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Short-term sedimentation dynamics in mesotidal marshes
Publication . Carrasco, Rita; Kompiadou, Aikaterini; Matias, Ana
One of the key questions about wetlands resilience to sea-level rise is whether sediment supply will be enough to keep them coping with growing inundation levels. To address this question, researchers have put a lot of effort into field data collection and ecogeomorphic modelling, in an attempt to identify the tipping points of marsh survival. This study uses fieldwork data to characterize the sediment fluxes between the tidal flats and salt marshes, in the Ria Formosa lagoon (Portugal). Sediment fluxes were measured from the tidal channel towards the mid-upper marsh, during neap and spring tide conditions. The flow magnitude was measured, and induced transport was determined based on shear velocities. Deposition rates, instantaneous suspended sediment and near-bed velocities were linked through theoretical formulas and used to characterize time-averaged conditions for sediment delivery and deposition to the site. The results showed that suspended sediment concentrations and sediment deposition varied across the transect with no specific relation to elevation. Maximum water depths were recorded in the vegetated tidal flat, and the maximum currents were flood dominated, in the order of 0.20 m/s, in the low marsh due to flow-plant interactions and an increase of turbulence. Deposition rates ranged between 20 to 45 g/m(2)/hr, after a complete tidal cycle, and were higher in the mid-upper marsh. Hydroperiod was not the main contributor to sediment deposition in the study area. Sediment transport was tidally driven, strongly two-dimension during the cycle, and highly influenced by the vegetation. Measurements of marsh sediment flux obtained in our work are diverse from the ones found in the literature and evidence the importance of considering spatio-temporal variability of vegetated platforms in assessing overall marsh bed level changes.
A multi-sensor approach to monitor the ongoing restoration of edaphic conditions for salt marsh species facing sea level rise: An adaptive management case study in Camargue, France
Publication . Davranche, Aurélie; Arzel, Céline; Pouzet, Pierre; Carrasco, Rita; Lefebvre, Gaëtan; Lague, Dimitri; Thibault, Marc; Newton, Alice; Fleurant, Cyril; Maanan, Mohamed; Poulin, Brigitte
The Camargue or Rhone delta is a coastal wetland in southern France of which parts formerly devoted to salt production are undergoing a renaturation process. This study assessed a multisensor approach to investigate the link between sediment size distribution, habitat development mapped with Worldview 2, flooding durations estimated with time series of SENTINEL 2 images and elevation modelled with a LIDAR point cloud in former saltworks. A Random Forest classification algorithm was used to map the vegetation distributions of Sarcocornia fruticosa and Arthrocnemum macrostachyum, main representatives of the NATURA 2000 "Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic halophilous scrubs (Sarcocornetea fruticosi)" habitat on the site. The best habitat map was ob-tained when considering the species separately. The random forest Out-of-bag errors were 1.43 % for S. fruticosa and 2.18 % for A. macrostachyum. Both species were generally distributed on different elevation and flooding duration zones considering mean values. Flooding duration was estimated with the Water In Wetland index (WIW) based on 15 Sentinel-2 scenes. Two models related to sediment grain size distribution were developed: one predicting the flooding duration and one predicting the halophilous scrub distribution. Maps of flooding duration, sediment grain size distribution and elevation highlighted two main zones in the study area: a western section with coarser sediments, shorter flooding durations and higher elevations under sea influence; an eastern section with finer sediments, longer hydroperiods and lower elevations under a historic river influence. This multidisciplinary approach offers perspectives for using space-based data over large scales to monitor changes in edaphic conditions of coastal areas facing natural and anthropogenic forcings. The results call for further in-vestigations to predict the dynamic distribution of other coastal habitats following climate change impacts, such as sea level rise.
Vertical intertidal variation of organic matter stocks and patterns of sediment deposition in a mesotidal coastal wetland
Publication . de los Santos, Carmen B.; Lahuna, François; Silva, André; Freitas, Cátia; Martins, Márcio; Carrasco, A. Rita; Santos, Rui
Tidal coastal wetlands, common home to seagrass and salt marshes, are relevant carbon sinks due to their high
capacity to accumulate and store organic carbon in their sediments. Recent studies demonstrated that the spatial
variability of this organic carbon within the same wetland system can be significant. Some of the environmental
drivers of this spatial variability remain understudied and the selection of the most relevant ones can be context
dependent. Here we investigated the role of bed elevation, hydrodynamics, and habitat type (salt marsh and
seagrass) on the organic matter (OM) net deposition-resuspension rate and superficial sedimentary stocks (top 5
cm) at the tidal wetlands of the Ria Formosa, a mesotidal coastal lagoon in South Portugal. Results showed that
two vectors of spatial variation need to be considered to describe the intertidal sedimentary OM stocks: the bed
elevation that imposes a decrease of the hydroperiod and thus the change of habitat from the lower seagrass
Z. noltei to the upper saltmarsh S. maritimus, and the horizontal spatial variation along the secondary channels of
the lagoon that imposes a decrease in the current flow velocity magnitude. The multiple linear regression analyses, using data from 40 sampling points, explained 59% of the variation of the superficial sedimentary stocks
of OM in salt marshes and seagrasses of the Ria Formosa lagoon and revealed that stocks generally decrease with
elevation, yet with variation among sites and habitats. It was also found that the decrease of the OM net
deposition-resuspension rate with bed elevation was exponential. Our study emphasizes the importance of
considering multiple environmental drivers and spatial variation for regional estimations of organic matter (and
organic carbon) sedimentary stocks in coastal wetlands.
No âmago da Ria Formosa: praias lagunares e sapal
Publication . Carrasco, A. Rita; Matias, Ana
As praias lagunares encontram-se na zona entremarés do interior da Ria Formosa, em locais protegidos da ondulação. São ambientes onde há acumulação de sedimentos finos e areia, essencialmente sujeitos à ação das correntes de maré. As suas margens comunicam com sapais e canais de maré. Tanto as praias lagunares como os sapais detêm elevada importância ecológica e albergam inúmeras atividades económicas. As praias lagunares são naturalmente vulneráveis a intervenções humanas e naturais, porque têm uma reduzida capacidade de recuperação quando comparadas com as praias oceânicas. Um conhecimento mais aprofundado acerca da sua dinâmica atual e futura enriquece a sua conservação.
Exploring open-source multispectral satellite remote sensing as a tool to map long-term evolution of salt marsh shorelines
Publication . Blount, Tegan R.; Carrasco, A. Rita; Cristina, Sónia; Silvestri, Sonia
From an ecological and socio-economic perspective, salt marshes are one of the most valuable natural assets on Earth. As external pressures are causing their extensive degradation and loss globally, the ability to monitor salt marshes on a long-term scale and identify drivers of change is essential for their conservation. Remote sensing has been demonstrated to be one of the most adept methods for this purpose and open-source multispectral satellite remote sensing missions have the potential to provide worldwide long-term time-series coverage that is non-cost-prohibitive. This study derives the long-term lateral evolution of four salt marsh patches in the Ria Formosa coastal lagoon (Portugal) using data from the Sentinel-2 and Landsat missions as well as from aerial photography surveys to quantitatively examine the accuracy and associated uncertainty in using open-source multispectral satellite remote sensing for this purpose. The results show that these open-source satellite archives can be a useful tool for tracking long-term salt marsh extent dynamics. During 1976-2020, there was a net loss of salt marsh in the study area, with erosion rates reaching an average of-3.3 m/yr opposite a tidal inlet. The main source of error in the satellite results was the dataset spatial resolution limits, but the specific salt marsh shoreline environment contributed to the relative magnitude of that error. The study notes the influence of eco-geomorphological dynamics on the mapping of sedimentary environments, so far not extensively discussed in scientific literature, highlighting the difference between mapping a morphological process and a sedimentary environment.
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Funding agency
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Funding programme
DL 57/2016
Funding Award Number
DL 57/2016/CP1361/CT0002