Journal
EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS
Volume 44, Issue 4, Pages 944-952Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/esp.4547
Keywords
dieback; sediment transport; salt marsh; erosion; vegetation
Funding
- National Science Foundation (NSF) [1529245, 1654374, 1426981, 1237733]
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- US Geological Survey (USGS) Climate and Land Use Research and Development program
- Division Of Earth Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1529245] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Ocean Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1426981] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Vegetation is a critical component of the ecogeomorphic feedbacks that allow a salt marsh to build soil and accrete vertically. Vegetation dieback can therefore have detrimental effects on marsh stability, especially under conditions of rising sea levels. Here, we report a variety of sediment transport measurements associated with an unexpected, natural dieback in a rapidly prograding marsh in the Altamaha River Estuary, Georgia. We find that vegetation mortality led to a significant loss in elevation at the dieback site as evidenced by measurements of vertical accretion, erosion, and surface topography compared to vegetated reference areas. Below-ground vegetation mortality led to reduced soil shear strength. The dieback site displayed an erosional, concave-up topographic profile, in contrast to the reference sites. At the location directly impacted by the dieback, there was a reduction in flood dominance of suspended sediment concentration. Our work illustrates how a vegetation disturbance can at least temporarily reverse the local trajectory of a prograding marsh and produce complex patterns of sediment transport. (c) 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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