Abstract.Communities involved in recreation and tourism planning need to understand the broad ra... more Abstract.Communities involved in recreation and tourism planning need to understand the broad range of benefits and challengeseconomic, social, and ecologicalin order to make informed decisions. Participatory computer modeling is a methodology that involves ...
A sediment erosion table (SET) method has been developed to monitor changes over time in intertid... more A sediment erosion table (SET) method has been developed to monitor changes over time in intertidal mudflat or pond elevations with an accuracy in the 1.5 mm range. The SET permitted rapid testing of the effect of sediment fences on adjacent surface elevation. Measurements taken four times a year detected linear increases, as well as seasonal patterns of erosion versus deposition.
ABSTRACT A 115-year-old railroad levee bisecting a tidal freshwater marsh perpendicular to the Pa... more ABSTRACT A 115-year-old railroad levee bisecting a tidal freshwater marsh perpendicular to the Patuxent River (Maryland) channel has created a northern, upstream marsh and a southern, downstream marsh. The main purpose of this study was to determine how this levee may affect the ability of the marsh system to gain elevation and to determine the levee’s impact on the marsh’s long-term sustainability to local relative sea level rise (RSLR). Previously unpublished data from 1989 to 1992 showed that suspended solids and short-term sediment deposition were greater in the south marsh compared to the north marsh; wetland surface elevation change data (1999 to 2009) showed significantly higher elevation gain in the south marsh compared to the north (6 ± 2 vs. 0 ± 2 mm year−1, respectively). However, marsh surface accretion (2007 to 2009) showed no significant differences between north and south marshes (23 ± 8 and 26 ± 7 mm year−1, respectively), and showed that shallow subsidence was an important process in both marshes. A strong seasonal effect was evident for both accretion and elevation change, with significant gains during the growing season and elevation loss during the non-growing season. Sediment transport, deposition and accretion decreased along the intertidal gradient, although no clear patterns in elevation change were recorded. Given the range in local RSLR rates in the Chesapeake Bay (2.9 to 5.8 mm year−1), only the south marsh is keeping pace with sea level at the present time. Although one would expect the north marsh to benefit from high accretion of abundant riverine sediments, these results suggest that long-term elevation gain is a more nuanced process involving more than riverine sediments. Overall, other factors such as infrequent episodic coastal events may be important in allowing the south marsh to keep pace with sea level rise. Finally, caution should be exercised when using data sets spanning only a couple of years to estimate wetland sustainability as they may not be representative of long-term cumulative effects. Two years of data do not seem to be enough to establish long-term elevation change rates at Jug Bay, but instead a decadal time frame is more appropriate.
We present a marsh development model that incorporates the hydrodynamics of erosion and sedimenta... more We present a marsh development model that incorporates the hydrodynamics of erosion and sedimentation and meets all conventions proposed for spatial landscape modeling. Wave parameters are related to sediment elevation dynamics predicting growth or deterioration of coastal wetlands. When this module is integrated into its spatial context, it will be used to predict landscape changes in wetlands that are extremely sensitive to changes in flooding regime. The easily used input modules allow decision makers to run scenarios of proposed landscape alterations.
Abstract.Communities involved in recreation and tourism planning need to understand the broad ra... more Abstract.Communities involved in recreation and tourism planning need to understand the broad range of benefits and challengeseconomic, social, and ecologicalin order to make informed decisions. Participatory computer modeling is a methodology that involves ...
A sediment erosion table (SET) method has been developed to monitor changes over time in intertid... more A sediment erosion table (SET) method has been developed to monitor changes over time in intertidal mudflat or pond elevations with an accuracy in the 1.5 mm range. The SET permitted rapid testing of the effect of sediment fences on adjacent surface elevation. Measurements taken four times a year detected linear increases, as well as seasonal patterns of erosion versus deposition.
ABSTRACT A 115-year-old railroad levee bisecting a tidal freshwater marsh perpendicular to the Pa... more ABSTRACT A 115-year-old railroad levee bisecting a tidal freshwater marsh perpendicular to the Patuxent River (Maryland) channel has created a northern, upstream marsh and a southern, downstream marsh. The main purpose of this study was to determine how this levee may affect the ability of the marsh system to gain elevation and to determine the levee’s impact on the marsh’s long-term sustainability to local relative sea level rise (RSLR). Previously unpublished data from 1989 to 1992 showed that suspended solids and short-term sediment deposition were greater in the south marsh compared to the north marsh; wetland surface elevation change data (1999 to 2009) showed significantly higher elevation gain in the south marsh compared to the north (6 ± 2 vs. 0 ± 2 mm year−1, respectively). However, marsh surface accretion (2007 to 2009) showed no significant differences between north and south marshes (23 ± 8 and 26 ± 7 mm year−1, respectively), and showed that shallow subsidence was an important process in both marshes. A strong seasonal effect was evident for both accretion and elevation change, with significant gains during the growing season and elevation loss during the non-growing season. Sediment transport, deposition and accretion decreased along the intertidal gradient, although no clear patterns in elevation change were recorded. Given the range in local RSLR rates in the Chesapeake Bay (2.9 to 5.8 mm year−1), only the south marsh is keeping pace with sea level at the present time. Although one would expect the north marsh to benefit from high accretion of abundant riverine sediments, these results suggest that long-term elevation gain is a more nuanced process involving more than riverine sediments. Overall, other factors such as infrequent episodic coastal events may be important in allowing the south marsh to keep pace with sea level rise. Finally, caution should be exercised when using data sets spanning only a couple of years to estimate wetland sustainability as they may not be representative of long-term cumulative effects. Two years of data do not seem to be enough to establish long-term elevation change rates at Jug Bay, but instead a decadal time frame is more appropriate.
We present a marsh development model that incorporates the hydrodynamics of erosion and sedimenta... more We present a marsh development model that incorporates the hydrodynamics of erosion and sedimentation and meets all conventions proposed for spatial landscape modeling. Wave parameters are related to sediment elevation dynamics predicting growth or deterioration of coastal wetlands. When this module is integrated into its spatial context, it will be used to predict landscape changes in wetlands that are extremely sensitive to changes in flooding regime. The easily used input modules allow decision makers to run scenarios of proposed landscape alterations.
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Papers by Roelof Boumans