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Investigation Into the Relationship Between Morphology and Tidal Flux In DItched and Non-DItched Salt Marsh Creek Systems, Rowley Massachusetts
Luciano, Katherine
Luciano, Katherine
Abstract
Anthropogenic alteration of many New England salt marshes through ditching has affected local hydrology and sedimentation patterns of marsh creeks in a variety of different ways. This study investigates the role of ditching in salt marsh morphology by comparing the ditch lengths, flooding patterns, and velocity-stage and hypsometric curves for two creek systems of varying ditch density located in the Rowley River tidal system of northeastern Massachusetts with data collected during June and July 2006. Resulting velocity-stage and hypsometry curves indicate that ditches play a role similar to that of natural channels during much of the tidal cycle. However, these curves also suggest that the presence of ditches in a creek influences the elevation of the marsh platform. Although velocity-stage and hypsometric curves indicate a similar morphologic maturity at elevations below the marsh platform, ditching has affected flooding patterns in such a way as to presumably alter depositional patterns along the platform of the two marshes studied, leading to an overall elevation difference of between 5 and 10 cm.
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2007-01-01
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Geology