EP23B-0971
Balanced Sediment Fluxes in Southern California’s Mediterranean-climate Zone Salt Marshes
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Jordan Alexander Rosencranz1, Patrick Dickhudt2, Neil K Ganju3, Karen Thorne4, John Takekawa5, Richard F Ambrose1, Glenn R Guntenspergen6, Sandra Brosnahan7 and Glen M MacDonald1, (1)University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (2)U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Duck, NC, United States, (3)Department of the Interior Washington DC, Washington, DC, United States, (4)USGS Western Ecological Research Center San Francisco Bay Estuary Field Station, Vallejo, CA, United States, (5)National Audubon Society, Science Division, San Francisco, United States, (6)USGS, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Superior, WI, United States, (7)USGS Coastal and Marine Science Center Woods Hole, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Abstract:
Salt marsh elevation and geomorphic stability depends on mineral sedimentation. Many southern California, USA salt marshes import sediment during El Niño storm events, but sediment fluxes and mechanisms during dry weather are also potentially important for marsh stability. We calculated tidal creek sediment fluxes within a sediment starved 1.5 km2 salt marsh (Seal Beach) and a less modified 1 km2 marsh (Mugu) with a watershed sediment supply. We measured salt marsh plain suspended sediment concentration and vertical accretion using single stage samplers and marker horizons. At Seal Beach, a 2014 storm yielded 39 and 28 g/s mean sediment fluxes and imported 12000 and 8800 kg in a western channel. This offset 8700 kg export during two months of dry weather, while landward net fluxes in the eastern channel accounted for 33% of the import. During the storm, suspended sediment concentrations on the marsh plain increased by a factor of four; accretion was 1-2 mm near creek levees. An exceptionally high tide sequence at Mugu yielded 4.4 g/s mean sediment flux, importing 1700 kg, accounting for 20% of dry weather fluxes. Overall, low sediment fluxes were observed, suggesting that these salt marshes are currently geomorphically stable. Our results suggest that storms and exceptionally high lunar tides may play large roles, importing sediment and maintaining dry weather sediment flux balances for southern California salt marshes. However, under future climate change and sea-level rise scenarios, results suggest that balanced sediment fluxes may lead to marsh elevational instability, based on estimated mineral sediment deficits.
