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E,Stuarinc Areas,Tex'asguifcpasl' Liter At' I I ,'SedimentationinFluv,ial~Oeltaic \}1. E~tlands ',:'~nd~ E,stuarinc Areas,Tex'asGuIfCpasl' Liter at' . e [ynthesis I Cover illustration depicts the decline of marshes in the Neches River alluvial valley between 1956 and 1978. Loss of emergent vegetation is apparently due to several interactive factors including a reduction of fluvial sediments delivered to the marsh, as well as faulting and subsidence, channelization, and spoil disposal. (From White and others, 1987). SEDIMENTATION IN FLUVIAL-DELTAIC WETLANDS AND ESTUARINE AREAS, TEXAS GULF COAST Uterature Synthesis by William A. White and Thomas R. Calnan Prepared for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Resource Protection Division in accordance with Interagency Contracts (88-89) 0820 and 1423 Bureau of Economic Geology W. L. Fisher, Director The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 78713 1990 CONTENTS Introduction . Background and Scope of Study . Texas Bay-Estuary-lagoon Systems................................................................................................. 2 Origin of Texas Estuaries........................................................................................................ 4 General Setting.............................................................................. 6 Climate 10 Salinity 20 Bathymetry..................................... 22 Tides 22 Relative Sea-level Rise.......................................................................................................... 23 Eustatic Sea-level Rise..................................................................................................... 24 Subsidence................................... 24 Subsidence in the Houston-Galveston Area 27 Faulting and Subsidence...................................................................... 30 Effects of Subsidence and Faulting on Texas Coastal Wetlands............ 34 Characteristics of Major River Systems Discharging into Coastal Basins 39 Historical Discharge and load 44 Effect of Reservoir Development on River Sediment load 46 Sediment Trapping 56 Effects Downstream from Reservoirs 60 Classification of Rivers by Sediment load....................................................................... 63 Fluvial-Deltaic-Wetland Sedimentation 66 Delta Development.............. 66 Development of Deltaic Marshes.................... 74 Marsh Sediments.............................................................................................................. 76 iii Marsh Degradation........................................................................................................... 77 Life Cycle of a Subdelta in a Delta System............................................................................. 77 Marsh Maturation and Aggradation ....................................................................................... 82 Biodeposition ....................................................................................................................... 95 Texas Deltaic Marshes-Development and Current State......................................................... 99 Colorado River Delta ....................................................................................................... 101 Recent Changes in State of the Colorado River Delta.... ......... ......... .......... ................ 1 09 Guadalupe River Delta... ..................... .............. ............................. .................................. 11 2 Recent Changes in State of the Guadalupe River Delta............................................... 115 Trinity River Delta ........................................................................................................... 119 Recent Changes in State of the Trinity River Delta .................................................... 123 Recent Changes in State of Wetlands in Other Texas Fluvial-Deltaic Areas ........................... 1 26 San Jacinto River .............................................................................................. ............... 126 Neches River ........... .......... .............. ................. ............ ........ ...................... ...................... 1 30 Lavaca River .................................................................................................................... 133 Nueces River... ................ ...... ................ ......................... ........ .............. ........ .................... 1 35 Bay-Estuary-Lagoon Sedimentation .................................................................... : .......................... 136 Sediment Composition ................................. ............ ....................................... .... ..... .... ......... 1 36 Sources of Sediment............................ .......... ............... ............ .................... ........ .................. 144 Turbidity ............................................................................................................................... 148 Effects of Marine Grasses on Sedimentation.. ...................... ................................. ........ .......... 153 Trap Efficiencies of Bays... ............. ..... ................ ............................. ......... ..... ......... ..... .......... 158 Importance of Episodic Events to Fluvial-Estuarine Sedimentation ........................................ 162 Sedimentation in Texas Bays .................................................................................................. 167 Contribution of Fluvial Sediments to Bay Sedimentation ................................................ 173 The Filling of Lavaca Bay-An Example ............... ............ ............ ................................... 1 73 Trends in Relative Sea-Level Rise and Fluvial-Estuarine Sedimentation .................................. 177 iv Corpus Christi-Nueces Bay System. 178 San Antonio-Espiritu Santo Bay System........ 180 Lavaca-Matagorda Bay System.............................. 182 Galveston-Trinity Bay System 186 Macrobenthos-Sediment Relationships. 193 Introduction 193 Trophic Structure..................................................... 196 Biomass and Density 199 Benthic Assemblages 207 Marshes 210 Mudflats and Sandflats 213 Species Diversity and Species Richness 214 Summary.. 221 Summary and Conclusions 223 Acknowledgments 226 References.................................................................................................................................... 228 FIGURES 1. Bay-estuary-Iagoon and major fluvial-deltaic systems along the Texas Gulf Coast................ 3 2. Sea-level changes during the past 18,000 yr, as interpreted by various authors..................... 5 3. Fluvial environments and facies deposited along the incised lower Trinity River valley, Galveston-Houston area........................................................................................... 7 4. Fluvial and deltaic systems of the Colorado and Brazos Rivers in the Bay City-Freeport area...................................................................................................................................... 8 5. Development of the Texas shoreline through the late Pleistocene falling sea-level stage.................................................................................................................................... 9 6. Average annual precipitation in Texas 19 v 7. Subsidence and water-level changes at selected sites along the Texas coast based on tide-gauge records................................................................................................................ 26 8. Cumulative area in the Texas Coastal Zone affected by land-surface subsidence in excess of 30 cm (1 ft) between 1943 and 1973 28 9. Land-surface subsidence in the Houston-Galveston area....................................................... 29 10. Subsidence as reflected by differences in mean monthly tide stage relative to the gauge record at a designated base station 31 11. Subsidence over an oil and gas field 33 12. Changes in the distribution of wetlands near Jones Bay and Swan Lake near Galveston....... 35 13. Block diagram of changes in wetlands that can occur along an active surface fault............. 36 14. Changes in the distribution of wetlands affected by surface faults...................................... 37 15. Land subsidence profile based on benchmark-releveJing data along State Highway 87 on Bolivar Peninsula 38 16. River and coastal basins in Texas......................................................................................... 40 17. Structural elements that affect Texas coastal rivers and basins 41 18. Longitudinal channel profiles for major Texas rivers 42 19. Characteristics of some major coastal rivers in Texas ,........................ 43 20. Annual discharge, silt load, and drainage area for some major Texas rivers.......................... 45 21. Annual streamflow and suspended sediment load of the Trinity River................................. 47 22. Suspended-sediment load for the Trinity and San Jacinto Rivers for the period 1936 through 1975 48 23. Annual streamflow and suspended load of the Brazos River................................................. 49 24. Comparison of suspended-sediment loads of the Brazos and Colorado Rivers, and Rio Grande.................................................................................................................... 49 25. Annual streamflow and suspended load of the Colorado River 50 26.
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