Long term variations in backbarrier salt marsh deposition on the Skallingen peninsula – the Danish Wadden Sea

Bartholdy, Jesper; Christiansen, Christian; Kunzendorf, H.

doi:10.1016/s0025-3227(03)00337-2

Cited by 104 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Resuspension of sediment during the early stage of the marsh development could be the reason for this pattern. The measured accretion rates generally compare well with mean accretion rates measured on the peninsula of Skallingen, where Bartholdy et al (2004) found the accretion rate on the Skallingen marsh to vary between 2 mm year −1 on the inner marsh and 4 mm year −1 on the outer marsh. Measurements of Kirchner and Ehlers (1998) in the eastern part of Sylt, however, have shown much higher accretion rates between 5.8 and 15.2 mm year −1 , but grain sizes in this section of Sylt are much finer, indicating different hydrodynamic conditions favoring settling of sediment.…”

Section: Mean Accretion Ratessupporting

confidence: 77%

“…This is a typical spatial phenomenon observed on many marshes by various authors (Bartholdy et al 2004;Cahoon and Reed 1995;French and Spencer 1993;Pethick 1981;Temmerman et al 2003a). Meanwhile, the mean accretion rate for the pioneer marsh zone is lower than the one in the low marsh zone.…”

Section: Mean Accretion Ratesmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…This continuous deposition makes 210 Pb an excellent geochronometer for deriving accretion rates in coastal salt marshes Oldfield 1978, 1983;Bartholdy et al 2004;Bellucci et al 2007;Kirchner and Ehlers 1998).…”

Section: Radiometric Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Projected acceleration in SLR, however, may outpace accretion rates in the future, if an insufficient amount of material is deposited on the marsh surface (Kirwan and Temmerman 2009;Orson et al 1985). Several investigators studied marsh response to mean sea level rise (e.g., French 1993;Kirwan and Temmerman 2009;Orson et al 1985;Reed 1995); others investigated the influence of tidal range on salt marsh accretion (e.g., Chmura et al 2001;Harrison and Bloom 1977;, but relatively little literature is available discussing the impact of non-tidal short-term sea level variations on salt marsh accretion (Bartholdy et al 2004;French 2006;Kolker et al 2009;Temmerman et al 2003b). While it is a widespread assumption that macrotidal environments are more resilient against SLR than microtidal environments , Allen (2000) and Kolker et al (2009) conclude that marsh accretion is dominated by wind-induced (short-term) sea level variations in microtidal and by SLR-induced long-term sea level variations in macrotidal environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Salt Marsh Accretion and Storm Tide Variation: an Example from a Barrier Island in the North Sea

Schuerch¹,

Rapaglia²,

Liebetrau

et al. 2011

Estuaries and Coasts

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We reconstruct past accretion rates of a salt marsh on the island of Sylt, Germany, using measurements of the radioisotopes 210 Pb and 137 Cs, as well as historical aerial photographs. Results from three cores indicate accretion rates varying between 1 and 16 mm year −1 .Comparisons with tide gauge data show that high accretion rates during the 1980s and 1990s coincide with periods of increased storm activity. We identify a critical inundation height of 18 cm below which the strength of a storm seems to positively influence salt marsh accretion rates and above which the frequency of storms becomes the major factor. In addition to sea level rise, we conclude that in low marsh zones subject to higher inundation levels, mean storm strength is the major factor affecting marsh accretion, whereas in high marsh zones with lower inundation levels, it is storm frequency that impacts marsh accretion.

show abstract

Section: Mean Accretion Ratessupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Mean Accretion Ratesmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Radiometric Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Salt Marsh Accretion and Storm Tide Variation: an Example from a Barrier Island in the North Sea

Schuerch¹,

Rapaglia²,

Liebetrau

et al. 2011

Estuaries and Coasts

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is known that, in salt marshes, even a few centimeters of slight topographic changes can greatly influence hydrologic regimes, and thus, soil properties and species composition (Adam 1990, Kim et al 2010. Moreover, Bartholdy et al (2004) have confirmed that, in the Skallingen salt marsh, surface elevation is the most prominent control on the magnitude and duration of over-marsh flooding, and hence, on sediment deposition (i.e., the lower the elevation, the higher the accretion of sediment).…”

Section: Implications Of the Initial Habitat Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeomorphic feedbacks drive dynamics of vegetation–landform complex in a coastal riparian system

Kim¹

2012

Ecosphere

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Vegetation succession in riparian zones is traditionally considered to be mainly driven by allogenic hydrogeomorphological factors, while the importance of autogenic, plant-induced processes may become more significant as landform stability is achieved. This conventional notion was tested at selected point bars and cutbank edges along a salt marsh creek system in southwestern Denmark. It was predicted that, within each narrow habitat (ca. 5 m width), sites closer to creeks experience more dynamic changes in hydrogeomorphology, and hence, more changes in plant species composition than those farther away from creeks. These sites were compared in terms of the rate of vegetation succession between 2006 and 2011, using nonmetric multidimensional scaling. In the resulting two-dimensional diagram, the Euclidean distance between any two samples representing the same quadrat of different time periods was interpreted as the degree of change in species composition. The predicted differences in succession rates among sites with varying distances from the channel were not observed. Locations adjacent to the creek have experienced the most intensive allogenic fluvial-geomorphic processes. However, the rate of allogenic succession under such physical dynamism has not necessarily been greater than that of the autogenic succession that was highly dominant at locations slightly away from creeks. Allogenic and autogenic factors are probably equally, or at least simultaneously, important to vegetation dynamics even under dynamic hydrogeomorphology. Such a view is in disagreement with the conventional belief in fluvial ecology, calling for a more explicit inclusion of autogenic processes in modeling the evolution of vegetation-landform complexes in the riparian zone. In other words, a true biogeomorphic nonlinearity exists in highly dynamic fluvial systems in that output (i.e., vegetation and landform dynamics) is not necessarily a direct product of input (i.e., hydrogeomorphic effects), due to an unexpectedly significant intervening variable, autogenesis.

show abstract

Determination and quantification of sedimentary processes in salt marshes using end‐member modelling of grain‐size data

Lenz

Lindhorst

Arz

2022

The Depositional Record

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

End-member modelling of bulk grain-size distributions allows the unravelling of natural and anthropogenic depositional processes in salt marshes and quantification of their respective contribution to marsh accretion. The sedimentology of two marshes is presented: (1) a sheltered back-barrier marsh; and (2) an exposed, reinstated foreland marsh. Sedimentological data are supplemented by an age model based on lead-210 decay and caesium-137, as well as geochemical data. End-member modelling of grain-size data shows that marsh growth in back-barrier settings is primarily controlled by the settling of fines from suspension during marsh inundation. In addition, nearby active dunes deliver aeolian sediment (up to 77% of the total sediment accretion), potentially enhancing the capability of salt marshes to adapt to sea-level rise. Growth of exposed marshes, by contrast, primarily results from high-energy inundation and is attributed to two sediment-transport processes. On the seaward edge of the marsh, sedimentation is dominated by coarser-grained traction load, whereas further inland, settling of fine-grained suspension load prevails. In addition, a third, coarse-grained sediment sub-population is interpreted to derive from anthropogenic landreclamation measures, that is material from drainage channels relocated onto the marsh surface. This process contributed up to 34% to the total marsh accretion and terminated synchronously with the end of land reclamation measures. Data suggest that natural sediment supply to marshes alone is sufficient to outpace contemporary sea-level rise in the study area. This underlines the resilience potential of salt marshes in times of rising sea levels. The comparison of grain-size sub-populations with observed climate variability implies that even managed marshes allow for the extraction of environmental signals if natural and anthropogenic sedimentary processes are determined and their relative contribution to bulk sediment composition is quantified. Data series based solely on bulk sediments, however, seem to be of limited use because it is difficult to exclude bias of natural signals by anthropogenic measures.

show abstract

Long term variations in backbarrier salt marsh deposition on the Skallingen peninsula – the Danish Wadden Sea

Cited by 104 publications

References 39 publications

Salt Marsh Accretion and Storm Tide Variation: an Example from a Barrier Island in the North Sea

Salt Marsh Accretion and Storm Tide Variation: an Example from a Barrier Island in the North Sea

Biogeomorphic feedbacks drive dynamics of vegetation–landform complex in a coastal riparian system

Determination and quantification of sedimentary processes in salt marshes using end‐member modelling of grain‐size data

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About