Combined effects of waves and plants on a mud deposition event at a mudflat-saltmarsh edge in the Bahía Blanca estuary

This study was carried out at the Bahía Blanca Estuary, Argentina, at the seaward edge of a saltmarsh. The saltmarsh-mudflat boundary in the study area shows sediment deposits at a higher elevation immediately seaward of the saltmarsh edge. We compared field determinations of water velocity, bed shear stress, wind wave conditions and variations of the bed elevation in the mudflat and within the Spartina alterniflora canopy at the seaward edge of a saltmarsh, and we evaluated the relative role of vegetation in the observed morphology. A mud deposition event that raised bed elevation in more than 5 cm occurred during the study period, with TSS concentrations > 500 mg l−1, but simultaneous measurements performed on the bed levels confirmed that the sediments deposited did not originate from local resuspension within the edge of the canopy. In similar tidal cycles in terms of local wave activity and bed shear stresses at the sampling site, deposition occurred only with winds aligned with the azimuth of the Canal Principal, reaching a maximum fetch of more than 20 km in front of the sampling site.