Understanding the Eco‐Geomorphologic Feedback of Coastal Marsh Under Sea Level Rise: Vegetation Dynamic Representations, Processes Interaction, and Parametric Sensitivity

Yu, Zhigang; Rowland, J. C.; Xu, Chonggang; Wolfram, Phillip J.; Svyatsky, Daniil; Moulton, J. David; Cao, Zhendong; Marani, Marco; D’Alpaos, Andrea; Pasqualini, Donatella

doi:10.1029/2020jf005729

Cited by 14 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Zhang et al. (2020) evaluated the topographic outcomes from these three vegetation schemes and found that all of the schemes predicted a higher elevation increase near the ocean boundary and a lower increase landward. However, these schemes also showed differences in marsh elevation relief and unvegetated‐vegetated ratio.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there are other schemes to represent the relationship between vegetation biomass and inundation level for different marsh landscapes, such as the Spartina-nonlinear function (Mariotti & Fagherazzi, 2010) and mixed vegetation species linear function (D'Alpaos et al, 2007). Zhang et al (2020) evaluated the topographic outcomes from these three vegetation schemes and found that all of the schemes predicted a higher elevation increase near the ocean boundary and a lower increase landward. However, these schemes also showed differences in marsh elevation relief and unvegetated-vegetated ratio.…”

Section: Uncertainties and Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many studies have predicted coastal marsh evolution as a function of sediment erosion and deposition and organic soil production due to vegetation productivity. They found that coastal marshes are not static and are very likely to keep pace with the rising sea level at decadal to century scales due to the net sedimentation on the marshlands (e.g., Best et al., 2018; D’Alpaos et al., 2007; Kirwan, Temmerman, et al., 2016; Kirwan, Walters, et al., 2016; Kirwan & Murray, 2007; Kirwan & Temmerman, 2009; Mariotti & Fagherazzi, 2010; Zhang et al., 2020). With the changes in marsh geomorphology, the topographic and hydraulic gradient among the land, river, and ocean will change, which will alter the seawater flow path and storage (Winn et al., 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Coastal Marsh Eco‐Geomorphologic Change on Saltwater Intrusion Under Future Sea Level Rise

Svyatsky

Rowland

et al. 2022

Water Resources Research

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Coastal wetlands, unique landscapes that connect the terrestrial landscape and the ocean, are some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth (Tiner, 2013). Climate change, especially sea level rise (SLR) under a warming climate, is one of the biggest threats to the stability and sustainability of coastal wetland ecosystems (Burkett & Kusler, 2000). SLR-driven impacts on coastal marsh ecosystems are strongly affected by changes in coastal hydrology (Zhang et al., 2019). The rising sea level alters the balance of coastal freshwater-saltwater interaction both on the coastal wetland surface and in the subsurface aquifer causing the changes in saltwater intrusion (SWI), thereby affecting soil water salinity (Guimond & Tamborski, 2021;Sorensen et al., 1984;Sousa et al., 2010), triggering the mortality of salt-intolerant vegetation (Silvestri & Marani, 2004), and eventually altering the ecosystem functions of coastal wetlands (Burkett & Kusler, 2000). Therefore, investigating the response of SWI to SLR is critical for our understanding of the SLR impact on coastal wetland ecosystems.Numerous studies have attempted to predict and/or assess the impact of SLR on SWI for decades. These studies have aimed to track the changes in water salinity in coastal aquifers driven by SLR at global (e.g., Ferguson &

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Uncertainties and Future Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Coastal Marsh Eco‐Geomorphologic Change on Saltwater Intrusion Under Future Sea Level Rise

Svyatsky

Rowland

et al. 2022

Water Resources Research

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“…However, this is contrary to the structure of many existing empirical and physical models. Many models either presume processes causing autocompaction operate solely on organic material through decomposition (For example, Zhang et al, 2020), are implicitly incorporated in models of net surface elevation change (Morris et al, 2002;Rogers et al, 2012), or apply a constant rate of autocompaction irrespective of tidal position (For example, Marani et al, 2013). There are exceptions: the WARMER (Swanson et al, 2014) model includes parameters of mineral sediment accretion, organic matter addition and decomposition, and compaction; and OIMAS-N (Mudd et al, 2009) includes parameters of mineral and organic matter addition, decay of carbon pools and compaction.…”

Section: Processes Influencing Morphodynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Organic matter accretion may also be expressed as a function of accommodation space, either linearly (D'Alpaos et al, 2007), or as a second-order polynomial with peak productivity delimited by the vertical distribution of vegetation (Morris et al, 2002). However, there is less agreement on attribution of the post-depositional behavior of mineral and organic matter in substrates (Wiberg et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Processes Influencing Autocompaction Modulate Coastal Wetland Surface Elevation Adjustment With Sea-Level Rise

Rogers

Saintilan

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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The fate of coastal wetlands and their ecosystem services is dependent upon maintaining substrate elevations within a tidal frame that is influenced by sea-level rise. Development and application of morphodynamic models has been limited as few empirical studies have measured the contribution of key processes to surface elevation change, including mineral and organic matter addition, autocompaction of accumulating sediments and deep subsidence. Accordingly, many models presume that substrates are in equilibrium with relative sea-level rise (RSLR) and the composition of substrates are relatively homogenous. A 20-year record of surface elevation change and vertical accretion from a large tidal embayment in Australia coupled with analyses of inundation frequency and the character of sediments that have accumulated above mean sea level was analyzed to investigate processes influencing surface elevation adjustment. This study confirms the varying contribution of addition, decomposition and compression of organic material, and mineral sediment consolidation. Autocompaction of substrates was proportional to the overburden of accumulating sediments. These processes operate concurrently and are influenced by sediment supply and deposition. Vertical accretion was linearly related to accommodation space. Surface elevation change was related to vertical accretion and substrate organic matter, indicated by carbon storage above mean sea level. Surface elevation change also conformed to models that initially increase and then decrease as accommodation space diminishes. Rates of surface elevation change were largely found to be in equilibrium with sea-level rise measured at the nearest tide gauge, which was estimated at 3.5 mm y–1 over the period of measurements. As creation of new accommodation space with sea-level rise is contrary to the longer-term history of relative sea-level stability in Australia since the mid-Holocene, striking stratigraphic variation arises with deeper sediments dominated by mineral sands and surficial sediments increasingly fine grained and having higher carbon storage. As the sediment character of substrates was found to influence rates of surface elevation gain, we caution against the unqualified use of models derived from the northern hemisphere where substrates have continuously adjusted to sea-level rise and sediment character is likely to be more homogenous.

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Impact of coastal marsh eco-geomorphologic change on the prediction of saltwater intrusion under future sea level rise

Svyatsky

Rowland

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Coastal saltwater intrusion (SWI) is one key factor affecting the hydrology, nutrient transport, and biogeochemistry of coastal marsh landscapes. Future climate change, especially intensified sea level rise (SLR), is expected to trigger SWI to encroach coastal freshwater aquifers more intensively. Numerous studies have investigated decadal/century scale SWI under SLR by assuming a static coastal landscape topography. However, coastal marshes are highly dynamic systems in response to SLR, and the impact of coastal marsh evolution on SWI has received very little attention. Thus, this study investigated how coastal marsh evolution affects future SWI with a physically-based coastal hydro-eco-geomorphologic model, ATS (Advanced Terrestrial Simulator). Our synthetic modeling experiments showed that it is very likely that the marsh elevation increases with future SLR, and a depression zone is formed due to the different marsh accretion rates between the ocean boundary and the inland. We found that, compared to the cases without marsh evolution, the marsh accretion may significantly reduce the surface saltwater inflow at the ocean boundary, and the evolved topographic depression zone may prolong the residence time of surface ponding saltwater, which causes distinct subsurface salinity distributions. We also found that the marshland may become more sensitive to the upland groundwater table that controls the freshwater flux to the marshes, compared with the cases without marsh evolution. This study demonstrates the importance of marsh evolution to the freshwater-saltwater interaction under sea level rise and can help improve our predictive understanding of the vulnerability of the coastal freshwater system to sea level rise. Hosted filesupporting-information_for_submission.docx available at https://authorea.com/users/524393/ articles/597484-impact-of-coastal-marsh-eco-geomorphologic-change-on-the-prediction-ofsaltwater-intrusion-under-future-sea-level-rise

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Understanding the Eco‐Geomorphologic Feedback of Coastal Marsh Under Sea Level Rise: Vegetation Dynamic Representations, Processes Interaction, and Parametric Sensitivity

Abstract: Coastal marshes are unique landscapes that connect terrestrial and aquatic systems and provide important ecosystem services, such as sustaining wildlife habitats, protecting shorelines, attenuating floods, storing carbon, and filtering contaminants (

Cited by 14 publications

References 97 publications

Impact of Coastal Marsh Eco‐Geomorphologic Change on Saltwater Intrusion Under Future Sea Level Rise

Impact of Coastal Marsh Eco‐Geomorphologic Change on Saltwater Intrusion Under Future Sea Level Rise

Processes Influencing Autocompaction Modulate Coastal Wetland Surface Elevation Adjustment With Sea-Level Rise

Impact of coastal marsh eco-geomorphologic change on the prediction of saltwater intrusion under future sea level rise

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