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Estuarine and Coastal Morphodynamics and Dynamic Sedimentation
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Estuarine and Coastal Morphodynamics and Dynamic Sedimentation

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Oceans and Coastal Zones".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2023) | Viewed by 13924

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Heqin Cheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
Interests: coastal morphodynamics; dynamic sedimentation; Earth system science; global change; sediment mapping
Prof. Dr. Yijun Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Coastal Studies Institute, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
Interests: hydrology; fluvial geomorphology; biogeochemical cycling; sediment transport
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I propose this Special Issue focusing on the impact of climate change and sea-level rises, extreme floods and storms, human interventions in the morphodynamics of bedforms, shoreline changes, channel evolution, mouth bars, coastal barriers, etc. This Special Issue can include work about the impact of natural and human driving forces affecting dynamic sedimentation, such as estuarine circulation, mixing and stratification, sediment settling, flocculation, littoral currents, and rip currents. Technology for the observation and recognition of morphology and sedimentation is also of interest.

Prof. Dr. Heqin Cheng
Prof. Dr. Yijun Xu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • sediment settling
  • shoreline change
  • channel evolution
  • coastal barriers
  • human intervention in the morphodynamics of bedforms
  • dynamic sedimentation
  • estuarine turbidity maximum
  • recognition of the morphology

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 9006 KiB  
Article
Short-Term Sediment Dispersal on a Large Retreating Coastal River Delta via 234Th and 7Be Sediment Geochronology: The Mississippi River Delta Front
by Andrew Courtois, Samuel Bentley, Jillian Maloney, Kehui Xu, Jason Chaytor, Ioannis Y. Georgiou, Michael D. Miner, Jeffrey Obelcz, Navid H. Jafari and Melanie Damour
Water 2024, 16(3), 463; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16030463 - 31 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2326
Abstract
Many Mississippi River Delta studies have shown recent declines in fluvial sediment load from the river and associated land loss. In contrast, recent sedimentary processes on the subaqueous delta are less documented. To help address this knowledge gap, multicores were collected offshore from [...] Read more.
Many Mississippi River Delta studies have shown recent declines in fluvial sediment load from the river and associated land loss. In contrast, recent sedimentary processes on the subaqueous delta are less documented. To help address this knowledge gap, multicores were collected offshore from the three main river outlets at water depths of 25–280 m in June 2017 just after the peak river discharge period, with locations selected based on 2017 U.S. Geological Survey seabed mapping. The coring locations included the undisturbed upper foreset, mudflow lobes, gullies, and the undisturbed prodelta. Nine multicores were analyzed for Beryllium-7 activity, and four cores were analyzed for excess Thorium-234 activity via gamma spectrometry, granulometry and X-radiography. Our results indicate a general trend of declining 7Be and 234Th activities and inventories with increasing distance from sources and in deeper water. The core X-radiographs are graded from the predominantly physically stratified nearshore to the more bioturbated offshore, consistent with the sedimentation patterns. Sediment focusing assessed via the 7Be and 234Th sediment inventories shows preferential sedimentation in gully and lobe environments, whereas the upper foreset and prodelta focusing factors are relatively depleted. Overall, short-term sediment deposition from the main fluvial source remains active offshore from all three major river outlets, despite the overall declining river load. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Estuarine and Coastal Morphodynamics and Dynamic Sedimentation)
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18 pages, 11842 KiB  
Article
Sedimentary Processes and Instability on the Mississippi River Delta Front near the Shipwreck of the SS Virginia
by Nathan Figueredo, Samuel J. Bentley, Jason D. Chaytor, Kehui Xu, Navid Jafari, Ioannis Y. Georgiou, Melanie Damour, Jeffrey Duxbury, Jeffrey Obelcz and Jillian Maloney
Water 2024, 16(3), 421; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16030421 - 27 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2175
Abstract
Sediment cores were collected from a mudflow lobe (80 m water depth) offshore of the Mississippi River’s Southwest Pass in 2017 to better understand the sedimentology near the lobe entraining the SS Virginia shipwreck (sunk by a German U-boat in 1942) and surrounding [...] Read more.
Sediment cores were collected from a mudflow lobe (80 m water depth) offshore of the Mississippi River’s Southwest Pass in 2017 to better understand the sedimentology near the lobe entraining the SS Virginia shipwreck (sunk by a German U-boat in 1942) and surrounding Mississippi River delta front. Core analyses included 210Pb/137Cs geochronology, granulometry, and X-radiography. Sediment accumulation rates (SAR) calculated from excess 210Pb activity in multicores are 0.22–0.29 cm/y at seabed depths less than 20 cm and 0.29–0.51 cm/y at depths greater than 20 cm. Accumulation rates for 137Cs have been ~0.15 to ~0.37 cm/y since 1954 and 1963, respectively. Sediment accumulation rates from 210Pb, 137Cs geochronology and indicators of relative sedimentation and bioturbation from X-radiographs suggest that rates of sediment accumulation near the Virginia have declined since the mid-20th century. This may be explained by the multi-decade downslope mass transport of the mudflow lobe in which the shipwreck is embedded and decreases in sediment supply delivered offshore from the Mississippi river. Mass transport calculations of the Virginia lobe derived from core properties and published lobe advection rates suggest downslope mass transport is far higher than sediment resupply from the Mississippi river, consistent with recent studies of delta retreat. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Estuarine and Coastal Morphodynamics and Dynamic Sedimentation)
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25 pages, 6616 KiB  
Article
Deep Learning-Based Simulation of Surface Suspended Sediment Concentration in the Yangtze Estuary during Typhoon In-Fa
by Zhongda Ren, Chuanjie Liu, Yafei Ou, Peng Zhang, Heshan Fan, Xiaolong Zhao, Heqin Cheng, Lizhi Teng, Ming Tang and Fengnian Zhou
Water 2024, 16(1), 146; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16010146 - 29 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1287
Abstract
Effectively simulating the variation in suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in estuaries during typhoons is significant for the water quality and ecological conditions of estuarine shoal wetlands and their adjacent coastal waters. During typhoons, SSC undergoes large variations due to the significant changes in [...] Read more.
Effectively simulating the variation in suspended sediment concentration (SSC) in estuaries during typhoons is significant for the water quality and ecological conditions of estuarine shoal wetlands and their adjacent coastal waters. During typhoons, SSC undergoes large variations due to the significant changes in meteorological and hydrological factors such as waves, wind speed, and precipitation, which increases the difficulty in simulating SSC. Therefore, in this study, we use an optimized Principal Component Analysis Long Short-Term Memory (PCA-LSTM) framework with an attention mechanism to simulate the SSC in the Yangtze Estuary during Typhoon In-Fa. First, we integrate data from different sources into a multi-source dataset. Second, we use the PCA to reduce the dimensionality of the multi-source data and eliminate redundant variables in the feature data. Third, we introduce an attention mechanism to optimize the long and short-term memory (LSTM) model. Finally, we use the differential evolution (DE) algorithm for hyperparameter selection and merge the feature data with the SSC data as the input of the optimized LSTM network to simulate SSC. The results showed that SSC’s fitting coefficients (R2) at four hydrological stations improved by 7.5%, 6.1%, 7.4%, and 7.8%, respectively, using the attention-based PCA-LSTM compared to the PCA-LSTM. Moreover, compared to the traditional LSTM model, the R2 was improved by 33.8%, 30.5%, 32.0%, and 28.6%, respectively, using the attention-based PCA-LSTM framework. The study indicates that the selection of input variables can affect the model results. Introducing an attention mechanism can effectively optimize the PCA-LSTM framework and improve the simulation accuracy, which helps simulate the non-linear process of SSC variation occurring during Typhoon In-Fa. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Estuarine and Coastal Morphodynamics and Dynamic Sedimentation)
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13 pages, 6360 KiB  
Article
Subaqueous Topographic Deformation in Abandoned Delta Lobes—A Case Study in the Yellow River Delta, China
by Yunfeng Zhang, Yingying Chai, Caiping Hu, Yijun Xu, Yuyan Zhou, Huanliang Chen, Zijun Li, Shenting Gang and Shuwei Zheng
Water 2023, 15(11), 2050; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15112050 - 28 May 2023
Viewed by 1724
Abstract
Reduction in river discharge and sediment load has left deltaic lobes in the world’s many river deltas starving, but knowledge of how the subaqueous topography of these abandoned subdeltas responds to environmental changes is limited. In this study, we aimed to determine the [...] Read more.
Reduction in river discharge and sediment load has left deltaic lobes in the world’s many river deltas starving, but knowledge of how the subaqueous topography of these abandoned subdeltas responds to environmental changes is limited. In this study, we aimed to determine the long-term dynamics of the subaqueous seabed of abandoned delta lobes to advance current knowledge. As a case study, we selected an abandoned subdelta on the Yellow River Delta of the Bohai Sea, China, for which three-decade long (1984–2017) bathymetric data and long-term river discharge and sediment load records are available. We analyzed the seafloor surface change and quantified the void space from the sea water surface to the seafloor. In addition, we surveyed the seafloor surface with an M80 unmanned surface vehicle carrying a multibeam echo sounder system (MBES) in 2019 to obtain high-resolution microtopography information. We found that a net volume of 5.3 × 108 m3 of sediment was eroded from the study seabed within an area of 3.6 × 108 m2 during 1984–2017. This volumetric quantity is equivalent to 6.89 billion metric tons of sediment, assuming a bulk density of 1.3 t/m3 for the seabed sediment. The seabed erosion from 0 to −5 m, from −5 to −10 m, and below −10 m has showed a similar increasing trend over the past 33 years. These findings suggest that seabed erosion in this abandoned subdelta will very likely continue, and that other abandoned delta lobes in the world may have been experiencing similar seabed erosion due to the interruption of the sediment supply and sea level rise. It is not clear if the seabed erosion of abandoned delta lobes would have any effect on the stability of the coastal shoreline and continental shelf. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Estuarine and Coastal Morphodynamics and Dynamic Sedimentation)
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21 pages, 12841 KiB  
Article
Channel Bed Adjustment of the Lowermost Yangtze River Estuary from 1983 to 2018: Causes and Implications
by Ming Tang, Heqin Cheng, Yijun Xu, Hao Hu, Shuwei Zheng, Bo Wang, Zhongyong Yang, Lizhi Teng, Wei Xu, Erfeng Zhang and Jiufa Li
Water 2022, 14(24), 4135; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14244135 - 19 Dec 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2605
Abstract
Deltaic channels are significant landforms at the interface of sediment transfer from land to oceanic realms. Understanding the dynamics of these channels is urgent because delta processes are sensitive to climate change and adjustments in human activity. To obtain a better understanding of [...] Read more.
Deltaic channels are significant landforms at the interface of sediment transfer from land to oceanic realms. Understanding the dynamics of these channels is urgent because delta processes are sensitive to climate change and adjustments in human activity. To obtain a better understanding of the morphological processes of large deltaic channels, this study assessed the evolution and response mechanism of the South Channel and South Passage (SCSP) in the Yangtze Estuary between 1983 to 2018 using hydrology, multibeam echo sounding and historical bathymetry datasets. Decadal changes in riverbed volume and erosion/deposition patterns in the SCSP were assessed. The results showed that the SCSP experienced substantial deposition with a total volume of 26.90 × 107 m3 during 1983–2002, but significant bed erosion with a total volume of 26.04 ×107 m3 during 2003–2010. From 2011 to 2018, the estuarine riverbeds shifted from erosive to depositional, even though the deposition was relatively marginal (0.76 ×107 m3). We inferred that the SCSP have most likely changed from a net erosion phase to a deposition stage in response to local human activities including sand mining, river regulation project, and Deep Water Channel Regulation Project). The channel aggradation will possibly continue considering sea level rise and the ongoing anthropogenic impacts. This is the first field evidence reporting that the lowermost Yangtze River is reaching an equilibrium state in terms of channel erosion and, in fact, the Yangtze River Estuary channels are beginning to aggrade. The findings have relevant implications for the management of the Yangtze River and other lowland alluvial rivers in the world as global sea level continues rising and human intervention on estuarine systems persists. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Estuarine and Coastal Morphodynamics and Dynamic Sedimentation)
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19 pages, 7329 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Development of Coastal Areas: Port Expansion with Small Impacts on Estuarine Hydrodynamics and Sediment Transport Pattern
by Pablo Dias da Silva, Elisa Helena Fernandes and Glauber Acunha Gonçalves
Water 2022, 14(20), 3300; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14203300 - 19 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2377
Abstract
With the expansion of global trade and the growing traffic of increasingly larger ships to meet this demand, the need to expand port infrastructure appears as the main alternative. In this way, dredging operations for the maintenance and deepening of navigation channels, as [...] Read more.
With the expansion of global trade and the growing traffic of increasingly larger ships to meet this demand, the need to expand port infrastructure appears as the main alternative. In this way, dredging operations for the maintenance and deepening of navigation channels, as well as the expansion of evolution basins and berthing wharf areas become fundamental, generating large amounts of material removed from the bottom. Aiming at port expansion based on a sustainable development and minimization of the environmental impacts generated by these operations, it is necessary to seek alternatives for the destination of large volumes of dredged material. A sustainable alternative is to dispose these volumes on land in order to expand coastal areas (such as fattening beaches) and mooring pier areas. The present work presents a numerical modeling case study using the TELEMAC-3D model coupled to the suspended sediment module SEDI-3D. As an alternative, an existing island (Ilha do Terrapleno) will receive material dredged from the access channel to the Port of Rio Grande (southern Brazil) and will have its mooring area expanded. The study evaluated the impact that this change in the island’s configuration would generate on the hydrodynamics and on the deposition patterns of fine suspended sediments in its surroundings and in the adjacent navigation channel. Results indicated that in the navigation channel adjacent to Ilha do Terrapleno, the new configuration promoted changes in the hydrodynamics with a decrease in the mean current velocity around the island and throughout the water column, mainly in the north and central portions of the channel. This difference decreased towards the southern portion of the channel. This change in local hydrodynamics promoted small changes in the suspended sediment deposition patterns and in the bottom evolution. Thus, the sustainable expansion of the Port of Rio Grande operational capacity considering the creation of 3600 m of berthing wharf areas and minimum environmental impact proved viable when considering the Ilha do Terrapleno proposed configuration. Furthermore, this idea offers the possibility to dispose in land 722,910 m3 of dredged material, a sustainable alternative to the Port of Rio Grande development, and an inspiration for the sustainable development of other ports worldwide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Estuarine and Coastal Morphodynamics and Dynamic Sedimentation)
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