Vegetation Reconfigures Barrier Coasts and Affects Tidal Basin Infilling Under Sea Level Rise

This is the final version. Available on open access from the American Geophysical Union via the DOI in this recordData Availability Statement: Delft3D steering settings from our reference scenarios (model 1 and model 5) and main model results are available at the repository YODA (Boechat Albernaz, 2022). Delft3D source code is freely distributed and available at the Deltares (SVN) repository from Boechat Albernaz (2019). The vegetation module is also available at Brückner (2020) based on Brückner et al. (2019). Data from natural systems (see Figure 9) were obtained from DGT (2011), Richardson et al. (2018), Donatelli et al. (2020), and Sievers et al. (2020).Worldwide, many tidal basins associated with barrier coasts have infilled over the past millennia due to the combination of sediment supply, wave-tidal sediment transport, and eco-engineering effects of vegetation. However, the biogeomorphological interactions between saltmarsh and the morphodynamics of an entire coastal barrier system are poorly understood, especially under sea level rise (SLR). Here, we study the evolution of a barrier coast for combinations of mud availability, presence of vegetation, and SLR. We developed a novel biogeomorphological model of an idealized barrier coast enclosing a tidal basin with sandy-clayey sediments that was subjected to tides and waves for a century. The morphodynamic Delft3D model was coupled to a vegetation code which accounts for the dynamics of marsh-type vegetation. Initially, vegetation contributed to reducing the tidal prism while sediment was imported. However, with SLR this trend was reversed and the tidal basins started to export sediment for vegetated runs after about 50–60 years while the unvegetated scenarios continued to infill in pace with the SLR. The sediment export was caused by cascading biomorphodynamic feedback effects triggered by vegetation which modified channel and shoal dynamics. Even under higher mud supply, the SLR resulted in vegetation collapse. The hypsometries, similar to natural systems, showed that vegetated systems converge to an alternative stable state condition. We conclude that the long-term resilience of the tidal basin associated with sediment infilling under SLR can be reduced by cascading large-scale effects of vegetation on the morphodynamics of barrier coasts.European Research Council (ERC

Learning from natural sediments to tackle microplastics challenges: A multidisciplinary perspective

Although the study of microplastics in the aquatic environment incorporates a diversity of research fields, it is still in its infancy in many aspects while comparable topics have been studied in other disciplines for decades. In particular, extensive research in sedimentology can provide valuable insights to guide future microplastics research. To advance our understanding of the comparability of natural sediments with microplastics, we take an interdisciplinary look at the existing literature describing particle properties, transport processes, sampling techniques and ecotoxicology. Based on our analysis, we define seven research goals that are essential to improve our understanding of microplastics and can be tackled by learning from natural sediment research, and identify relevant tasks to achieve each goal. These goals address (1) the description of microplastic particles, (2) the interaction of microplastics with environmental substances, (3) the vertical distribution of microplastics, (4) the erosion and deposition behaviour of microplastics, (5) the impact of biota on microplastic transport, (6) the sampling methods and (7) the microplastic toxicity. When describing microplastic particles, we should specifically draw from the knowledge of natural sediments, for example by using shape factors or applying methods for determining the principal dimensions of non-spherical particles. Sediment transport offers many fundamentals that are transferable to microplastic transport, and could be usefully applied. However, major knowledge gaps still exist in understanding the role of transport modes, the influence of biota on microplastic transport, and the importance and implementation of the dynamic behaviour of microplastics as a result of time-dependent changes in particle properties in numerical models. We give an overview of available sampling methods from sedimentology and discuss their suitability for microplastic sampling, which can be used for creating standardised guidelines for future application with microplastics. In order to comprehensively assess the ecotoxicology of microplastics, a distinction must be made between the effects of the polymers themselves, their physical form, the plastic-associated chemicals and the attached pollutants. This review highlights areas where we can rely on understanding and techniques from sediment research - and areas where we need new, microplastic-specific knowledge - and synthesize recommendations to guide future, interdisciplinary microplastic research

Bank strength variability and its impact on the system-scale morphodynamics of the upper Amazon River in Brazil

This is the author accepted manuscriptLarge anabranching rivers form channels in sediments of varying strength, resulting from erosional and depositional processes that act over geological timescales. Although bank strength variability is known to affect channel morphodynamics, its impact on the migration of large sand bed rivers remains poorly understood. We report the first in-situ measurements of bank strength from a ~100 km long reach of the Solimões River, the Brazilian Amazon River upstream of Manaus. These show that cohesive muds in Pleistocene terraces along the river’s right margin have bank strengths up to three times greater than Holocene floodplain deposits comprising the left bank. Image analysis suggests these resistant outcrops determine channel-bar dynamics: channel widening and bar deposition are inhibited, which lowers planform curvature and reduces erosion of the opposing bank. Planform analysis of the 1,600 km long Solimões River between 1984-2021 shows that where the channel is associated with Pleistocene terraces, lower rates of bank erosion and bar deposition are evident. Heterogeneity in bank strength is thus a first-order control on the large-scale morphodynamics of the world’s largest lowland river

Learning from natural sediments to tackle microplastics challenges: A multidisciplinary perspective

Although the study of microplastics in the aquatic environment incorporates a diversity of research fields, it is still in its infancy in many aspects while comparable topics have been studied in other disciplines for decades. In particular, extensive research in sedimentology can provide valuable insights to guide future microplastics research. To advance our understanding of the comparability of natural sediments with microplastics, we take an interdisciplinary look at the existing literature describing particle properties, transport processes, sampling techniques and ecotoxicology. Based on our analysis, we define seven research goals that are essential to improve our understanding of microplastics and can be tackled by learning from natural sediment research, and identify relevant tasks to achieve each goal. These goals address (1) the description of microplastic particles, (2) the interaction of microplastics with environmental substances, (3) the vertical distribution of microplastics, (4) the erosion and deposition behaviour of microplastics, (5) the impact of biota on microplastic transport, (6) the sampling methods and (7) the microplastic toxicity. When describing microplastic particles, we should specifically draw from the knowledge of natural sediments, for example by using shape factors or applying methods for determining the principal dimensions of non-spherical particles. Sediment transport offers many fundamentals that are transferable to microplastic transport, and could be usefully applied. However, major knowledge gaps still exist in understanding the role of transport modes, the influence of biota on microplastic transport, and the importance and implementation of the dynamic behaviour of microplastics as a result of time-dependent changes in particle properties in numerical models. We give an overview of available sampling methods from sedimentology and discuss their suitability for microplastic sampling, which can be used for creating standardised guidelines for future application with microplastics. In order to comprehensively assess the ecotoxicology of microplastics, a distinction must be made between the effects of the polymers themselves, their physical form, the plastic-associated chemicals and the attached pollutants. This review highlights areas where we can rely on understanding and techniques from sediment research - and areas where we need new, microplastic-specific knowledge - and synthesize recommendations to guide future, interdisciplinary microplastic research