ESTUARIES ARE THE MEETING PLACE ofland drainage with the sea. They contain manydifferent habitats: shallow open waters, saltmarshes, sandy beaches, mud and sand flats, rockyshores, mangrove forests, seagrass beds, riverdeltas and tidal pools. These habitats form the mostproductive areas on earth, creating more organicmaterial each year than comparable areas of forestor farmland.

But estuaries are very vulnerable to the effects ofhuman activities and require careful managementto keep them in reasonable shape. One of thebiggest issues is sediment. In an ongoing researchprogramme we have been examining the variousfactors that affect sediment in estuaries.

A little historyToday’s estuaries in New Zealand are quiterecent in geological terms. They formed whenriver and glacial valleys were flooded as sea level

ESTUARIES

What regulates sedimentationin estuaries?Rob Bell

Mal Green

Terry Hume

Richard Gorman

Why don’t estuaries fillup with all thesediment that iscarried in from boththe land and the sea?We are developing apicture of what goes onin estuaries to keepthem from silting up,and of how we canslow down infilling bymanaging land use.

rose quickly during the Holocene – thegeological period that started about 10,000 yearsago, at the end of the last major ice age. Sealevels stabilised about 6000 years ago and eversince then estuaries have been catching up ontheir sedimentation. Waves and tides havecombed coarse marine sediments from theseabed offshore and built sandy barriers and spitsat estuary entrances, which in turn supply sandto an estuary. Meanwhile, rivers have carried infiner sediments. So why haven’t all our estuariessimply filled up with sediment?

A changing balanceWhether an estuary fills in or remains deepdepends on the balance between sedimententering and leaving the estuary, and on waterinputs from rivers or from sea-level rise.

Human activities have changed this balance inestuaries in various ways – mainly by increasing

What is an estuary?AN ESTUARY is a partially enclosed coastal body of water, which iseither permanently or periodically open to the sea, in which theaquatic environment is affected by the physical and chemicalcharacteristics of both land drainage and inflow from the sea.Although strongly influenced by tides, estuaries are protected fromthe full force of ocean waves and storms by headlands, sand barriersand/or tidal deltas (partially submerged sand shoals) at the mouth.Estuaries are also known as harbours, bays, lagoons, inlets orsounds. New Zealand has nearly 300 estuarine systems spread along11,000 km of coastline. They range in size from a few hectares toover 95,000 hectares (Kaipara Harbour), although most are less than6000 hectares.

Mahurangi Harbour (north of Auckland) viewed from above theHauraki Gulf at high water.

13

N I W A W A T E R & A T M O S P H E R E 8 ( 4 ) 2 0 0 0

erosion and by changing water-flow patterns andsediment movements. For example, port or marinadevelopments trap fine sediment, and regulardredging may be required to prevent sedimentaccumulating. Causeways for roads can changeboth current patterns and the way sediment iscarried in and trapped. Erosion can be caused bythe clearfelling of forests and by constructionprojects such as new subdivisions; the fine particlesin eroded material may end up in estuaries. In fact,any activities that lead to extra mud and silt settlingon estuary floors pose a threat to New Zealandestuaries. Overdosing on fine sediments can easilypush the sedimentation balance towardsirreversible infilling. In addition, the estuarineecosystem may suffer: the many animals that livein estuaries may be harmed if sediment inputs andpatterns change too quickly.

Sustaining the balanceTo manage an estuary so that it doesn’t undergorapid alterations, we need to know how the estuaryresponds to changes in sediment input from boththe land and the sea. Computer models can thenhelp in assessing whether land use or otherchanges may upset the fine sedimentary andbiological balance.

In the past decade, New Zealand researchers haveunravelled part of the complex story of howestuaries handle sediments. Three importantphysical features play a part: tides, waves andrivers.

Tides

Tidal currents provide the steady supply ofenergy that moves sediments into and out ofestuaries. Most of New Zealand’s estuarieshave a tidal range of 2–4 metres.

Waves

Especially during storms, waves and swellat the entrances to estuaries can stir up largeamounts of sediment, which can then be movedinto the estuary by the incoming tide. Inside

the estuary basin, smaller waves can combsediments off the shallow intertidal banks.

Rivers

Fresh river water floats over seawater. Sowhen sediment-laden floodwaters enter anestuary the finer particles that stay insuspension may be flushed out to sea quitequickly. But heavier particles sink to the bottomas the flow meets salt water. This is whysediment deposition is greatest near the upperreaches of an estuary.

Within estuaries we can identify distinct sub-environments in which tides, waves and riversinteract differently.

Tidal inlet

Inlets on sandy shores have narrow entrancesto the sea, with sand shoals – tidal deltas –just inside and outside the entrance. Theseshoals are moulded by waves and by strongtidal currents. Sand circulates in the tidal inletbetween the shoals and adjacent beaches andthe shallow seabed offshore. The amount ofsand in the inlet depends on how much waterpasses in and out of the estuary during a tidalcycle. The shape of the delta depends mainlyon the shape of the bay and on the energyproduced by waves. So, on New Zealand’swest coast, where waves tend to be big andpowerful, deltas are squashed against theshore, but on the more sheltered east coast,deltas can protrude farther offshore.

Channels, sandbanks

Channels are the sediment highways inestuaries and sandbanks are areas wheresediment builds up. Channels carry insuspended sediment but are themselvesscoured out when currents are stronger. Therush hour for sediment movement occursaround mid-tide on both ebb (outgoing) andflood (incoming) tides, when currents arestrongest. Over time, fine material is washedout from channel beds, leaving behind a layerof gravel and shells that stabilises the channels.

In a simple estuary with no sandbanks,flooding tidal currents are stronger than ebbingones and this leads to gradual infilling. Assandbanks develop, ebbing currents becomestronger so that excess sediment can be flushedout again. This changing interaction betweenthe tide and the shape of the estuary floor helpsto regulate long-term sedimentation.

The illustration on page 16 shows the result ofmodelling tidal currents in the interconnectedchannels of Manukau Harbour, Auckland.

Diagram of long-term balancefor estuaries between rates of sea-level and river-flow change andsedimentation in coping withsediment inputs from landand sea.

N I W A W A T E R & A T M O S P H E R E 8 ( 4 ) 2 0 0 0

14

Tools of the trade in estuarine researchSophisticated instruments are deployed in estuaries to measuresediment processes. The photograph (left) shows the instrumentedtripod ALICE, with a full suite of sensors for measuring waves,currents, turbulence, bedforms and sediment movement (see Water& Atmosphere 4(2): 8–10). The lower photograph shows a DOBIEwave gauge deployed on an intertidal flat.

Numerical models simulate water movements caused by tides,winds, waves and rivers, and the resulting sand and silt transportover an entire estuary. Near-bed current velocities predicted by ahydrodynamic model and wave orbital velocities predicted by awave generation model are used to compute sediment transport,both as migrating bedforms and by picking up and re-depositingsuspended sediment. Changes in transport of sediment lead to achange in bed levels (either erosion or accretion). The illustrationbelow shows output from a wave model of Okura Estuary, Auckland.

Prediction of thewave velocity (m/s)at the bed in OkuraEstuary using theWGEN computermodel (developed byProf. Kerry Black).The channel has lowwave stirring,whereas the upperintertidal flats havehigh values.

DOBIE moored in Okura Estuary (North Shore) formeasuring waves on the intertidal flat.

Instrumented tripod (ALICE) at Okura to measurenear-bed currents, turbulence and sediment transport.

15

N I W A W A T E R & A T M O S P H E R E 8 ( 4 ) 2 0 0 0

Modelsimulation of

the tidalchannels of

ManukauHarbour (seeGreen et al.

2000).Brown

indicates ebb-tide

dominanceand blackindicatesflood-tide

dominance.White areas

are intertidalsandbanks.

Further reading

Hicks, D.M. and Hume, T.M. 1991. Sandstorage at New Zealand’s tidal inlets. In:Proceedings 10th Australasian Conference onCoastal and Ocean Engineering, DSIR WaterQuality Centre Publication 21: 213-219.

Hume, T.M. and Herdendorf, C.E. 1988. Ageomorphic classification of estuaries and itsapplication to coastal resource management – aNew Zealand example. Journal of Ocean andShoreline Management 11: 249–274.

Hume, T.M. and Herdendorf, C.E. 1992. Factorscontrolling tidal inlet characteristics on low driftcoasts. Journal of Coastal Research 8: 355–375.

Dyer, K.R. 1973. “Estuaries: a physicalintroduction.” John Wiley & Sons, London.

Green, M.O., Black, K.P. and Amos, C.L. 1997.Control of estuarine sediment dynamics byinteractions between currents and waves atseveral scales. Marine Geology 144: 97–116.

Green, M.O., Bell, R.G., Dolphin, T.J. and Swales,A. 2000. Silt and sand transport in a deep tidalchannel of a large estuary (Manukau Harbour,New Zealand). Marine Geology 163: 217–240.

The modelling showed that there was netseaward transport almost everywhere, exceptin the short side arms of main channels.

Intertidal flats

Outside the channels, tidal currents areweaker and water on the incoming tide gentlyfloods adjacent shallow intertidal flats. Thussediment falls out onto the flats, except whenwaves resuspend it. As the water deepens thewaves have less and less effect on thesediment. Some fine silts and muds may becarried out to sea on the outgoing tide throughthe drainage channels.

Fringes

Along the intertidal margins, the incomingtide can move turbid plumes (originatingfrom intertidal flats or catchment run-off) upinto small, sheltered, tidal creeks or side arms.If conditions are calm then fine sedimentssettle out. These fringes are where mangroveslove to grow, further enhancing sedimentationby slowing water movement.

Headwaters

The sediment carried by streams and riversincreases enormously following heavy rainfall.Some of this load is discharged directly intothe ocean, but most settles down on intertidalbanks and in shallow tidal creeks. Anysediment deposited in channels is soon scouredand re-deposited on intertidal flats and aroundthe fringes of the estuary.

How do estuaries digest theirsediment diet?Despite all the sediment coming in, many NewZealand estuaries have remained as open-waterbodies, even after 6000 years. This suggests that,in the long term, sediment build-up is limited bya dynamic balance between the effects of tides,waves and rivers on sediment inputs and outputsin different parts of an estuary. An important effectis the increased stirring of bottom sediment bywaves as estuaries get shallower, which curtailsfurther sediment deposition. Storms and floodscan sometimes cause siltation, but this is usuallywashed out quite quickly.

However, there are cases where some of ourestuaries have suffered from infilling because ofexcessive sediment run-off, either from urbandevelopment (e.g., Mangere Inlet in the ManukauHarbour) or from clearfelling of forests (e.g.,Mahurangi Harbour). Clearly there is a very finebalance in the sedimentary “digestion system” ofour estuaries. Their equilibrium can be easily upsetby inputs arising from human disturbance, andalso by any future changes in sea level. ■

All authors are based at NIWA in Hamilton.

AcknowledgementsThis work is part of the FRST-funded research programmes“Effects of Sediments onEstuarine and CoastalEcosystems” and “PhysicalProcesses Affecting Estuaries,Coasts and the ContinentalShelf”.

N I W A W A T E R & A T M O S P H E R E 8 ( 4 ) 2 0 0 0

16