The Vulnerability of Tidal Flats and Multi-Channel Estuaries to Dredging And
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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS 1 Information for "The vulnerability of tidal flats and 2 multi-channel estuaries to dredging and disposal" W.M. van Dijk1, J.R. Cox1, J.R.F.W. Leuven1, J. Cleveringa2, M. Taal3, M.R. Hiatt1;4, W. Sonke5, K. Verbeek5, B. Speckmann5, & M.G. Kleinhans1 1 3 Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 4 Water & Environment Division, Arcadis, Zwolle, The Netherlands 3 5 Department of Marine and Coastal Systems, Deltares, Delft, The Netherlands 4 6 Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, College of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton 7 Rouge, Louisiana, United States 5 8 Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, TU Eindhoven, Eindhoven, The Netherlands 9 Contents of this file 10 1. Text S1 to S5 11 2. Figures S1 to S8 12 3. Tables S1 to S2 Corresponding author: W. M. van Dijk, Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geo- sciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8A, 3584 CB, Utrecht, The Netherlands (wout- [email protected]) March 19, 2019, 2:23pm X - 2 VAN DIJK ET AL.: VULNERABILITY OF ESTUARIES TO DREDGING AND DISPOSAL 13 Additional Information (Files uploaded separately) 14 1. Captions for Movies S1 to S5 15 Introduction 16 The information presented here includes an extended description of why a multi-channel 17 system (Text S1), extended description of the Western Scheldt Estuary (Text S2), ex- 18 tended description of the numerical model setup and analysis (Text S3), extended de- 19 scription of the experimental setup and analysis (Text S4), and an extensive description 20 of the method for channel network extraction (Text S5). Furthermore, figures are included 21 that support the Text S2 to S5. March 19, 2019, 2:23pm VAN DIJK ET AL.: VULNERABILITY OF ESTUARIES TO DREDGING AND DISPOSAL X - 3 22 Text S1. 1. Why a multi-channel system 23 In many estuaries, dredging is predominantly carried out to maintain or increase the 24 channel depth for ships. Many estuaries have a multi-channel system with ecologically 25 productive intertidal flats that support and accommodate diverse habitats. Continuous 26 dredging and disposal threatens the existence of the multi-channel system by changing the 27 natural shape of channels and tidal flats (Monge-Ganuzas et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2015), 28 by altering water circulation (Johnston Jr., 1981) and current velocities that determine 29 erosion and deposition rates in adjacent areas (Liria et al., 2009). The bathymetry of 30 the estuary is smoothed as obstructions such as shoals, bars and sills are removed, and 31 channels become straighter (Nichols, 2018). The collapse of the multi-channel system into 32 a single channel would imply severe loss of ecologically valuable intertidal flat (Van der 33 Wal et al., 2010, 2017). Besides the ecological value of the multi-channel system, there 34 are more reasons that advocate sustaining the multi-channel system, namely: 35 • side channel shallowing reduces the navigability of smaller inland vessels (Wang et 36 al., 2015), 37 • main channel deepening increases tidal range and flood risk (Liria et al., 2009), 38 • increased peak velocity in deepened main channel affects navigability (Colby et al., 39 2010; Nichols, 2018), 40 • channel deepening threatens bank stability, and tidal flat stability and salt-marsh 41 stability (Liria et al., 2009; Van Dijk et al., 2018, 2019), March 19, 2019, 2:23pm X - 4 VAN DIJK ET AL.: VULNERABILITY OF ESTUARIES TO DREDGING AND DISPOSAL 42 • large morphological changes alter ebb-flood dominance, including duration and asym- 43 metry (Colby et al., 2010), potentially affecting mud and sand budgets. 44 Text S2. 2. Western Scheldt 2.1. Dredging strategies and volumes 45 The Western Scheldt Estuary is a well-monitored estuary in the southwestern part of 46 the Netherlands and refers to the seaward section of the tide-dominated Scheldt estuary. th 47 The Western Scheldt is an estuary that has undergone human interference since the 14 th 48 century, which reduced its lateral expansion capacity. At the beginning of the 20 century 49 small-scale sand mining, dredging and disposal became the foci of human activity which 50 has intensified since the 1970s (Figure S1a). The Western Scheldt has undergone three 51 major deepening events (in the 1970s, 1990s and 2010s) as well as annual maintenance 52 dredging activities to allow access to the port of Antwerp (Van der Spek, 1997). Disposal 53 locations are chosen such that costs, efforts and hindering the shipping are minimised and 54 thus selected in the vicinity of dredging locations (MOW, 2013). The “flexible disposal" 55 approach for the Western Scheldt includes monitoring and adjustment when necessary. In 56 the last decade, the dredging and disposal strategy has changed in 2010 from straightfor- 57 ward disposal in the side channels and deeper parts of the main channel to an alternative 58 approach in which sediment is disposed near eroded intertidal flats. This approach al- 59 lows slow movement of material towards the flats with the aim of enhancing subtidal 60 and intertidal habitats (De Vriend et al., 2011) and decreasing disposal intensity in the 61 side channels that began to close off (Roose et al., 2008). The intention was to maintain March 19, 2019, 2:23pm VAN DIJK ET AL.: VULNERABILITY OF ESTUARIES TO DREDGING AND DISPOSAL X - 5 62 and preserve the equilibrium of the multi-channel system of the Western Scheldt, attain 63 maximum ecological gain on the edges of inter-tidal flats and preserve the ecologically 64 valuable habitats of the Western Scheldt (Depreiter et al., 2011; De Vriend et al., 2011; 65 Plancke et al., 2014; Vikolainen et al., 2014; Depreiter et al., 2015). Therefore, a flexible 66 approach is applied that changes its strategy every few years to try and prevent fixation 67 of the system. While field experiments and monitoring provided valuable insights, the 68 lack of control inhibits the clear conclusions possible with controlled scenario modelling 69 and experimentation introduced below. 2.2. Sediment budgets 70 Various sediment budgets for the Western Scheldt have been constructed, based on the 71 available Vaklodingen datasets, information on the dredging and disposal, and sand mining 72 volumes and assumptions on the boundary conditions of transport to the Sea Scheldt and 73 Land van Saeftinghe tidal marsh complex. Considering the accuracy of the data, trends 74 in the developments of the sediment volume are of interest rather than the year-to-year 75 variations. The resulting sediment budget shows three periods within which trends were 76 comparable (Cleveringa, 2013). These periods do not coincide with the intervals between 77 major deepening events, but are more related to slower trends of the sediment volumes 78 and the strategies for dredging and disposal, and sand mining. 79 The first period (1955-1976) displays large variations in the sediment volume of the 80 Scheldt data that do not have plausible causes and suggest that the data are not as accu- 81 rate as data that are more recent. The likely development is a decrease of the sediment 82 volume of the western and eastern halves. Extraction of sediment for sand mining in- March 19, 2019, 2:23pm X - 6 VAN DIJK ET AL.: VULNERABILITY OF ESTUARIES TO DREDGING AND DISPOSAL 83 creased over this period and occurred mainly in the western half of the estuary. Dredging 84 was limited to the eastern half and doubled over this period. The calculated transport 85 from the western to the eastern half and from the estuary mouth to the western half 86 increased over this period. 87 The second period (1976-1994) shows a reduction of the extraction volumes for sand 88 mining and an increase in the volumes of dredging and disposal. In contrast to the first 89 period, dredging and disposal started in the western half. The main volume of disposal 90 and dredging took place in the eastern half. The dredged materials from the eastern half 91 were no longer moved to the western half nor vice versa. Consequently, the calculated 92 transports from west to east and from the estuary mouth to the west decreased over this 93 period. 94 The third period (1994-2010) was characterized by the transport of dredged sediment 95 from the east to the west. In combination with the extraction for sand mining, this 96 resulted in a large reduction of the sediment volume of the eastern half. The sediment 97 volume of the western half increased. The calculated transport from west to east and 98 from the estuary mouth to the west reduced (Figure S2a). 99 Text S3. 3. Numerical model 3.1. Model description 100 In this study, we used a state-of-the-art Delft3D schematization derived from the NeVla- 101 Delft3D model of the Scheldt estuary, which includes the upstream Flemish branches of 102 the estuary, the Western Scheldt and part of the North Sea. The NeVla model has been March 19, 2019, 2:23pm VAN DIJK ET AL.: VULNERABILITY OF ESTUARIES TO DREDGING AND DISPOSAL X - 7 103 optimized for hydrodynamics (Maximova, Ides, Vanlede, et al., 2009; Maximova, Ides, 104 De Mulder, & Mostaert, 2009a, 2009b; Vroom et al., 2015) and morphology (Grasmeijer 105 et al., 2013; Schrijvershof & Vroom, 2016). Here, we used part of the domain, nested in 106 the entire model, encompassing the Western Scheldt from the mouth at Vlissingen to the 107 Belgian-Dutch border. The boundaries of the nested model include a water level fluctua- 108 tion due to tides at the seaward boundary and a current at the landward boundary. The 109 model setup is comparable to the study the effect shoal margin collapses in the Western 110 Scheldt by Van Dijk et al.