We are reviewing the data inputs from the previous SLAMM study and noticed that 0.5 mm/yr was used as the beach sedimentation rate throughout the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. I could not find any information on this choice and was wondering if it was a default setting or based on previous accretion or sediment studies.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Obviously choosing a single sedimentation rate for beaches and tidal flats over a large geographic area is quite simplistic. Sedimentation rates will spatially vary considerably, even over a single beach or tidal flat region. However, we did not have any specific sedimentation data for this project and it was furthermore beyond the scope of our work to try to produce a spatial map of sedimentation to drive the model. For this reason we used a rough relationship that was regularly used by the model developer Dr. Richard Park in which sedimentation rates in non vegetated areas are roughly 0.1 of those rates within marshes. This resulted in the rough average of 0.5 that you see in the model.