Changes in suspended sediment concentration along tidal rivers of the Chesapeake Bay: The tidal freshwater “sediment shadow”
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Abstract
Transport of terrigenic sediment from nontidal watersheds into estuaries has important impacts on coastal habitat quality, pollutant transport, and resilience to sea-level rise. However, relatively little is known about changes in suspended sediment as nontidal rivers encounter tide, transition into tidal rivers through the tidal freshwater zone (TFZ), and enter saline portions of estuaries. The goal of this paper is to identify spatial and temporal patterns in suspended sediment concentration (SS) changes across tidal and salinity gradients over multiple tidal rivers, using a robust monitoring long-term dataset from the Chesapeake Bay. The multiple TFZs in the Chesapeake Bay consistently have a “sediment shadow” shown by a local spatial minimum in SS compared to upstream nontidal and downgradient oligohaline river reaches. Similarly, freshwater inputs from nontidal rivers have diminishing influence on tidal SS temporal dynamics with distance downstream from the head-of-tide. Therefore, little of the contemporary watershed sediment load is likely transported past the TFZ except during extreme floods when some sediment may be delivered to saline portions of the estuary. Tidal freshwater and brackish portions of the estuary have spatially variable trends in SS over time, both increases and decreases. However, the more saline downstream ends of tidal rivers and the mainstem of the Chesapeake Bay have had a consistent average 25% decline in SS over the past decades. In summary, the presence of “sediment shadows” suggests watershed loads of sediment are currently mostly not transported through the TFZ into the saline estuary, and likely generate sediment deficits for tidal freshwater wetlands.
Suggested Citation
Noe, G.E., Murphy, R., and Krauss, K., 2026, Changes in suspended sediment concentration along tidal rivers of the Chesapeake Bay: The tidal freshwater “sediment shadow”: Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, v. 337, 109931, 14 p., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2026.109931.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Changes in suspended sediment concentration along tidal rivers of the Chesapeake Bay: The tidal freshwater “sediment shadow” |
| Series title | Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.ecss.2026.109931 |
| Volume | 337 |
| Publication Date | April 30, 2026 |
| Year Published | 2026 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Contributing office(s) | Florence Bascom Geoscience Center |
| Description | 109931, 14 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania |
| Other Geospatial | Chesapeake Bay |