TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal patterns in sediment type and quality during daily flow regimes and following natural hazards in an urban estuary
T2 - a Hurricane Harvey retrospective
AU - Kiaghadi, Amin
AU - Rifai, Hanadi S.
AU - Crum, Mary
AU - Willson, Richard C.
N1 - Funding Information:
The support from NSF RAPID Grant # 1759440 is gratefully acknowledged. Daniel Burleson, Rose Sobel, Emily Sappington, Aparna Balasubramani, Adithya Govindarajan, Jacob Furrh, and Maria Modelska are acknowledged for their help with sample collection and analysis, photography and for providing valuable comments on the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Understanding the transport of sediments in urban estuaries and their effects on water quality and microorganisms is a convergent challenge that has yet to be addressed especially as a result of natural hazards that affect the hydrodynamics of estuarine systems. This study provides a holistic view of the longitudinal nature and character of sediment in an urban estuary, the Galveston Bay Estuary System (GBES), under daily and extreme flow regimes and presents the results of water and sediment sampling after Hurricane Harvey. The sediment sampling quantified total suspended sediment (TSS) concentrations, metal concentrations, and the diversity of microbial communities. The results revealed the impact of the substantial sediment loads that were transported into the GBES in terms of sediment grain type, the spatial distribution of trace metals, and the diversity of microbial communities. A measurable shift in the percentage of silt relative to historical norms was noted in the GBES after Hurricane Harvey. Not only did sediment metal data confirms this shift and its ensuing impact on metal concentrations; microbial data provided ample evidence of the effect of leaks and spills from wastewater treatment plants, superfund sites, and industrial runoff on microbial diversity. The research demonstrates the importance of understanding longitudinal sediment transport and deposition in estuarine systems under daily flow regimes but more critically, following natural hazard events to ensure sustainability and resilience of systems such as the GBES that encounter numerous acute and chronic stresses.
AB - Understanding the transport of sediments in urban estuaries and their effects on water quality and microorganisms is a convergent challenge that has yet to be addressed especially as a result of natural hazards that affect the hydrodynamics of estuarine systems. This study provides a holistic view of the longitudinal nature and character of sediment in an urban estuary, the Galveston Bay Estuary System (GBES), under daily and extreme flow regimes and presents the results of water and sediment sampling after Hurricane Harvey. The sediment sampling quantified total suspended sediment (TSS) concentrations, metal concentrations, and the diversity of microbial communities. The results revealed the impact of the substantial sediment loads that were transported into the GBES in terms of sediment grain type, the spatial distribution of trace metals, and the diversity of microbial communities. A measurable shift in the percentage of silt relative to historical norms was noted in the GBES after Hurricane Harvey. Not only did sediment metal data confirms this shift and its ensuing impact on metal concentrations; microbial data provided ample evidence of the effect of leaks and spills from wastewater treatment plants, superfund sites, and industrial runoff on microbial diversity. The research demonstrates the importance of understanding longitudinal sediment transport and deposition in estuarine systems under daily flow regimes but more critically, following natural hazard events to ensure sustainability and resilience of systems such as the GBES that encounter numerous acute and chronic stresses.
KW - Alpha diversity
KW - Beta diversity
KW - Grain size
KW - Superfund site
KW - Total organic carbon
KW - Trace metals
KW - Geologic Sediments
KW - Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis
KW - Environmental Monitoring
KW - Estuaries
KW - Retrospective Studies
KW - Cyclonic Storms
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U2 - 10.1007/s11356-021-15912-0
DO - 10.1007/s11356-021-15912-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 34476713
AN - SCOPUS:85114102231
SN - 0944-1344
VL - 29
SP - 7514
EP - 7531
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
IS - 5
ER -