Encyclopedia of Estuaries

2016 Edition
| Editors: Michael J. Kennish

Dredging

Reference work entry
First Online:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4_250
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Definition

Dredging is the process of excavating bottom sediments from the estuarine floor for disposal at another location, most frequently to increase the depth of a channel to facilitate navigation by floating vessels.

Introduction

Early navigators were in many cases limited by naturally occurring depths in water bodies. As ships grew larger, dredging became necessary to increase water depths to allow safe passage. In some cases, dredging was used to create navigable water where land previously existed, with the Suez and Panama Canals serving as two prominent examples from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively. However, the digging of canals predates recorded history.

Tidal inlets connect rivers and estuaries to adjacent seas and are thus important for marine commerce. The natural depth within an inlet is typically controlled by a balance between tidal currents sweeping through, in alternating directions, and waves and longshore currents pushing sediment into the...

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Bibliography

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of Civil and Environmental EngineeringGeorgia Institute of TechnologyAtlantaUSA