Seasonal and spatial patterns in sediment transport in an erosional marsh system

Abstract

Salt marshes provide expansive ecosystem services to coastal regions, including serving as bird and fish habitat, providing flood protection, and sequestering carbon and toxins (Barbier et al. 2011). While marshes are naturally dynamic, they are undergoing net loss in the 21st century largely due to lateral erosion (Camp- bell et al. 2022). In regions where marsh migration is constrained by built infrastructure, or where sediment resources may be insufficient for vertical or lateral expansion, approaches to prevent net marsh loss against lateral erosion are limited. To better understand and strategize around these conditions, detailed studies of marsh-edge loss mechanisms and their connections to sediment transport dynamics are necessary (Smith et al. 2021).