Journal article
Spatial Variability of Sediment Transport Processes Over Intratidal and Subtidal Timescales Within a Fringing Coral Reef System
AWM Pomeroy, RJ Lowe, M Ghisalberti, G Winter, C Storlazzi, M Cuttler
Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface | AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION | Published : 2018
DOI: 10.1002/2017JF004468
Abstract
Sediment produced on fringing coral reefs that is transported along the bed or in suspension affects ecological reef communities as well as the morphological development of the reef, lagoon, and adjacent shoreline. This study quantified the physical process contribution and relative importance of sea-swell waves, infragravity waves, and mean currents to the spatial and temporal variability of sediment in suspension. Estimates of bed shear stresses demonstrate that sea-swell waves are the key driver of the suspended sediment concentration (SSC) variability spatially (reef flat, lagoon, and channels) but cannot fully describe the SSC variability alone. The comparatively small but statistically..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by U.S. Geological Survey
Funding Acknowledgements
A. W. P. is grateful for the support of a Robert and Maude Gledden Postgraduate Research Award and by The Gowrie Trust Fund (2013, 2014). G. W. acknowledges the support of an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship, an Australian Postgraduate Award, and an EA and CH Jenkins scholarship. M. C. acknowledges the support of a Scholarship for International Research Fees and a University International Stipend. This project was funded by the Western Australia Marine Science Institute (WAMSI) Dredging Science Node (Theme 2/3), an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT110100201), and an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP140102026) to R. J. L., as well as the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program. The authors thank Sana Dandan, Jim Falter, Jeff Hansen, Malcolm McCulloch, and Leonardo Ruiz Montoya for their assistance during the experiment. We thank Mark Buckley, Ana Vila-Concejo, Daniel Harris, and Javier Leon who reviewed this manuscript. Data sets analyzed in this manuscript are available from http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.126670.