Chesapeake Bay Sediment Budget

• Published in: Journal of coastal research 1992-01, Vol.8 (2), p.292-300
• Main Authors: Hobbs, Carl H., Halka, Jeffrey P., Randall T. Kerhin, Michael J. Carron
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brackish; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Erosion; Estuaries; Exact sciences and technology; Freshwater; Geological surveys; Geology; Marine; Marine and continental quaternary; Oceanography; Sand; Sediments; Shorelines; Surficial geology; Suspended solids; Tributaries
• ISSN: 0749-0208; 1551-5036

Chesapeake Bay is a depositional basin that is filling from both ends and the sides. During the one hundred years ending in the mid-1950's between 1.0 x 109and 2.92 x 109metric tons of sediment accumulated in the bay. The water of the continental shelf, flowing into the bay's mouth, is the largest single source of sediment for the basin. A massive quantity of sand, perhaps as much as 40% of the net deposition, enters the bay with these waters and moves tens of kilometers up-estuary. The Susquehanna River is a major source of fine-grained sediments; its coarser load is trapped by dams. Other sources of sediment are shoreline erosion, biogenic production, and, perhaps, the tributary estuaries. The tributaries do provide coarse sediment through longshore drift and bedload movement in the nearshore shallows and, perhaps, in the channel bottom. The quantity of suspended sediment supplied by the tributary estuaries is unknown. Indeed the tributaries may be sinks not sources. /// La Bahia de Chesapeake es una cuenca deposicional que se esti colmatando desde ambos extremos y 10s laterales. Al cab0 de 100 a$\dieresis{u}$os, en la mitad de 1950, se acumul$\dieresis{o}$en la bah$\circumflex{i}$a, un volumen de sedimentos entre 1.0 x 109y 2.92 X 109toneladas metricas. El agua de la plataforma continental, fluyendo hacia la desembocadura de la bahia, es la fuente mh importante de sedimentos. Una cantidad masiva de arena, entra en la hahia con esas aguas y la mueve decenas de kilómetrosaguas arriha del estuario, con una depositacion neta del orden del40%. El Rio Susquehanna es una fuente importante de sedimentos de granos finos, 10s más gruesos son entrampados por 10s diques. Otras fuentes de sedimentos son: la erosion costera, la production hiogenica y quizás 10s tributarios del estuario. Los tributarios proveen sedimentos gruesos por medio de la deriva litoral y el transporte de fondo, en las hajas profundidades cercanas a la costa, y quizh en el fondo del canal. Se desconoce la cantidad de sedimentos en suspension suministrados por 10s tributarios. En realidad 10s tributarios pueden ser sumideros y no fuentes. /// Die Chesapeake-Bucht stellt einen Sedimentationsraum dar, der von beiden Enden sowie den Seiten verf$\dieresis{u}$llt wird. In einem Zeitraum von ca. hundert Jahren wurden his Mitte der 50er Jahre unseres Jahrhunderts zwischen 1 x 109und 2,92 X 10' Kubiktonnen Sedimente in der Bucht abgelagert. Die Wassermassen des Kontinentalschelfes, die im Bereich der