Alviso Slough in South San Francisco Bay has been experiencing restoration of adjacent former salt-production ponds into muted tidal ponds, tidal ponds, and salt marsh. As a result, tidal prism through Alviso Slough has increased and mercury-contaminated sediment has been remobilized. We developed a 2D, high-resolution, process-based model (Delft3D FM-wave) to hindcast observed morpho-dynamic developments and to investigate associated sediment flux in the slough and pond system. Our results contrastingly demonstrate that a successful hindcast of the observed morphodynamic trend is made while reproducing observed intratidal suspended sediment concentrations in Alviso Slough remains a challenge. Our explanation is that the model is able to capture spatial gradients in the tide-residual sediment transports as the result of the large-scale management actions in the system, i.e., the opening of the salt ponds. These tide-residual processes are generally difficult to measure over an entire domain, but are very relevant to model the morphodynamic development. Our model provides a promising tool to trace eroding contaminated sediments to the benefit of restoration project managers and to support planning and design phases of adaptive management measures.
Successful hindcast of 7 years of mud morphodynamics influenced by salt pond restoration in south San Francisco Bay
Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
Study Area
| Publication type | Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Conference Paper |
| Title | Successful hindcast of 7 years of mud morphodynamics influenced by salt pond restoration in south San Francisco Bay |
| DOI | 10.1142/9789811275135_0103 |
| Publication Date | March 23, 2023 |
| Year Published | 2023 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | World Scientific |
| Contributing office(s) | Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center |
| Description | 6 p. |
| Larger Work Type | Book |
| Larger Work Subtype | Conference publication |
| Larger Work Title | Coastal Sediments Proceedings |
| First page | 1129 |
| Last page | 1134 |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Other Geospatial | South San Francisco Bay |