Tidal sedimentology - coastal stability, carbon storage

Vegetated coastal wetlands protect against coastal erosion, support nurseries for marine biodiversity, and are efficient carbon sinks. Though they cover only 0.2% of the ocean, they account for 50% of the carbon buried in marine sediment. Knowledge of sedimentation in modern tidal environments is limited, leading to uncertainties about the long-term carbon storage potential and resilience of salt marshes and tidal flats to environmental changes.

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Carbon storage depends on sedimentation rate. Recent research in Korea (K. Choi) highlights a key issue: while short-term sedimentation rate in tidal environments can be high (e.g., tidal rhythmites), seasonal events such as monsoons erode the sediment and the stored carbon, resulting in low long-term carbon retention. My work aims to better constrain sedimentation processes to improve the accuracy of models predicting the carbon storage capacity of tidal environments.

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I also investigate how salt-tolerant plants, such as those in salt marshes and coastal peat domes, enhance coastal stability and respond to sea level rise. Vegetated tidal marshes are more resilient to rising sea level than tidal flats because plants trap and baffle sediment, allowing these environments to build vertically. However, if sedimentation rate is low, even resilient vegetated systems can struggle to keep up with sea level rise, raising critical questions about their future. I am analysing how tidal systems behaved before land plants evolved to gain insights into how coastlines might respond to environmental changes in the absence of stabilising vegetation.

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This work is funded by the Royal Geographical Society (modern) and Geological Society of London (ancient).