Leonardi & Fagherazzi (2014) - wave attack Flashcards
According to analysis, when salt marshes are exposed to high wave energy conditions, what happens?
On the contrary, when wind waves are weak and the local marsh resistance is strong….
Their boundaries erode uniformly.
The resulting erosion events follow a Gaussian distribution, yielding a relatively smooth shoreline.
Jagged marsh boundaries form.
In this case, erosion episodes have a long-tailed frequency magnitude distribution with numerous low-magnitude events, but also high-magnitude episodes.
If salt marshes continue declining, we risk los- ing their valuable ecosystem services. Among other benefits, salt marshes also…
mitigate the impact of hurricanes and tsunamis, provide habitats for a variety of aquatic animal species, and medi- ate the exchange of sediments and contaminants between the marine and terrestrial environments
Salt marshes are very resilient with respect to vertical dynamics because…
feedbacks among inundation, organic matter accretion, plant growth, and sediment deposition allow the marsh to keep pace with sea-level rise.
However, recent results indicate that salt marshes are inherently weak with respect to…
horizontal erosion and that waves can trigger irreversible salt marsh deterioration even in the absence of sea- level rise.
As a result, salt marshes do not display lateral equilibrium, but are always contracting or expanding at rates of meters per year.
Self-organization refers to
the ability of certain nonequilibrium systems to develop structures and patterns in the absence of any ne tuning from external agents.
