Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Surface elevation change in natural and re-created intertidal habitats, eastern England, UK, with particular reference to Freiston Shore

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Wetlands Ecology and Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Quantification of processes contributing to overall surface elevation change is critical to the accurate assessment of saltmarsh sedimentary status, particularly when predicting system stability in relation to accelerated sea level rise. Rates of short-term (up to 5.5 years) surface elevation change and accretion on a temperate saltmarsh were measured at an open coast managed realignment (habitat creation) trial, and the surrounding intertidal zone using surface elevation table–marker horizon (accretion plate) methodologies. Mean surface elevation changes on vegetated saltmarsh control sites, at some distance from the hydrodynamic disturbance of breaches in a former sea defence line, showed rates of change compatible with marsh surface dynamics seen elsewhere in the region, exceeding rates of regional relative sea-level rise. Within the managed realignment, sites close to the breaches showed exceptionally high rates of both accretion and surface elevation change, most likely as a result of high localized sediment supply from breach and channel enlargement and the presence of surfaces left unnaturally low in the tidal frame. Positive surface elevation change on the landward side of the breaches reached >30.4 mm a−1, up to one hundred times greater than rates of surface elevation change at locations 1 km from the breach entrances. Shallow sub-surface processes, or ‘surface subsidence’, was an important process on natural marshes outside the managed realignment but not seen within the site, due to the consolidated nature of the underlying substrate. The Freiston Shore managed realignment site shows remarkably similar time variation in mean elevation to that of the longer record from the Tollesbury managed realignment site, Blackwater estuary, Essex coast, UK. It is not clear how long it will take for re-created intertidal habitats at both Freiston Shore and Tollesbury to approach an ‘equilibrium’ elevation within the tidal frame but modelling suggests that in natural wetlands on the coast of eastern England this process takes at least 150 years.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ABPmer (Associated British Ports Marine Environmental Research) (2010) The online managed realignment guide. Available at http://www.abpmer.net/omreg/. Accessed 20 February 2011

  • Allen JRL (1990) Salt-marsh growth and stratification: a numerical model with special reference to the Severn Estuary, Southwest Britain. Mar Geol 95:77–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen JRL (2000) Morphodynamics of Holocene salt marshes: a review sketch from the Atlantic and Southern North Sea Coasts of Europe. Quaternary Sci Rev 19:1155–1231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boumans R, Day JW Jr (1993) High precision measurements of sediment elevation in shallow coastal areas using a sedimentation–erosion table. Estuaries 16:375–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brew D, Williams A (2002) Shoreline movement and shoreline management in The Wash, eastern England. In: Littoral conference 2002, the changing coast, Porto, Portugal, pp 313–320

  • Brown SL (1998) Sedimentation on a Humber saltmarsh. In: Black KS, Paterson DM, Cramp A (eds) Sedimentary processes in the intertidal zone (Geological Society special publications 139). The Geological Society Publishing House, Bath, pp 69–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown SL, Pinder A, Scott L, Bass J, Rispin E, Brown S, Garbutt A, Thomson A, Spencer T, Möller I, Brooks SM (2007) Wash Banks Flood Defence Scheme, Freiston Environmental Monitoring 2002–2006. NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Dorset, Report to the Environment Agency, Peterborough

  • Burgin S (2010) ‘Mitigation banks’ for wetland conservation: A major success or an unmitigated disaster? Wetl Ecol Manag 18:49–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cahoon DR, Reed DJ, Day JW Jr (1995) Estimating shallow subsidence in microtidal salt marshes of the Southeastern United States: Kay and Barghoorn revisited. Mar Geol 128(1):1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cahoon DR, Marin PE, Black BK, Lynch JC (2000) A method for measuring vertical accretion, elevation and compaction of soft, shallow-water sediments. J Sedim Res 70(5):1250–1253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cahoon DR, Lynch JC, Hensel PF, Boumans R, Perez BC, Segura B, Day JW Jr (2002) High precision measurement of wetland sediment elevation. I. Recent improvements to the sedimentation–erosion table. J Sedim Res 72(5):730–733

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang SC, Evans G (1992) Sources of sediment and sediment transport on the east coast of England: Significant coincidental phenomena? Mar Geol 107:283–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CIRIA (2004) Coastal and estuarine managed realignment—design issues, Publication C628. Construction Industry Research and Information Association, London

  • Cooper NJ, Leggett DJ, Pontee NI, Elliot CR (2004) The role of physical processes in the design of ‘managed retreat’ sites. In: Proceedings of littoral 2004, Aberdeen, Scotland, pp 490–495

  • Crooks S, Sharpe J (2007) California Dreamin’—lessons in coastal marsh restoration from San Francisco Bay. In: 42nd DEFRA flood and coastal management conference, 03.1.01–03.1.12

  • Crooks S, Schutten J, Sheern GD, Pye K, Davy AJ (2002) Drainage and elevation as factors in the restoration of salt marsh in Britain. Restor Ecol 10(3):591–602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cundy AB, Long AJ, Hill CT, Spencer C, Croudace IW (2002) Sedimentary response of Pagham Harbour, southern England to barrier breaching in AD 1910. Geomorphology 46:163–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Day JW Jr, Hall CA, Yañez-Arancibia A, Pimentel D, Ibañez Marti C, Mitsch WJ (2009) Ecology in a time of scarcity. Bioscience 59:321–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis S, Atherton JK (2003) Properties and development of soils on reclaimed alluvial sediments of the Humber Estuary, eastern England. Catena 52:129–147

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Evans G, Collins MB (1975) The transportation and deposition of suspended sediment over the intertidal flats of the Wash. In: Hails JR, Carr A (eds) Nearshore sediment dynamics and sedimentation. Wiley, Chichester, pp 273–306

    Google Scholar 

  • French JR (1993) Numerical simulation of vertical marsh growth and adjustment to accelerated sea-level rise, North Norfolk, UK. Earth Surf Process Landf 81:63–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French PW (1999) Managed retreat: a natural analogue from the Medway Estuary, UK. Ocean Coast Manag 42:49–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French JR (2006a) Tidal marsh sedimentation and resilience to environmental change: exploratory modelling of tidal, sea-level and sediment supply forcing in predominantly allochthonous systems. Mar Geol 235:119–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French PW (2006b) Managed realignment—the developing story of a comparatively new approach to soft engineering. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 67:409–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French JR (2008) Hydrodynamic modelling of estuarine flood defence realignment as an adaptive management response to sea-level rise. J Coast Res 24(2B):1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French JR, Spencer T (1993) Dynamics of sedimentation in a tide-dominated Backbarrier Salt Marsh, Norfolk, UK. Mar Geol 110:315–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French CE, French JR, Clifford NJ, Watson CJ (2000) Sedimentation–erosion dynamics of abandoned reclamations, the role of waves and tides. Cont Shelf Res 20:1711–1733

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friess DA (2009) Impacts of managed realignment on low-lying coasts. Dissertation, University of Cambridge

  • Friess DA, Spencer T, Möller I (2008) Managed realignment and the re-establishment of saltmarsh habitat, Freiston Shore, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, In: ProAct Network: the role of environmental management and eco-engineering in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. ProAct Network/United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. Available at http://proactnetwork.org/proactwebsite/

  • Garbutt RA, Reading CJ, Wolters M, Gray AJ, Rothery P (2006) Monitoring the development of intertidal habitats on former agricultural land after the managed realignment of coastal defences at Tollesbury, Essex, UK. Mar Pollut Bull 53:155–164

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson RE (1958) The progress of consolidation in a clay layer increasing in thickness with time. Géotechnique 8:171–182

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Halcrow (1999) Wash banks: Hobhole to Butterwick Low: hydrodynamic, geomorphic and environmental assessment. Halcrow Group Ltd, Lincoln

    Google Scholar 

  • Hazelden J, Boorman LA (2001) Soils and ‘managed retreat’ in south east England. Soil Use Manag 17:150–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill MI, Randerson PF (1987) Saltmarsh vegetation communities of The Wash and their recent development. In: Doody P, Barnett B (eds) The Wash and its environment. Report of a conference held on 8–10 April 1987 at Horncastle, Lincolnshire (Research and Survey in Nature Conservation, Series 7). Nature Conservancy Council, Peterborough

  • Hughes RG, Fletcher PW, Hardy MJ (2009) Successional development of saltmarsh in two managed realignment areas in SE England, and prospects for saltmarsh restoration. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 384:13–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ke X, Evans G, Collins MB (1996) Hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of the Wash Embayment, eastern England. Sedimentology 43:157–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kearney MS, Stevenson JC, Ward LG (1994) Spatial and temporal changes in marsh vertical accretion rates at Monie Bay: implications for sea-level rise. J Coast Res 10:1010–1020

    Google Scholar 

  • Kestner FJT (1962) The old coastline of The Wash. Geogr J 128(4):457–471

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirwan ML, Murray AB (2007) A coupled geomorphic and ecological model of tidal marsh evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:6118–6122

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Langerfeldt VJ (1935) Untermeerische Scharrkreise in Schlick. Natur und Volk: Senkenbergische naturforschende Gesellschaft 65:458–461

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin D, Bertasi F, Colangelo MA, de Vries M, Frost M, Hawkins SJ, Macpherson E, Moschella PS, Paola Satta M, Thompson RC, Ceccherelli VU (2005) Ecological impact of coastal defence structures on sediment and mobile fauna: evaluating and forecasting consequences of unavoidable modifications of native habitats. Coast Eng 52(10–11):1027–1051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Möller I, Spencer T, French JR, Leggett DJ, Dixon M (2001) The sea-defence value of salt marshes—a review in the light of field evidence from North Norfolk. Water Environ J 15:109–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris JT, Sundareshwar PV, Nietch CT, Kjerfve B, Cahoon DR (2002) Responses of coastal wetlands to rising sea-level. Ecology 83:2869–2877

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nottage AS, Robertson PA (2005) The saltmarsh creation handbook: a project manager’s guide to the creation of saltmarsh and intertidal mudflat. The RSPB, Sandy and CIWEM, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Oenema O, DeLaune RD (1988) Accretion rates in salt marshes in the Eastern Scheldt, south-west Netherlands. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 26:379–394

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Perry JE, Barnard TA, Bradshaw JG, Friedrichs CT, Havens KJ, Mason PA, Priest WI, Silberhorn GM (2001) Creating tidal salt marshes in the Chesapeake Bay. J Coast Res (Special Issue) 27:170–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Pethick JS (2002) Estuarine and tidal wetland restoration in the United Kingdom: policy versus practice. Restor Ecol 10:431–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pontee NI (2007) Re-alignment in low-lying coastal areas: UK experiences. Proc Inst Civ Eng Marit Eng 160:155–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Pye K (1995) Controls on long-term salt-marsh accretion and erosion in The Wash, eastern England. J Coast Res 11:337–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawson J, Brown S, Collins M, Hamer B (2004) Freiston Shore—lessons learnt for realignment design and habitat creation. In: Proceedings of littoral 2004, Aberdeen Scotland, pp 502–507

  • Reading CJ, Garbutt RA, Watts CW, Rothery P, Turk A, Yates M, Boffey C, Saunders J, Wolters M (2008) Managed realignment at Tollesbury. R&D Technical Report FD 1922/TR. Joint Defra/EA Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management R&D Programme. DEFRA, London

  • Rodwell JS (2000) British plant communities, vol 5. Maritime communities and vegetation of open habitats. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Rotman R, Naylor L, McDonnell R, MacNiocaill C (2008) Sediment transport on the Freiston Shore managed realignment site: an investigation using environmental magnetism. Geomorphology 100(3–4):241–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santin C, de la Rosa JM, Knicker H, Otero XL, Alvarez MA, Gonzalez-Vila FJ (2009) Effects of reclamation and regeneration processes on organic matter from estuarine soils and sediments. Org Geochem 40:931–941

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sen PK (1968) Estimate of the regression coefficient based on Kendall’s tau. J Am Stat Assoc 63(324):1379–1389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skempton AW (1970) The consolidation of clays by gravitational compaction. Q J Geol Soc Lond 125:373–411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spearman J (2011) The development of a tool for examining the morphological evolution of managed realignment sites. Cont Shelf Res 31(Suppl 10):S199–S210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer KL, Cundy AB, Davies-Hearn S, Hughes R, Turner S, MacLeod CL (2008) Physicochemical changes in sediments at Orplands Farm, Essex, UK following 8 years of managed realignment. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 76:608–619

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoddart DR, Reed DJ, French JR (1989) Understanding salt marsh accretion, Scolt Head Island, Norfolk, England. Estuaries 12:228–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Symonds AM (2006) Impacts of coastal realignment on intertidal sediment dynamics: Freiston Shore, The Wash. Dissertation, University of Southampton

  • Symonds AM, Collins MB (2004) Sediment dynamics associated with managed realignment; Freiston Shore, The Wash, UK. Proceedings of the 29th International Conference of Coastal Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal, pp 3173–3185

  • Symonds AM, Collins MB (2007a) The development of artificially created breaches in an embankment as part of a managed realignment, Freiston Shore, UK. J Coast Res (Special Issue) 50:130–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Symonds AM, Collins MB (2007b) The establishment and degeneration of a temporary creek system in response to managed realignment: The Wash, UK. Earth Surf Process Landf 32:1783–1796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson AG, Huiskes A, Cox R, Wadsworth RA, Boorman LA (2004) Short-term vegetation succession and erosion identified by airborne remote sensing of Westerschelde saltmarshes, The Netherlands. Int J Remote Sens 25:4151–4176

    Google Scholar 

  • Townend I, Pethick J (2002) Estuarine flooding and managed retreat. Phil Trans R Soc Lond A 360:1477–1495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UK Hydrographic Office (2005) Admiralty Tide Tables, vol 1: 2006 United Kingdom and Ireland (including European Channel Ports). UK Hydrographic Office, Taunton

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Wijnen HJ, Bakker JP (2001) Long-term surface elevation change in salt marshes: a prediction of marsh response to future sea-level rise. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 52:381–390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein MP, Balletto JH, Teal JM, Ludwig DF (1997) Success criteria and adaptive management for a large-scale wetland restoration project. Wetl Ecol Manag 4:111–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehouse RJS, Mitchener HJ (1998) Observations of the morphodynamic behaviour of an intertidal mudflat at different timescales. In: Black KS, Paterson DM, Cramp A (eds) Sedimentary processes in the intertidal zone (special publication 139, Geological Society of London). Geological Society Publishing House, Bath, pp 255–271

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehouse RJS, Bassoullet P, Dyer KR, Mitchener HJ, Roberts W (2000) The influence of bedforms on flow and sediment transport over intertidal mudflats. Cont Shelf Res 20:1099–1124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams PB, Orr MK (2002) Physical evolution of restored breached levee salt marshes in the San Francisco Bay estuary. Restor Ecol 10(3):527–542

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams PB, Orr MK, Garrity NJ (2002) Hydraulic geometry: a geomorphic design tool for tidal marsh channel evolution in wetland restoration projects. Restor Ecol 10(3):577–590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilmot RD, Collins MB (1981) Contemporary fluvial sediment supply to The Wash. In: Nio SD, Shüttenhelm RT, van Weering TJC (eds) Holocene marine sedimentation in the North Sea basin, special publication 5. Int Assoc Sedimentol, pp 99–110

  • Wolters M, Bakker JP, Bertness MD, Jefferies L, Möller I (2005) Saltmarsh erosion and restoration in south-east England: squeezing the evidence requires realignment. J Appl Ecol 42:844–851

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolters M, Garbutt A, Bekker RM, Bakker JP, Carey PD (2008) Restoration of salt-marsh vegetation in relation to site suitability, species pool and dispersal traits. J Appl Ecol 45:904–912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zedler JB (2004) Compensating for wetland losses in the United States. Ibis 146:92–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Accretion plate and SET data collection was funded from 2002 to 2006 by the UK Environment Agency, the UK Government Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and CEH. Thanks are extended to S. Boreham, C. Rolfe, A. Hayes and A. Balbo (all University of Cambridge, UK) for assistance with SET monitoring. D.A. Friess was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NER/S/A/2005/13271). We thank M. Lewis, Governor of Her Majesty’s Prisons (HMP) at North Sea Camp open prison, and E. Hewitt, Head of Works Services, for arranging assistance with the installation of accretion plates and marker posts in the realignment site; R. Appleby (foreman) and an anonymous inmate for helping S. L. Brown to install the accretion plates in spring 2002. Philip Stickler and David Watson, Cartographic Unit, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge greatly assisted with the production of figures.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cambridge Coastal Research Unit, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, UK

    T. Spencer, D. A. Friess & I. Möller

  2. Singapore-Delft Water Alliance, National University of Singapore, Engineering Drive 2, Singapore, 117546, Singapore

    D. A. Friess

  3. Coastlife, Lynden, Marshall Row, Swanage, BH19 2AF, UK

    S. L. Brown

  4. NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Environment Centre Wales, Deniol Road, Bangor, LL57 2UP, UK

    R. A. Garbutt

  5. Coastal and Estuarine Research Unit, UCL Department of Geography, University College London, Pearson Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    J. R. French

Authors
  1. T. Spencer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. D. A. Friess
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. I. Möller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S. L. Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. R. A. Garbutt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. J. R. French
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. Spencer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Spencer, T., Friess, D.A., Möller, I. et al. Surface elevation change in natural and re-created intertidal habitats, eastern England, UK, with particular reference to Freiston Shore. Wetlands Ecol Manage 20, 9–33 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-011-9238-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-011-9238-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation