More extensive land loss expected on coastal deltas due to rivers jumping course during sea-level rise.

ABSTRACT: River deltas are home to hundreds of millions of people worldwide and are in danger of sinking due to anthropogenic sea-level rise, land subsidence, and reduced sediment supply. Land loss is commonly forecast by averaging river sediment supply across the entire delta plain to assess whether deposition can keep pace with sea-level rise. However, land loss and deposition vary across the landscape because rivers periodically jump course, rerouting sediment to distinct subregions called delta lobes. Here, we developed a model to forecast land loss that resolves delta lobes and tested the model against a scaled laboratory experiment. Both the model and the experiment show that rivers build land on the active lobe, but the delta incurs gradual land loss on inactive lobes that are cut off from se

SUBMITTER: Chadwick AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9351351 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature