Salt marshes provide important economic and ecologic services but are vulnerable to habitat loss, particularly due to shoreline erosion from storms and sea level rise. Sediments eroded at the marsh edge are either delivered onto the marsh platform or into the estuary, the latter resulting in a net loss to the marsh sediment budget and released soil carbon.
Estuarine and MaRsh Geology Research Project Completed
The goal of the Estuarine and MaRsh Geology (EMRG) Research Project is to study how and where short- and long-term marsh and estuarine coastal processes interact, how they influence coastal accretion or erosion, and how they pre-condition a marsh’s resiliency to storms, sea-level change, and human alterations along the northern Gulf of Mexico (Grand Bay and Point aux Chenes, Mississippi and St. Marks, Florida).
Marsh and Estuarine Coastal Processes
Interactions between coastal estuaries, marshes, and upland environments are a complex web of inter-related and inter-connected physical and ecological processes. The Estuarine and MaRsh Geology (EMRG) project focuses on how specific geologic and geomorphic variables such as sediment properties and shoreface slope, respectively, impact the erosion and accretion rates of marsh environments in both the short- and long-term. To do this we use field observations, oceanographic sensors, and field collected sediment samples paired with marsh-estuarine system models run for various scenarios such as with a modified geomorphology or sea-level change.
Project Objectives:
1) Define the key geologic and geomorphic variables that influence marsh width and elevation for each study area,
2) Quantify elevation and geomorphic gradients along natural boundaries (upland-marsh, marsh-estuary, estuary-ocean), and
3) Evaluate the importance of geo-variables and gradients on marsh resiliency through modeling marsh-estuary systems.
Approach:
1) Assess key metrics through field collection, laboratory analyses, and data mining that link geologic variables with physical forces (such as hydrodynamics and storm events) and ecological responses that can be mapped and assessed over space and time:
A. Organic matter accumulation, inorganic sedimentation, elevation change
- Determine sediment provenance and properties
- Calculate short-term (tile) sedimentation rates (Be-7, Th-234)
- Calculate long-term (core) sedimentation rates (Pb-210, Cs-137)
- Identify foraminifera microfossils as proxies of paleo-marsh type
B. Bathymetric changes
- Collect multi-beam bathymetry to compare with past bathymetric maps
C. Shoreface slope and curvature
- Derive metrics from multi-beam surveys and satellite imagery
- Conduct shoreline survey using GPS during field work in Grand Bay and Pointe aux Chenes.
D. Geology of the marsh shoreline type and/or shallow stratigraphy
- Characterize environments, sediment properties, and marsh shoreline types at the surface and, where possible, downcore
E. Short and long-term shoreline change and measurements of lateral sediment flux
- Digitize historical topographic-sheets for comparison with modern shorelines to determine change in lateral extent of marsh platform
- Collect field and sensor measurements of marsh edge erosion and sediment delivery
F. Marsh-upland boundary change rates
- Identify foraminifera and diatom microfossils as proxies of paleo-marsh type, geomorphology, and environmental change
- Map depth to peat to determine modern and past lateral and vertical marsh extent
2) Incorporate results from field derived bathymetry, sediment, shoreface, shoreline, and oceanographic data analyses into numerical models to define marsh-estuarine system processes including coastal hydrodynamics (tides, waves) and sediment transport. These models improve our understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between oceanographic processes, geology, geomorphology, and marsh ecology under scenarios of past, present, and future conditions (for example, storms, sea-level change and modified geomorphology) and identify where more information may be required to advance our knowledge of marsh resiliency.
Explore other science related to this project.
Estuarine Shoreline Change Research Project
Sea-level and Storm Impacts on Estuarine Environments and Shorelines (SSIEES)
Sediment Core Microfossil Data Collected from the Coastal Marsh of Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi, USA
Sedimentologic Data from Point aux Chenes Marsh and Estuary, Mississippi
Multibeam Bathymetry Data Collected in 2019 from Grand Bay and Point Aux Chenes Bay Alabama/Mississippi
Sediment Radiochemical Data from Georgia, Massachusetts and Virginia Coastal Marshes
Multibeam Bathymetry Data Collected in 2016 from Grand Bay Alabama/Mississippi
Shore Proximal Marsh Sediment Deposition and Ancillary Data From Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi, From July 2018 to January 2020 (Version 2.0)
Benthic Foraminiferal Data from Surface Samples and Sedimentary Cores in the Grand Bay Estuary, Mississippi and Alabama
Effects of Late Holocene Climate and Coastal Change in Mobile Bay, Alabama: ADCIRC Model Input and Results
Sedimentary Data from Grand Bay, Alabama/Mississippi, 2014-2016
Sedimentary data from the lower Pascagoula River, Mississippi, USA
Multibeam Bathymetry Data Collected in 2018 from Grand Bay and Point Aux Chenes Bay Alabama/Mississippi
Shoreline Change Analysis for the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi Alabama: 1848 to 2017
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Salt marshes provide important economic and ecologic services but are vulnerable to habitat loss, particularly due to shoreline erosion from storms and sea level rise. Sediments eroded at the marsh edge are either delivered onto the marsh platform or into the estuary, the latter resulting in a net loss to the marsh sediment budget and released soil carbon.
This time-lapse video shows lateral erosion of a salt marsh in the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, part of an embayment near the city of Pascagoula, Mississippi, on the US Gulf coast. Wave action over the course of 6.5 months led to about 1.5 meters of erosion.
This time-lapse video shows lateral erosion of a salt marsh in the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, part of an embayment near the city of Pascagoula, Mississippi, on the US Gulf coast. Wave action over the course of 6.5 months led to about 1.5 meters of erosion.
Coastal wetland shoreline change monitoring: A comparison of shorelines from high-resolution WorldView satellite imagery, aerial imagery, and field surveys
Lateral shoreline erosion and shore-proximal sediment deposition on a coastal marsh from seasonal, storm and decadal measurements
Emerging dominance of Paratrochammina simplissima (Cushman and McCulloch) in the northern Gulf of Mexico following hydrologic and geomorphic changes
Gulf of Mexico blue hole harbors high levels of novel microbial lineages
Sediment dynamics of a divergent bay–marsh complex
Using multiple environmental proxies and hydrodynamic modeling to investigate Late Holocene climate and coastal change within a large Gulf of Mexico estuarine system (Mobile Bay, Alabama, USA)
Temperature mediates secondary dormancy in resting cysts of Pyrodinium bahamense (Dinophyceae)
Distribution of modern salt-marsh Foraminifera from the eastern Mississippi Sound, U.S.A.
Recent outer-shelf foraminiferal assemblages on the Carnarvon Ramp and Northwestern Shelf of Western Australia
Assessing the impact of open-ocean and back-barrier shoreline change on Dauphin Island, Alabama, at multiple time scales over the last 75 years
The effects of tropical cyclone-generated deposition on the sustainability of the Pearl River marsh, Louisiana: The importance of the geologic framework
Benthic foraminifera from the Carnarvon Ramp reveal variability in Leeuwin Current activity (Western Australia) since the Pliocene
A Century of Change in Grand Bay, Mississippi and Alabama
The Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in southern Mississippi was established to provide recreational and educational opportunities along with facilitating science-based coastal management; therefore, Grand Bay is the subject of numerous short and long-term environmental studies. The reserve is an important location for research and conservation.
The goal of the Estuarine and MaRsh Geology (EMRG) Research Project is to study how and where short- and long-term marsh and estuarine coastal processes interact, how they influence coastal accretion or erosion, and how they pre-condition a marsh’s resiliency to storms, sea-level change, and human alterations along the northern Gulf of Mexico (Grand Bay and Point aux Chenes, Mississippi and St. Marks, Florida).
Marsh and Estuarine Coastal Processes
Interactions between coastal estuaries, marshes, and upland environments are a complex web of inter-related and inter-connected physical and ecological processes. The Estuarine and MaRsh Geology (EMRG) project focuses on how specific geologic and geomorphic variables such as sediment properties and shoreface slope, respectively, impact the erosion and accretion rates of marsh environments in both the short- and long-term. To do this we use field observations, oceanographic sensors, and field collected sediment samples paired with marsh-estuarine system models run for various scenarios such as with a modified geomorphology or sea-level change.
Project Objectives:
1) Define the key geologic and geomorphic variables that influence marsh width and elevation for each study area,
2) Quantify elevation and geomorphic gradients along natural boundaries (upland-marsh, marsh-estuary, estuary-ocean), and
3) Evaluate the importance of geo-variables and gradients on marsh resiliency through modeling marsh-estuary systems.
Approach:
1) Assess key metrics through field collection, laboratory analyses, and data mining that link geologic variables with physical forces (such as hydrodynamics and storm events) and ecological responses that can be mapped and assessed over space and time:
A. Organic matter accumulation, inorganic sedimentation, elevation change
- Determine sediment provenance and properties
- Calculate short-term (tile) sedimentation rates (Be-7, Th-234)
- Calculate long-term (core) sedimentation rates (Pb-210, Cs-137)
- Identify foraminifera microfossils as proxies of paleo-marsh type
B. Bathymetric changes
- Collect multi-beam bathymetry to compare with past bathymetric maps
C. Shoreface slope and curvature
- Derive metrics from multi-beam surveys and satellite imagery
- Conduct shoreline survey using GPS during field work in Grand Bay and Pointe aux Chenes.
D. Geology of the marsh shoreline type and/or shallow stratigraphy
- Characterize environments, sediment properties, and marsh shoreline types at the surface and, where possible, downcore
E. Short and long-term shoreline change and measurements of lateral sediment flux
- Digitize historical topographic-sheets for comparison with modern shorelines to determine change in lateral extent of marsh platform
- Collect field and sensor measurements of marsh edge erosion and sediment delivery
F. Marsh-upland boundary change rates
- Identify foraminifera and diatom microfossils as proxies of paleo-marsh type, geomorphology, and environmental change
- Map depth to peat to determine modern and past lateral and vertical marsh extent
2) Incorporate results from field derived bathymetry, sediment, shoreface, shoreline, and oceanographic data analyses into numerical models to define marsh-estuarine system processes including coastal hydrodynamics (tides, waves) and sediment transport. These models improve our understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between oceanographic processes, geology, geomorphology, and marsh ecology under scenarios of past, present, and future conditions (for example, storms, sea-level change and modified geomorphology) and identify where more information may be required to advance our knowledge of marsh resiliency.
Explore other science related to this project.
Estuarine Shoreline Change Research Project
Sea-level and Storm Impacts on Estuarine Environments and Shorelines (SSIEES)
Sediment Core Microfossil Data Collected from the Coastal Marsh of Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi, USA
Sedimentologic Data from Point aux Chenes Marsh and Estuary, Mississippi
Multibeam Bathymetry Data Collected in 2019 from Grand Bay and Point Aux Chenes Bay Alabama/Mississippi
Sediment Radiochemical Data from Georgia, Massachusetts and Virginia Coastal Marshes
Multibeam Bathymetry Data Collected in 2016 from Grand Bay Alabama/Mississippi
Shore Proximal Marsh Sediment Deposition and Ancillary Data From Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi, From July 2018 to January 2020 (Version 2.0)
Benthic Foraminiferal Data from Surface Samples and Sedimentary Cores in the Grand Bay Estuary, Mississippi and Alabama
Effects of Late Holocene Climate and Coastal Change in Mobile Bay, Alabama: ADCIRC Model Input and Results
Sedimentary Data from Grand Bay, Alabama/Mississippi, 2014-2016
Sedimentary data from the lower Pascagoula River, Mississippi, USA
Multibeam Bathymetry Data Collected in 2018 from Grand Bay and Point Aux Chenes Bay Alabama/Mississippi
Shoreline Change Analysis for the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi Alabama: 1848 to 2017
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Salt marshes provide important economic and ecologic services but are vulnerable to habitat loss, particularly due to shoreline erosion from storms and sea level rise. Sediments eroded at the marsh edge are either delivered onto the marsh platform or into the estuary, the latter resulting in a net loss to the marsh sediment budget and released soil carbon.
Salt marshes provide important economic and ecologic services but are vulnerable to habitat loss, particularly due to shoreline erosion from storms and sea level rise. Sediments eroded at the marsh edge are either delivered onto the marsh platform or into the estuary, the latter resulting in a net loss to the marsh sediment budget and released soil carbon.
This time-lapse video shows lateral erosion of a salt marsh in the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, part of an embayment near the city of Pascagoula, Mississippi, on the US Gulf coast. Wave action over the course of 6.5 months led to about 1.5 meters of erosion.
This time-lapse video shows lateral erosion of a salt marsh in the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, part of an embayment near the city of Pascagoula, Mississippi, on the US Gulf coast. Wave action over the course of 6.5 months led to about 1.5 meters of erosion.
Coastal wetland shoreline change monitoring: A comparison of shorelines from high-resolution WorldView satellite imagery, aerial imagery, and field surveys
Lateral shoreline erosion and shore-proximal sediment deposition on a coastal marsh from seasonal, storm and decadal measurements
Emerging dominance of Paratrochammina simplissima (Cushman and McCulloch) in the northern Gulf of Mexico following hydrologic and geomorphic changes
Gulf of Mexico blue hole harbors high levels of novel microbial lineages
Sediment dynamics of a divergent bay–marsh complex
Using multiple environmental proxies and hydrodynamic modeling to investigate Late Holocene climate and coastal change within a large Gulf of Mexico estuarine system (Mobile Bay, Alabama, USA)
Temperature mediates secondary dormancy in resting cysts of Pyrodinium bahamense (Dinophyceae)
Distribution of modern salt-marsh Foraminifera from the eastern Mississippi Sound, U.S.A.
Recent outer-shelf foraminiferal assemblages on the Carnarvon Ramp and Northwestern Shelf of Western Australia
Assessing the impact of open-ocean and back-barrier shoreline change on Dauphin Island, Alabama, at multiple time scales over the last 75 years
The effects of tropical cyclone-generated deposition on the sustainability of the Pearl River marsh, Louisiana: The importance of the geologic framework
Benthic foraminifera from the Carnarvon Ramp reveal variability in Leeuwin Current activity (Western Australia) since the Pliocene
A Century of Change in Grand Bay, Mississippi and Alabama
The Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in southern Mississippi was established to provide recreational and educational opportunities along with facilitating science-based coastal management; therefore, Grand Bay is the subject of numerous short and long-term environmental studies. The reserve is an important location for research and conservation.