Sediment dynamic responses of coastal salt marsh to wind waves and swells in a semi-open tidal flat.

Coastal salt marshes provide effective protection to the coastal environments they front against coastal erosion by reducing the incoming wave energy. Understanding sediment dynamic processes in coastal salt marshes environments is of crucial importance for coastal defense. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of Spartina alterniflora (S.

An eco-parametric method to derive sedimentation rates for coastal saltmarshes.

The saltmarsh plant Spartina alterniflora was introduced to the Jiangsu coasts, China and serves as an ecological engineer to reduce near-bed shear stress, trap fine-grained sediments and protect the coast from wave-induced erosion. The saltmarshes thus could record the Spartina colonization-driven changes within the sedimentary layers. Based on these ecological and sedimentological changes in sediments, we present a new eco-parametric method to estimate the sedimentation rate for the newly-formed wetlands in the Yancheng Wetland Nature Reserve for Rare Birds, Jiangsu.