| | Accession Number | 5004387 |
| | Title | Monitoring salt marsh development processes in the restoring Hatches Harbor salt |
| | marsh: Cape Cod National Seashore |
| | Project Description | Natural tidal regimes within many coastal wetlands of the urbanized northeast have been |
| | restricted by bridges, causeways, impoundments and dikes, thereby degrading habitat value. |
| | Studies throughout New England have documented hydrologic, vegetation, faunal and |
| | biogeochemical responses of tidal marshes to restriction of tidal flow, and in turn, many |
| | successful efforts are underway to re-introduce tidal flow and restore the structure and function of |
| | degraded marshes. At Cape Cod National Seashore (MA), research and resource management |
| | programs have been underway for over a decade to restore degraded salt marshes. The purpose of |
| | this study is to evaluate salt marsh development processes within the restoring Hatches Harbor |
| | salt marsh. Vegetation responses to tidal restoration will also be evaluated. This study will include |
| | monitoring of marsh accretion rates using Sediment-elevation tables and relate these rates of |
| | marsh accretion to rates of sea level rise. If the restoring marsh is keeping pace with sea level |
| | rise, then tidal exchange through new and enlarged culvert openings can be increased. If not, then |
| | the marsh may be drowning in response to sea level rise and the new dike should be regulated in |
| | a more cautious manner. In addition to understanding current responses of the marsh to sea level |
| | rise and tidal restoration, it is equally important to document the recent history of salt marsh |
| | development processes at Hatches Harbor from natural unrestricted, to restricted (beginning in the |
| | 1930s), to restoring. Radiometric dating is proposed to document past trends in marsh accretion |
| | rates. |
| | Keywords | cape cod national seashore, salt marsh development process, salt marsh restoration, sea level |
| | rise, |
| | Principal | John King, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island: jking@gso.uri.edu; |
| | Investigators |
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