First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and Tides

We present a novel quantitative test of a 50-year-old hypothesis which asserts that river delta morphology is determined by the balance between river and marine influence. We define three metrics to capture the first-order morphology of deltas (shoreline roughness, number of distributary channel mou...

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Main Author: Tejedor, Alejandro (author)
Other Authors: Broaddus, C. M (author), Vulis, L. M (author), Nienhuis, J. H (author), Brown, J (author), Foufoula‐Georgiou, E (author), Edmonds, D. A (author)
Published: 2022
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Online Access:https://depot.sorbonne.ae/handle/20.500.12458/1332
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author Tejedor, Alejandro
author2 Broaddus, C. M
Vulis, L. M
Nienhuis, J. H
Brown, J
Foufoula‐Georgiou, E
Edmonds, D. A
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author_facet Tejedor, Alejandro
Broaddus, C. M
Vulis, L. M
Nienhuis, J. H
Brown, J
Foufoula‐Georgiou, E
Edmonds, D. A
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Tejedor, Alejandro
Broaddus, C. M
Vulis, L. M
Nienhuis, J. H
Brown, J
Foufoula‐Georgiou, E
Edmonds, D. A
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022-11-22T11:42:27Z
2022-11-22T11:42:27Z
2022
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 10.1029/2022GL100355
0094-8276
1944-8007
https://depot.sorbonne.ae/handle/20.500.12458/1332
10.1029/2022GL100355
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv en
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Geophysical Research Letters
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv environmental forcing
shoreline change
coastal sedimentology
coastal geomorphology
river
delta
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and Tides
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Controlled Vocabulary for Resource Type Genres::text::periodical::journal::contribution to journal::journal article
description We present a novel quantitative test of a 50-year-old hypothesis which asserts that river delta morphology is determined by the balance between river and marine influence. We define three metrics to capture the first-order morphology of deltas (shoreline roughness, number of distributary channel mouths, and presence/absence of spits), and use a recently developed sediment flux framework to quantify the river-marine influence. Through analysis of simulated and field deltas we quantitatively demonstrate the relationship between sediment flux balance and delta morphology and show that the flux balance accounts for at least 35% of the variance in the number of distributary channel mouths and 42% of the variance in the shoreline roughness for real-world and simulated deltas. We identify a tipping point in the flux balance where wave influence halts distributary channel formation and show how this explains morphological transitions in real world deltas.
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identifier_str_mv 10.1029/2022GL100355
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1944-8007
language_invalid_str_mv en
network_acronym_str sorbonner
network_name_str Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi repository
oai_identifier_str oai:depot.sorbonne.ae:20.500.12458/1332
publishDate 2022
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
repository.name.fl_str_mv
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spelling First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and TidesTejedor, AlejandroBroaddus, C. MVulis, L. MNienhuis, J. HBrown, JFoufoula‐Georgiou, EEdmonds, D. Aenvironmental forcingshoreline changecoastal sedimentologycoastal geomorphologyriverdeltaWe present a novel quantitative test of a 50-year-old hypothesis which asserts that river delta morphology is determined by the balance between river and marine influence. We define three metrics to capture the first-order morphology of deltas (shoreline roughness, number of distributary channel mouths, and presence/absence of spits), and use a recently developed sediment flux framework to quantify the river-marine influence. Through analysis of simulated and field deltas we quantitatively demonstrate the relationship between sediment flux balance and delta morphology and show that the flux balance accounts for at least 35% of the variance in the number of distributary channel mouths and 42% of the variance in the shoreline roughness for real-world and simulated deltas. We identify a tipping point in the flux balance where wave influence halts distributary channel formation and show how this explains morphological transitions in real world deltas.2022-11-22T11:42:27Z2022-11-22T11:42:27Z2022Controlled Vocabulary for Resource Type Genres::text::periodical::journal::contribution to journal::journal articleapplication/pdf10.1029/2022GL1003550094-82761944-8007https://depot.sorbonne.ae/handle/20.500.12458/133210.1029/2022GL100355enGeophysical Research Lettersoai:depot.sorbonne.ae:20.500.12458/13322022-11-24T11:01:57Z
spellingShingle First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and Tides
Tejedor, Alejandro
environmental forcing
shoreline change
coastal sedimentology
coastal geomorphology
river
delta
title First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and Tides
title_full First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and Tides
title_fullStr First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and Tides
title_full_unstemmed First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and Tides
title_short First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and Tides
title_sort First‐Order River Delta Morphology Is Explained by the Sediment Flux Balance From Rivers, Waves, and Tides
topic environmental forcing
shoreline change
coastal sedimentology
coastal geomorphology
river
delta
url https://depot.sorbonne.ae/handle/20.500.12458/1332