Skip to main content
Publications | Persons | Institutes | Projects
[ report an error in this record ]basket (1): add | show Print this page

one publication added to basket [354262]
Contrasting behaviour of sand and mud in a long‐term sediment budget of the Western Scheldt estuary
Dam, G.; Van der Wegen, M.; Taal, M.; van der Spek, A. (2022). Contrasting behaviour of sand and mud in a long‐term sediment budget of the Western Scheldt estuary. Sedimentology 69(5): 2267-2283. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/sed.12992
In: Sedimentology. Wiley-Blackwell: Amsterdam. ISSN 0037-0746; e-ISSN 1365-3091, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Authors  Top 

Abstract
    Understanding trends in estuarine sediment fluxes is of great interest to sustainable estuarine management addressing anthropogenic interferences and climate change. The long-term sediment budget of the Western Scheldt estuary, Netherlands, is investigated by a detailed analysis of a unique and long-term bathymetric data set and data of a three-dimensional subsurface model (‘GeoTop’). Different sediment types show contrasting transport behaviour. The Western Scheldt narrowed and deepened, while the estuary exported sand (1.5 to 2.5 million m3 per year) and imported mud (0.5 to 1.5 million m3 per year) over the 1860 to 1955 period. The eroded sand originated from the channels in the seaward part of the estuary and was dispersed in all directions. A significant amount of mud permanently deposited in the side branches, which were also gradually reclaimed. These results suggest that sediment characteristics potentially play a crucial role in deriving long-term sediment budgets and morphodynamic behaviour of estuarine environments. Future morphodynamic sand–mud model studies may reproduce and further explain the underlying transport processes of the current study.

All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors