Sediment delivery and accumulation in a developed area during coastal floods

The study area is a portion of a coastal community that is adjacent to a salt marsh and tidal creek. The developed area was built upon wetlands, and like the marsh, it floods during spring tides and strong coastal storms. Following floods, little visual evidence of sedimentation is in the built area, prompting the hypothesis that physical characteristics of coastal development limit sediment availability during floods and reduce deposition. Because the area floods from a tidal creek during the same events that lead to inundation of the adjacent high marsh, salt marshes are used as an analogue system for planning this research. Although salt marsh geomorphology is a starting point, people are endogenous actors at this site who influence geomorphic evolution by changing the flow of naturally occurring energy. Suspended sediment levels or deposition were measured during 10 flooding events. Water samples were collected from the tidal creek, at a catchbasin, at another location in the street, and in the Spartina patens marsh. Sediment is found to be delivered to the street in the same quantities and for the same duration as in the salt marsh. Suspended sediment levels are alike throughout the research area. The amount of sediment that accumulates following coastal floods was measured by placing samplers within the street and the marsh. Highly significant differences in sediment accumulation exist between the environments. After a flood event, much less sediment is deposited in the street than in the marsh.