Quantifying 20th century deposition in complex estuarine environment: An example from the Hudson River

Abstract

Sediment processes in estuaries are controlled by the interaction of factors that include tides, fresh water inputs, bed morphology, sediment supply, and hydrodynamics. The interaction of these factors strongly influences the pattern of sediment deposition. The ability to quantify sediment deposition on a regional scale will improve the understanding of the underlying processes, and provide valuable information for managing estuarine systems. This paper describes our approach for obtaining the deposition pattern and quantifying the amount of 20th century impacted sediments in the Haverstraw Bay section of the Hudson River Estuary. Through the combination of high-resolution seismic data and rapidly acquired geochemical information from numerous sediment cores, we estimate that our study site experiences an average sediment accumulation rate of ∼3 mm/y and that ∼75,000 t/y or ∼10% of the annual total sediment input measured at the Poughkeepsie, NY gauging station (USGS) is stored in this reach of the Hudson River on ∼100 y timescales. A detailed analysis of the depositional pattern indicates that the accumulation rate varies considerably throughout the study area ranging from non-depositional to >8 mm/y. Our data also clearly indicate that the dredged channel in Haverstraw Bay is currently the main focus of deposition in this area.