Geomorphic and ecological effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on coastal Louisiana marsh communities

Piazza, Sarai C.; Steyer, Gregory D.; Cretini, Kari F.; Sasser, Charles E.; Visser, Jenneke M.; Holm, Guerry O.; Sharp, Leigh Anne; Evers, D. Elaine; Meriwether, J.

doi:10.3133/ofr20111094

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…1, colored circles) to provide informed estimates of carbon content. This conversion rate is similar to other studies that reported a slope of 0.45 between organic matter and organic carbon (50 cm length cores including samples from forested wetlands) in coastal Louisiana (based on n = 1,142, r 2 = 0.93, p < 0.001) (Piazza et al 2011;Steyer et al 2012) and 0.50 between organic matter and total carbon based on n = 287, r 2 = 0.98, p < 0.01) for tidal marsh soils (50 cm length cores) in Connecticut and New York (Hill and Anisfeld 2015).…”

Section: Organic Matter Conversionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Relationships Between Salinity and Short-Term Soil Carbon Accumulation Rates from Marsh Types Across a Landscape in the Mississippi River Delta

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Salinity alterations will likely change the plant and environmental characteristics in coastal marshes thereby influencing soil carbon accumulation rates. Coastal Louisiana marshes have been historically classified as fresh, intermediate, brackish, or saline based on resident plant community and position along a salinity gradient. Short-term total carbon accumulation rates were assessed by collecting 10-cm deep soil cores at 24 sites located in marshes spanning the salinity gradient. Bulk density, total carbon content, and the short-term accretion rates obtained with feldspar horizon markers were measured to determine total carbon accumulation rates. Despite some significant differences in soil properties among marsh types, the mean total carbon accumulation rates among marsh types were not significantly different (mean ± std. err. of 190 ± 27 g TC m −2 year −1 ). However, regression analysis indicated that mean annual surface salinity had a significant negative relationship with total carbon accumulation rates. Based on both analyses, the coastal Louisiana total marsh area (1,433,700 ha) accumulates about 2.7 to 3.3 Tg C year −1 .Changing salinities due to increasing relative sea level or resulting from restoration activities may alter carbon accumulation rates in the short term and significantly influence the global carbon cycle.

show abstract

Section: Organic Matter Conversionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Relationships Between Salinity and Short-Term Soil Carbon Accumulation Rates from Marsh Types Across a Landscape in the Mississippi River Delta

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Though an overwhelming majority of the conversion to new water area in these regions occurred in fresh marsh, damage in all three regions was spread among all of the marsh vegetation types. The extent of persistent damage in the west and the pattern of persistent damage across all vegetation types are consistent with Hurricane Katrina and Rita results fromPiazza et al (2011) Piazza et al (2011). found the west region and primarily attributed vegetation impacts to elevated porewater salinities in the west and central regions and physical disturbance in the east region.…”

supporting

confidence: 80%

“…The storm surge and became impounded naturally when existing canals and was caused by physical disturbance or resulted from other factors. It has been suggested that the persistence of high salinity contributed to vegetation damage in the west (Piazza et al, 2011;Steyer et al e.g., salinity and and when combined with multitemporal vegetation indices, should further elucidate physical from physicochemical impacts and assist in identifying recommendations for restoration and management actions. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Monitoring Vegetation Response to Episodic Disturbance Events by using Multitemporal Vegetation Indices

Steyer

Couvillion

Barras

2013

Journal of Coastal Research

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The spatial distribution, however, varies along the coast with landfall location and with distance inland as storm surge intensity, and thus sediment transport capacity, is reduced. We estimate that, by dividing the average estimated hurricane sedimentation rates for the deltaic and chenier plains by the total inorganic sedimentation rates for the same areas (Table 16 in Piazza et al 2011), 65 % of the inorganic sediment in wetland soils of the deltaic plain, and 80 % for the chenier plain, could directly result from hurricanes making landfall in the study area. These are conservative estimates, because additional sedimentation may result from tropical storms and from hurricanes passing near the study area but not making landfall.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of tropical cyclones to the sediment budget for coastal wetlands in Louisiana, USA

Tweel

Turner

2014

Landscape Ecol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The storm surge from a single hurricane can deposit tens of millions of tons of sediment on coastal wetlands within 100 km of landfall, but the distribution and cumulative amount from hurricanes at a centurial timescale is unknown. Here we use a model calibrated by three storms to estimate the average deposition on the deteriorating Louisiana coast from 1851 to 2008. The total deposition on Louisiana coastal wetlands, exclusive of open water, averages 5.6 million tons of inorganic sediment per year, equivalent to 3.8 % of the modern annual Mississippi River sediment load. Seventy nine percent of this sediment is deposited in a 20 km strip along the Gulf of Mexico (7,400 km 2 wetlands) comprised primarily of salt marshes, and this distribution matches spatial and temporal patterns described in modern surficial deposits and sediment cores. We estimate that surge-induced deposition of sediment is attributable to at least 65 % of the inorganic content of the top 24 cm of soils in abandoned delta lobes, and 80 % in the chenier plain. While the most sedimentation from a given event results from the most intense storms, 78 % of the long-term hurricane sedimentation results from moderate storms (930-990 mb) that comprise 51 % of tropical cyclone events.Furthermore, we estimate that the 47 % of storms that make landfall with an internal barometric pressure above 990 mb account for only 7 % of the tropical cyclone sedimentation on wetlands.

show abstract

Geomorphic and ecological effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on coastal Louisiana marsh communities

Cited by 16 publications

References 24 publications

Relationships Between Salinity and Short-Term Soil Carbon Accumulation Rates from Marsh Types Across a Landscape in the Mississippi River Delta

Relationships Between Salinity and Short-Term Soil Carbon Accumulation Rates from Marsh Types Across a Landscape in the Mississippi River Delta

Monitoring Vegetation Response to Episodic Disturbance Events by using Multitemporal Vegetation Indices

Contribution of tropical cyclones to the sediment budget for coastal wetlands in Louisiana, USA

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About