Morphological Characteristics and Hydrological Connectivity Evaluation of Tidal Creeks in Coastal Wetlands

Abstract

Tidal creeks play a critical role in delivering water, suspended sediments, and nutrients to coastal wetlands, so it is important to understand the characteristics of the tidal creek system to guide the development and sustainable utilization of coastal wetlands. Using the coastal wetlands of the Liao River Estuary (LRE) as a study area, this study accurately divided the tidal flat based on the principle of tidal correction, extracted the linear features of tidal creeks using high-resolution remote sensing (RS) data, and then classified the tidal creeks on a tidal flat using the tidal creek ordering algorithm. Our study aimed to quantify the morphological characteristics of tidal creeks and qualitatively evaluate the parameters of the tidal creek network in the study area. The study results show obvious spatial heterogeneity in the order and the average length of tidal creeks in the coastal wetlands of the LRE. With the increase in the order of tidal creeks, the average length of tidal creeks increased exponentially and the number of tidal creeks decreased exponentially in the study area. The total density of tidal creeks was related to the beach surface elevation gradient, and the density and frequency of tidal creeks reduced substantially with an increase in the order of tidal creeks. The sinuosity ratio of tidal creeks declined sharply with a fall in the beach surface elevation gradient. The average bifurcation ratio of tidal creeks in the upper intertidal zone was higher than that in other zones, indicating that the tidal creeks in the upper intertidal zone were erratic. In addition, the hydrological connectivity of the tidal creek network in the upper intertidal zone and the development of the tidal creek system in the supratidal zone were the highest in the LRE. The study results help understand the spatial variations in tidal creek morphology under the influence of tidal hydrodynamics.

Quantitative Analysis of Tidal Creek Evolution and Vegetation Variation in Silting Muddy Flats on the Yellow Sea

“…Remote sensing satellite image data have been increasingly useful for studying the relationship between vegetation and tidal creeks, as well as for establishing morphological characteristic indices in the presence of hydrological connectivity [11]. Recent studies suggested that the tidal gullies and wetland vegetation are interrelated [12,13]. The relationship between tidal creeks and vegetation distribution pattern in the Yangtze River delta, Yancheng nature reserve, and Yellow River delta has been established by examining the drainage efficiency of vegetation-free and vegetation-covered tidal creek networks, the evolution of tidal creeks, and the expansion of Spartina alterniflora [14][15][16].…”