APPLICATION OF THE SHOREZONE CONCEPT TO SEA-LEVEL RISE IN COASTAL WETLANDS AT THE VIRGINIA COAST RESERVE

PRATOLONGO, P.; KUNZ, D.; BRINSON, M.M.

Madison, WI

Simposio; 2009 SWS-WWA-WBS Joint Meeting; 2009

Society of Wetland Scientists

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:SimSun; panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1; mso-font-alt:宋体; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 135135232 16 0 262144 0;} @font-face {font-family:Times-Roman; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"@SimSun"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:134; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 135135232 16 0 262144 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The shorezone concept was applied to coastal wetlands in the Neuse River Estuary (NRE), North Carolina, to illustrate pattern and process in the response of estuarine fringe wetlands to rising sea level. (Shorezone is defined as the area of wetland that extends from an estuarine shoreline landward to where the hydrologic influence of sea level diminishes and terrestrial hydrology dominates.) In the NRE, interstream divides were used as units in a space-for-time framework, and wetland transgression was assessed along a gradient from inner to outer regions of a drowned river valley estuary under a nano-tidal regime. For testing this approach at the mesotidal Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR), and to be consistent with other work being carried out at the site, we used as units of analysis thirteen terrestrial-marine watersheds delineated on the eastern side of the Delmarva Peninsula. A major challenge in applying the space-for-time approach at the VCR was that watershed units were oriented parallel to the coast rather than with increasing distance from the ocean, as for the NRE. Further, VCR coastal lagoons are exposed to high salinity waters with little freshwater contribution, and thus lack a salinity gradient like that of the NRE. Topography based on Lidar-generated digital elevation models was useful in the NRE study, but unavailable for the VCR, leading to lower resolution when estimating rates of shorezone transgression.