Hydrodynamics of an Estuarine – Coral Reef System

Mallory Barkdull1, Staci Lewis2, Yimnang Golbuu3, Stephen G Monismith4 and David L Freyberg4, (1)Stanford University, Civil and Environmental Engineering, CA, United States, (2)Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, (3)Palau International Coral Reef Center, Koror, Palau, (4)Stanford University, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford, CA, United States
Abstract:
The runoff resulting from coastal development is one of the greatest threats to coral reefs throughout the world because it is detrimental to coral abundance, richness, and diversity. Given that development activities can increase erosion by virtue of changes in land cover and grading, and thus pose a significant threat to the corals around the world, it is important to have a clear understanding of the connection between coral reefs and the upstream watersheds. Field observations are used to characterize the governing hydrodynamic forces responsible for transporting runoff and the associated terrestrial sediment from the watershed to the reef. In situ field measurements were taken in the Ngermeduu Bay watershed – reef system located in Palau, Micronesia. It was found that the transport of sediment and runoff to the coral reef is dominated by tidal forcing, and that the fate of terrestrial sediment is primarily governed by the timing of rainfall and runoff relative to the spring-neap cycle.
Back to: Observations and Modeling of Physical Processes along Coral Reef-Lined Coasts II Posters