comes to infilling of navigation channels. In this study, a newly developed camera system was used to evaluate the aggregation state of eroded sediment from cores collected in the tidal James River, VA. Results showed that bed sediments were composed mostly of mud, but that erosion predominately occurred in the form of aggregates with median sizes 50-270x larger than the disaggregated …