Constraints on marsh response to accelerating sea level rise
January 26, 2023
Here we provide data used to report on changes in tidal marsh elevation in relation to our network of 387 fixed benchmarks in tidal marshes on four continents measured for an average of 10 years. During this period RSLR at these marshes reached on average 6.6 mm yr-1, compared to 0.34 mm yr-1 over the past millennia. While the rate of sediment accretion corresponded to RSLR, the loss of elevation to shallow subsidence increased in proportion to the accretion rate. This caused a deficit between elevation gain and RSLR which increased consistently with the rate of RSLR regardless of position within the tidal frame, suggesting that long-term in situ tidal marsh survival is unlikely. While higher tidal range (>3m) conferred a greater stability in measures of shoreline change and vegetation cover, other regions showed a tendency towards instability and retreat.
Citation Information
Publication Year | 2023 |
---|---|
Title | Constraints on marsh response to accelerating sea level rise |
DOI | 10.5066/P9UZ4LQ2 |
Authors | Glenn R Guntenspergen |
Product Type | Data Release |
Record Source | USGS Asset Identifier Service (AIS) |
USGS Organization | Eastern Ecological Science Center at the Leetown Research Laboratory |
Rights | This work is marked with CC0 1.0 Universal |
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