Storm dynamics control sedimentation and shelf‐bay‐marsh sediment exchange along the Louisiana Coast
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Published version
Date
2024-11-28
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Published version
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Citation
I.Y. Georgiou, D.M. FitzGerald, M.M. Sakib, F. Messina, M.A. Kulp, M.D. Miner. 2024. "Storm Dynamics Control Sedimentation and Shelf‐Bay‐Marsh Sediment Exchange Along the Louisiana Coast" Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 51, Issue 22. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl111344
Abstract
Hurricanes can benefit wetland accretion by augmenting the delivery of mineral sediment, an essential process allowing marshes to offset submergence during rising sea levels. Using Hurricane Gustav (2008, Louisiana) as a control, we examined eight synthetic storms with varying characteristics (track, speed, intensity, size) to evaluate sediment exchange between the inner shelf and bay and bay‐to‐marsh interfaces. All storms showed net landward sediment exchange from the inner shelf to the bay to the marsh—storms with closer proximity, higher intensity, and slower forward speed positively correlated with net sediment exchange; storm size had little impact. Except for slow‐moving storms (½ speed of Gustav), our analyses suggest that most hurricane scenarios cause net bay erosion, because more sediment is conveyed to landward wetlands than is replenished from erosion of the inner shelf. Our results suggest that the ongoing deepening of the bay will likely worsen because of rising sea levels.
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© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.