Controls on sediment accretion and blue carbon burial in tidal saline wetlands: Insights from the Oregon coast, U.S.A.
Salt marshes and brackish scrub-shrub and forested tidal wetlands, collectively known as tidal saline wetlands, provide valuable services such as habitat for wildlife, protection from coastal flooding, and carbon sequestration.
Salt marshes and brackish scrub-shrub and forested tidal wetlands, collectively known as tidal saline wetlands, provide valuable services such as habitat for wildlife, protection from coastal flooding, and carbon sequestration. Despite their importance, tidal saline wetlands are threatened by sea level rise and scientists must better understand what controls their growth so as to make predictions of their future survival. Additionally, sediment accumulation within tidal saline wetlands is an important control on the amount of carbon sequestered in coastal areas; thus, understanding how these systems will evolve in the coming decades may shed light on the global carbon cycle and climate change. New results from the Oregon coast indicate that both the local pace of sea level rise and the amount of sediment delivered by rivers control tidal saline wetland growth. Because sea level rise is relatively slow in Oregon and Pacific Northwest rivers deliver relatively high amounts of sediment to the coast, Oregon tidal saline wetlands may be resistant to future drowning. However, of the seven estuaries studied, two showed evidence of drowning over the last century; the reasons for this are unclear but may relate to the local pace of sea level rise or other processes not accounted for in this study.
