JMEE Home · Issue Contents · Forthcoming Papers
The Influence of Waves and Sediment Composition on Tidal Basin Morphology and Salt marsh Evolution: Insights from a Hydrodynamic-Sediment-Vegetation Coupled Modeling Study
Shengtao Hu, Guoxiang Wu, Shengtao Du, Kemeng Wang, Bingchen Liang, Junbiao He, Xiangyang Chen, Jiayan Yang and Peng Wu
The decadal eco-morphological evolution of an idealized tidal basin is modeled with a hydro-morphodynamic model coupled with a dynamic vegetation module. The effects of bed composition, vegetation and wave forcing on the developed morphology patterns, elevation distributions, and vegetation extent are explored. Results show that different bed compositions produced distinct morphology patterns: muddy basins develop smoother channel-platform morphology, sandy basins formed more sinuous and spatially extensive channel networks with pronounced ebb deltas, and mixed basins showed intermediate feature. Vegetation increased intertidal elevation concentration and promoted seaward progradation of the intertidal zone, with the strongest effects in muddy and mixed basins; in sandy basins, vegetation effects were weaker because channel-shoal adjustment and ebb-delta development dominated morphology. Wave forcing reduced intertidal-area extent and shift the intertidal zone landward, whereas vegetation substantially reduced this wave-induced loss especially in muddy basins. In muddy basins, vegetation reduces wave-induced intertidal-area loss by approximately 48% and helps maintain higher inner-basin elevations. The tidal prism (P) and inlet cross-section area (A) relationship trajectories further indicated that bed composition, vegetation, and wave forcing alter the P-A relation adjustment pathway, shifting morphodynamic change among basin infilling, internal channel-shoal reworking, ebb-delta adjustment, and inlet enlargement. These findings have implications for predicting and managing vegetated tidal basins under wave exposure and sea-level rise with different bed sediment compositions.
Keywords: tidal basin; salt-marsh; bio-morphodynamics; sediment composition