Modeling the preservation potential of tidal flat sedimentary records, Jiangsu coast, eastern China

A forward modeling approach is proposed to simulate the preservation potential of tidal flat deposits. The preservation potential is expressed as a function of net deposition rate and a factor that represents the vertical flux of suspended load, or seabed lowering during erosion periods associated with bedload transport. The model takes into account a number of geometric parameters of a tidal flat sediment system and sediment dynamic processes. The former includes high water level, total sediment supply, the annual rate of the supply, the ratio of mud to bilk sediment in the supply, the bed slope of the tidal flat profile, as well as the slope of the stratigraphic boundary; the latter includes spring-neap cycles of tidal water level changes, boundary layer processes, resuspension of fine-grained sediments, bedload transport due to tidal currents, and bed elevation changes in response to sediment movement. Using this model, numerical experiments are carried out for a tidal flat system on the Jiangsu coast, eastern China, with the input data being derived from literature and from a series of sediment cores collected along an onshore–offshore transect. The results show that the preservation potential is highest over the upper part of the inter-tidal zone and in the lower part of the sub-tidal zone, and lowest near mean sea level and at low water on springs. The preservation potential tends to decrease with the advancement of the shoreline. The bed slope, tidal current direction and resuspension intensity influence the spatial distributions of the preservation potential. An implication of these results is that the temporal resolution of the tidal flat record depends upon the location and depth within the deposit; this should be taken into account in the interpretation of sedimentary records. Further studies are required to improve the model, on the hydrodynamic processes associated with extremely shallow water depths, sediment dynamic modeling of bed slope and profile shape, and the combined action of tides and waves for sediment transport on tidal flats.