Collaborative Research: Sediment Transport and Storage in Tidal Floodplain Waterbodies

在许多潮汐河流的泛滥平原上，牛津湖、河外海湾、采石场和其他回水环境很常见，为大量细粒存储提供了必要的居住空间。这项基于过程的研究将定量评估这些潮滩水体的充填方式。该项目的动机是这些环境在沉积物和相关污染物的储存中发挥的重要作用，以及这些未被研究的系统对当地生态系统和人类群体的广泛意义。这项研究的总体目标是：1)量化控制潮滩水体内迁移和捕获的时间和大小的主导过程；2)评估这些环境在河流-S细粒沉积预算中的存储作用；以及3)评估沉积物和相关污染物的存储速率如何随土地利用变化、工业发展和潮汐影响而变化。康涅狄格河下游是潮汐河流的典型代表，潮汐泛滥平原水体突出，将作为我们的现场。我们的研究方法结合了水柱观察、数值模型模拟和广泛的取心运动，旨在涵盖限制细粒圈闭和存储所需的所有主要空间和时间尺度。与世界各地的低洼海岸线类似，美国东海岸拥有丰富的潮汐河流和边缘潮汐环境。该项目将获得有关沉积物和相关重金属污染物在这些潮汐环境中如何分布的基本信息。这项研究还有额外的意义，因为我们的实地考察地点(康涅狄格河)是东北部最大的水系，是美国环保局指定的仅有的14条美国遗产河之一，是联合国承认的26个美国湿地中的26个，也是40个最后的伟大地方之一。在西半球，由自然保护协会指定。教育外展包括本科生在高中课堂上的陈述，以及高中高年级学生有机会在夏季与研究团队一起进行为期六周的实习。我们将用这个项目的资金培养一名博士生。

Oxbow lakes, off-river coves, quarries and other backwater environments are common along the floodplain of many tidal rivers, and provide the accommodation space necessary for significant amounts of fine-grained storage. This process-based study will quantitatively evaluate the manner in which these tidal floodplain waterbodies infill. The project is motivated by the important role these environments play in the storage of sediments and associated contaminants, and the broad significance of these understudied systems to local ecosystems and human populations. The overarching goals of this study are to: 1) quantify the dominant processes governing the timing and magnitude of transport and trapping within tidal floodplain waterbodies; 2) evaluate the role these environments play in the storage of a river?s fine grained sedimentary budget; and 3) assess how sediment and associated contaminant storage rates vary in response to land-use changes, industrial development, and tidal influence. The lower reach of the Connecticut River exemplifies a tidal river with prominent tidal floodplain waterbodies and will serve as our field site. Our research approach combines water column observations, numerical model simulations, and an extensive coring campaign, and is designed to encompass all of the primary spatial and temporal scales necessary to constrain fine-grained trapping and storage.Similar to low-lying coastlines around the world, the east coast of the U.S. is rich with tidal rivers and fringing tidal settings. This project will gain essential information on how sediment and associated heavy metal contaminants are distributed within these tidal environments. The study has additional significance in that our field site (the Connecticut River), is the largest river system in the northeast, one of only 14 American Heritage Rivers designated by the U.S. EPA, among only 26 U.S. wetlands recognized for international significance by the United Nations, and among 40 of the ?Last Great Places? in the Western Hemisphere designated by The Nature Conservancy. Educational outreach includes undergraduate presentations to high school classes, and the opportunity for high school seniors to work with the research team over a six-week internship in the summer. We will train one Ph.D. student with funding from this project.