Suspended sediment deposition and trapping efficiency in a Delaware salt marsh

Abstract

This study examined sediment deposition and retention in a section of salt marsh in the St. Jones River estuary in Delaware. Sediment traps, siphon samplers, a LISST particle sizer, and four water level sensors were deployed in a 100 m by 200 m grid over the course of a spring tide in June 2007. The objective was to determine the relative influences of suspended sediment concentration, settling velocity, tidal hydroperiod, and vegetation density on sediment deposition and trapping efficiency within a small section of marsh. Hydroperiod is not a major contributor to sediment deposition in the study plot. Spatial patterns in depositional processes on tidal timescales are instead primarily controlled by overmarsh SSC, settling velocity, and distance from the tidal channel. Trapping efficiency, or the ratio of measured deposition and the amount of sediment available for deposition, decreased with distance away from the tidal channel, indicating that less of the available suspended sediment was deposited in the marsh interior. The suspended particles were flocculated, but floc sizes decreased with distance away from the tidal channel.