Sediment Transport in Coastal Environments Active
Our research goals are to provide the scientific information, knowledge, and tools required to ensure that decisions about land and resource use, management practices, and future development in the coastal zone and adjacent watersheds can be evaluated with a complete understanding of the probable effects on coastal ecosystems and communities, and a full assessment of their vulnerability to natural and human-driven changes.
Coastal resource managers face a wide range of problems related to sediment transport. Sediment management or questions related to sediment transport are involved in dredging operations, preventing or planning for coastal erosion, evaluation of the impacts of anthropogenic alterations on coastal ecosystems, restoration of coastal habitats, and planning for climate change. To address these questions, coastal managers typically require both site-specific information about sediment transport processes, and predictive models of the outcome of potential management actions.
Understanding of sediment transport processes and the ability to model sediment transport have advanced significantly in recent decades, but important limitations remain. It is still a common practice to report results of sediment transport modeling with limited or no calibration, due to lack of suitable data for calibration. The relative importance of factors governing sediment transport varies between coastal environments due to differences in both sediment properties and physical forcing. The development of robust models of sediment transport applicable to all aquatic environments, and the movement of sediment between them, requires data from a range of settings for testing.
Project Objectives
- to utilize USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program expertise to investigate problems in coastal sediment transport that are relevant to sediment management issues, including protection of coastal ecosystems, reducing the risk of natural hazards, and adapting to or predicting effects of climate change
- to utilize the results obtained in these studies to improve understanding of sediment transport processes, and incorporate this improved understanding in predictive models
- to conduct research and advise resource managers on the impacts of human activities and the effectiveness of restoration measures on river, estuarine, and marine habitats in collaboration with federal, state, and local agencies, and academic partners.
Current Research Topics
Click to learn more about our research:
- Drag and sediment transport: conditions at the bottom boundary
- Coastal watershed and estuary restoration in the Monterey Bay area
- Sediment transport in submarine canyons
- Columbia River estuary
- San Francisco Bay geomorphology
- Sediment transport between estuarine habitats in San Francisco Bay
- Transport of invasive microorganisms
Below are the study topics associated with this project.
Below are data sets associated with this project.
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Sediment Transport in San Francisco Bay
The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers deliver half the amount of sediment they did 50 years ago to San Francisco Bay. Just as sea-level rise is accelerating, the demand for sediment is growing.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Mechanisms of sediment flux between shallows and marshes
Sediment yields from small, steep coastal watersheds of California
Model-based interpretation of sediment concentration and vertical flux measurements in a shallow estuarine environment
A 2-D process-based model for suspended sediment dynamics: A first step towards ecological modeling
Late Holocene sedimentary environments of south San Francisco Bay, California, illustrated in gravity cores
Sedimentary organic biomarkers suggest detrimental effects of PAHs on estuarine microbial biomass during the 20th century in San Francisco Bay, CA, USA
Lateral baroclinic forcing enhances sediment transport from shallows to channel in an estuary
Autonomous bed-sediment imaging-systems for revealing temporal variability of grain size
Sediment concentrations, flow conditions, and downstream evolution of two turbidity currents, Monterey Canyon, USA
Eel River margin source-to-sink sediment budgets: revisited
Trend analyses with river sediment rating curves
Interactions between waves, sediment, and turbulence on a shallow estuarine mudflat
Below are news stories associated with this project.
- Overview
Our research goals are to provide the scientific information, knowledge, and tools required to ensure that decisions about land and resource use, management practices, and future development in the coastal zone and adjacent watersheds can be evaluated with a complete understanding of the probable effects on coastal ecosystems and communities, and a full assessment of their vulnerability to natural and human-driven changes.
Coastal resource managers face a wide range of problems related to sediment transport. Sediment management or questions related to sediment transport are involved in dredging operations, preventing or planning for coastal erosion, evaluation of the impacts of anthropogenic alterations on coastal ecosystems, restoration of coastal habitats, and planning for climate change. To address these questions, coastal managers typically require both site-specific information about sediment transport processes, and predictive models of the outcome of potential management actions.
Understanding of sediment transport processes and the ability to model sediment transport have advanced significantly in recent decades, but important limitations remain. It is still a common practice to report results of sediment transport modeling with limited or no calibration, due to lack of suitable data for calibration. The relative importance of factors governing sediment transport varies between coastal environments due to differences in both sediment properties and physical forcing. The development of robust models of sediment transport applicable to all aquatic environments, and the movement of sediment between them, requires data from a range of settings for testing.
Project Objectives
- to utilize USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program expertise to investigate problems in coastal sediment transport that are relevant to sediment management issues, including protection of coastal ecosystems, reducing the risk of natural hazards, and adapting to or predicting effects of climate change
- to utilize the results obtained in these studies to improve understanding of sediment transport processes, and incorporate this improved understanding in predictive models
- to conduct research and advise resource managers on the impacts of human activities and the effectiveness of restoration measures on river, estuarine, and marine habitats in collaboration with federal, state, and local agencies, and academic partners.
Current Research Topics
Click to learn more about our research:
- Drag and sediment transport: conditions at the bottom boundary
- Coastal watershed and estuary restoration in the Monterey Bay area
- Sediment transport in submarine canyons
- Columbia River estuary
- San Francisco Bay geomorphology
- Sediment transport between estuarine habitats in San Francisco Bay
- Transport of invasive microorganisms
- Science
Below are the study topics associated with this project.
- Data
Below are data sets associated with this project.
- Multimedia
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Sediment Transport in San Francisco Bay
The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers deliver half the amount of sediment they did 50 years ago to San Francisco Bay. Just as sea-level rise is accelerating, the demand for sediment is growing.
- Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 78Mechanisms of sediment flux between shallows and marshes
We conducted a field study to investigate temporal variation and forcing mechanisms of sediment flux between a salt marsh and adjacent shallows in northern San Francisco Bay. Suspended-sediment concentration (SSC), tidal currents, and wave properties were measured over the marsh, in marsh creeks, and in bay shallows. Cumulative sediment flux in the marsh creeks was bayward during the study, and waAuthorsJessica R. Lacy, L.M. Schile, J.C. Callaway, M.C. FernerSediment yields from small, steep coastal watersheds of California
Global inventories of sediment discharge to the ocean highlight the importance of small, steep watersheds (i.e., those having drainage areas less than 100,000 km2 and over 1000 m of relief) that collectively provide a dominant flux of sediment. The smallest of these coastal watersheds (e.g., those that have drainage areas less than 1000 km2) can represent a large portion of the drainage areas of aAuthorsJonathan A. Warrick, John M. Melack, Blair M. GoodridgeModel-based interpretation of sediment concentration and vertical flux measurements in a shallow estuarine environment
A one-dimensional numerical model describing tidally varying vertical mixing and settling was used to interpret sediment concentrations and vertical fluxes observed in the shoals of South San Francisco Bay by two acoustic Doppler velocimeters (ADVs) at elevations of 0.36 m and 0.72 m above bed. Measured sediment concentrations changed by up to 100 g m−3 over the semidiurnal tidal cycle. These dynaAuthorsAndreas Brand, Jessica R. Lacy, Steve Gladding, Rusty Holleman, Mark T. StaceyA 2-D process-based model for suspended sediment dynamics: A first step towards ecological modeling
In estuaries suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is one of the most important contributors to turbidity, which influences habitat conditions and ecological functions of the system. Sediment dynamics differs depending on sediment supply and hydrodynamic forcing conditions that vary over space and over time. A robust sediment transport model is a first step in developing a chain of models enablinAuthorsF. M. Achete, M. van der Wegen, D. Roelvink, B. JaffeLate Holocene sedimentary environments of south San Francisco Bay, California, illustrated in gravity cores
Data are reported here from 51 gravity cores collected from the southern part of San Francisco Bay by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1990. The sedimentary record in the cores demonstrates a stable geographic distribution of facies and spans a few thousand years. Carbon-14 dating of the sediments suggests that sedimentation rates average about 1 mm/yr. The geometry of the bay floor and the characterAuthorsDonald L. Woodrow, Theresa A. Fregoso, Florence L. Wong, Bruce E. JaffeSedimentary organic biomarkers suggest detrimental effects of PAHs on estuarine microbial biomass during the 20th century in San Francisco Bay, CA, USA
Hydrocarbon contaminants are ubiquitous in urban aquatic ecosystems, and the ability of some microbial strains to degrade certain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is well established. However, detrimental effects of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination on nondegrader microbial populations and photosynthetic organisms have not often been considered. In the current study, fatty acid methyl estAuthorsElena B. Nilsen, Robert J. Rosenbauer, Christopher C. Fuller, Bruce E. JaffeLateral baroclinic forcing enhances sediment transport from shallows to channel in an estuary
We investigate the dynamics governing exchange of sediment between estuarine shallows and the channel based on field measurements at eight stations spanning the interface between the channel and the extensive eastern shoals of South San Francisco Bay. The study site is characterized by longitudinally homogeneous bathymetry and a straight channel, with friction more important than the Coriolis forcAuthorsJessica R. Lacy, Steve Gladding, Andreas Brand, Audric Collignon, Mark T. StaceyAutonomous bed-sediment imaging-systems for revealing temporal variability of grain size
We describe a remotely operated video microscope system, designed to provide high-resolution images of seabed sediments. Two versions were developed, which differ in how they raise the camera from the seabed. The first used hydraulics and the second used the energy associated with wave orbital motion. Images were analyzed using automated frequency-domain methods, which following a rigorous partialAuthorsDaniel Buscombe, David M. Rubin, Jessica R. Lacy, Curt D. Storlazzi, Gerald Hatcher, Henry Chezar, Robert Wyland, Christopher R. SherwoodSediment concentrations, flow conditions, and downstream evolution of two turbidity currents, Monterey Canyon, USA
The capacity of turbidity currents to carry sand and coarser sediment from shallow to deep regions in the submarine environment has attracted the attention of researchers from different disciplines. Yet not only are field measurements of oceanic turbidity currents a rare achievement, but also the data that have been collected consist mostly of velocity records with very limited or no suspended sedAuthorsJingping Xu, Octavio E. Sequeiros, Marlene A. NobleEel River margin source-to-sink sediment budgets: revisited
The Eel River coastal margin has been used as a representative source-to-sink sediment dispersal system owing to its steep, high-sediment yield river and the formation of sedimentary strata on its continental shelf. One finding of previous studies is that the adjacent continental shelf retains only ~25% of the Eel River fine-grained sediment (less than 63 μm) discharged over time scales of both inAuthorsJonathan A. WarrickTrend analyses with river sediment rating curves
Sediment rating curves, which are fitted relationships between river discharge (Q) and suspended-sediment concentration (C), are commonly used to assess patterns and trends in river water quality. In many of these studies it is assumed that rating curves have a power-law form (i.e., C = aQb, where a and b are fitted parameters). Two fundamental questions about the utility of these techniques are aAuthorsJonathan A. WarrickInteractions between waves, sediment, and turbulence on a shallow estuarine mudflat
Measurements were collected on a shallow estuarine mudflat in northern San Francisco Bay to examine the physical processes controlling waves, turbulence, sediment resuspension, and their interactions. Tides alone forced weak to moderate currents of 10–30 cm s-1 in depths of 0–3 m, and maintained a background suspension of 30–50 mg L21 of fine sediment. In the presence of wind waves, bottom orbitalAuthorsLissa J. MacVean, Jessica R. Lacy - News
Below are news stories associated with this project.