The importance of marshes providing soil stabilization to resist fast-flow erosion in case of a dike breach.

ABSTRACT: Salt marshes provide valuable ecosystem services including coastal protection by reducing wave loading on dikes and seawalls. If the topsoil is erosion resistant to fast-flowing water, it may also reduce breach depth if a dike fails. In this experiment, we quantified the topsoil erosion resistance from marshes and bare tidal flats with different soil types to understand the extent to which they can help reduce breach depth. Intact soil samples were collected from 11 locations in the Netherlands at different tidal elevations and then exposed for 3 h to 2.3 m/s currents. To the samples that remained stable after flow exposure, an artificial crack was made to test their stability following soil disturbance. All samples from the tidal flats were completely eroded, regardless of sediment type.

SUBMITTER: Marin-Diaz B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9541637 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature