Spatial Trends in Tidal Flat Shape and Associated Environmental Parameters in South San Francisco Bay
Spatial Trends in Tidal Flat Shape and Associated Environmental Parameters in South San Francisco Bay
Spatial Trends in Tidal Flat Shape and Associated Environmental Parameters in South San Francisco Bay
ABSTRACT
BEARMAN, J.A.; FRIEDRICHS, C.T.; JAFFE, B.E., and FOXGROVER, A.C., 2010. Spatial trends in tidal flat shape
and associated environmental parameters in South San Francisco Bay. Journal of Coastal Research, 26(2), 342–349.
West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.
Spatial trends in the shape of profiles of South San Francisco Bay (SSFB) tidal flats are examined using bathymetric
and lidar data collected in 2004 and 2005. Eigenfunction analysis reveals a dominant mode of morphologic variability
related to the degree of convexity or concavity in the cross-shore profile—indicative of (i) depositional, tidally dominant
or (ii) erosional, wave impacted conditions. Two contrasting areas of characteristic shape—north or south of a con-
striction in estuary width located near the Dumbarton Bridge—are recognized. This pattern of increasing or decreasing
convexity in the inner or outer estuary is correlated to spatial variability in external and internal environmental
parameters, and observational results are found to be largely consistent with theoretical expectations. Tidal flat
convexity in SSFB is observed to increase (in decreasing order of significance) in response to increased deposition,
increased tidal range, decreased fetch length, decreased sediment grain size, and decreased tidal flat width.
ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: EOF, eigenfunction analysis, morphodynamics, convexity, concavity, mudflat.
Figure 1. South San Francisco Bay tidal flat locations. Shown here is
the area extending from mean high water to mean lower low water
(MLLW)—0.0 m—and the near subtidal area extending to ⫺0.5 m below
MLLW.
comparative empirical studies that have focused on tidal flat Figure 2. Cross-shore profiles drawn in ARCMAP. Of the more than 800
originally drawn, 766 were used for the spatial analysis.
shape, the rich data sets available for the diverse flats sur-
rounding South San Francisco Bay provide a unique oppor-
tunity to significantly increase the quantitative basis for our
understanding of the relationship and feedback between tidal Schoellhamer, 1996). Sediment exchange between the Cen-
flat morphology and the impact of tides, waves, and sediment tral Bay and Golden Gate generally results in a loss of sedi-
supply. ments to the ocean (Krone, 1979). Regardless of their ulti-
mate source, suspended sediments are primarily advected
SITE DESCRIPTION into SSFB in the deeper channels. Resuspension by tidal cur-
rents then moves the sediments up onto tidal flats and
South San Francisco Bay (SSFB) (Figure 1) is a mesotidal, marshes, where they are sometimes deposited, depending on
mixed tide system with semidiurnal tides ranging up to 2.5 tidal stage, wave conditions, and other hydrodynamic factors
m (Pestrong, 1972). Because of a contraction in estuary width (Krone, 1979; Schoellhamer et al., 2005). Significant wave
and reflection of the tidal wave at the inner end, tidal range events presumably favor sediment transport back toward the
increases with distance from the Golden Gate (⬃1.2 m) to the deeper channels.
southern head of SSFB (⬃2.5 m); tidal range on the south- Pestrong (1972) examined sedimentation on the tidal flats
western shore is slightly larger, a result of the Coriolis effect. of SSFB at Cooley Landing (2 km south of the Dumbarton
Wave activity in SSFB is characterized by short period wind Bridge) and determined that sediment is preferentially
waves, rather than ocean swells (Conomos, 1979; PWA, moved across the entire tidal flat on flood tides, with fine
2005). Strong summer winds from the northwest generate sediment sequestered on the higher flats because of settling
waves with periods on the order of 2–3 seconds and heights and scour lag. Highest transport rates occur at the marsh
up to 1 m (Conomos, 1979), which act to resuspend sediment, edge and in tidal channels, and sediments eroded from the
allowing transport to the channels by tidal currents (Cono- flat on flood tide are deposited in the adjacent marsh. Sig-
mos, 1979, Krone, 1979). nificant accretion occurs at the tidal flat–marsh interface
Foxgrover et al. (2004) showed that SSFB underwent a net when the flood tide has inundated the mudflat and as the
sediment loss from 1858 to 1983. While the loss was not a ebb tide drains the marsh.
steady process over the studied period, the system as a whole
has been predominantly erosional. This loss of sediment was METHODS
accompanied by a large loss in tidal flat area in outer SSFB
Extraction and Normalization
(Jaffe and Foxgrover, 2006a). In contrast, the innermost por-
tion of SSFB—the area southeast of the Dumbarton Bridge— Using a combination of bathymetric sounding and lidar
has seen a slight increase in sediment volume over the period data, with a vertical resolution between 15 and 25 cm, gath-
studied (Foxgrover et al., 2004; Jaffe and Foxgrover, 2006b). ered in 2004–2005 and modeled by Foxgrover et al. (2004)
Sediment in SSFB is derived from two sources: (i) the Sac- and Foxgrover and Jaffe (2005), multiple cross sections were
ramento–San Joaquin Basin (the Inland Delta) after passing drawn with an ARCMAP platform (Figure 2). Spaced at
through the northern and central Bay, and (ii) the many roughly 50-m intervals, the profiles were selected to remain
smaller tributaries that directly fringe SSFB. The Inland Del- largely normal both to shore and the predominant contours.
ta is the commonly, though not universally, accepted source Profiles range in length from 120 to 3100 m; this length is
for the majority of sediment influx into SSFB because the not necessarily indicative of the tidal flat width because lines
local tributaries are thought not to have the discharge nec- were drawn to well exceed the intertidal zone. Once all tran-
essary to contribute a substantial portion, except during very sects were drawn, horizontal and vertical information was
wet winters (Jaffe and Foxgrover, 2006b; Krone, 1979; extracted and normalized to specified upper and lower ver-
McKee, Ganju, and Schoellhamer 2006; Porterfield, 1980; tical bounds. To perform an eigenfunction analysis, each line
phologic mode score and flat width (r2 ⫽ 0.33) and between for a systematic morphologic assessment of SSFB tidal flats
score and mean sediment size (r2 ⫽ 0.39). Sediment grain size that was rigorous and thorough. Eigenfunction analysis re-
data was unavailable for the two innermost regions of SSFB vealed a dominant mode of morphologic variability related to
(regions 7 and 8); because the grain sizes are unknown for the degree of convexity or concavity in the cross-shore profile.
these regions, the relationship between this forcing and mor- For tidal flats extending from high water to 0.5 m below low
phology is not represented here for the entire South Bay, the water, over 90% of bathymetric variability was explained by
r2 value of 0.39 representing only the regions with known the first eigenfunction. Tidal flat convexity within the 2004–
grain size information. 2005 SSFB data set was observed to increase (in decreasing
After the individual regressions were run on each of the order of significance) with increased deposition, increased tid-
five physical factors separately, a multiple linear regression al range, decreased fetch length, decreased sediment grain
was performed including all of the factors at once (except for size, and decreased tidal flat width (Figure 9).
sediment size, which was not available for all twelve regions). The strong consistency between morphologic scores and re-
Any components with best-fit slope magnitudes less than cent elevation change seen in SSFB is supported by frequent
their associated standard errors (i.e., absolute t-values less mentions in the literature of the connection between erosion
than 1) were removed one at a time, with the least significant or deposition and concave- or convex-upward flat profiles, re-
slope removed first. In the end, three components remained spectively (e.g., Dyer, 1998; Kirby, 2000; Le Hir et al., 2000).
in the multiple regression as follows, in order of decreasing Similarly, the relationships seen here between greater tidal
significance: recent deposition or erosion, high tide height, height and wave fetch, and convexity and concavity generally
and fetch length. The results of the final multiple regression fall within the present theoretical (Friedrichs and Aubrey,
are presented in Table 1 and Figure 8f. A net r2 value of 0.89 1996; Waeles, Le Hir, and Jacinto, 2004) and observational
was obtained from this multiple regression, and the modeled (Allen et al., 1998; Fan et al., 2006) understanding of tidal flat
scores are qualitatively similar to the observed results. morphodynamics.
Analysis of the various tidal flat boundary scenarios con-
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS sidered here also provided physically sensible results. As
more of the upper or lower flat was added to the analysis,
The use of EOF analysis allows for objective investigation
the resultant morphology showed greater convexity or con-
into the major modes of variability found within large bathy-
cavity, respectively, because the gradients of the flat extrem-
metric data sets. In the case of the bathymetric information
ities are less than that of the middle flat. These findings are
presented here, the large and well-organized data set allowed
consistent with Kirby (2000), who also found convexity to in-
crease with the amount of flat present above the mean tidal
level (MTL). While the traditional definition of a tidal flat
extends from low to high water (or less, depending on ele-
vation of neighboring marsh), we believe the morphodynamic
activity of the uppermost subtidal zone to be an important
component of the SSFB tidal flat system. Extending the lower
flat boundary slightly allowed for a greater range of morpho-
logic information to be gleaned from the digitized bathymetry
and presents a more complete picture of the morphologic be-
havior present therein.
Although limited by an incomplete set of sediment data,
the positive relationship found in SSFB between mean grain
size and profile convexity was also consistent with expecta-
tions. It is widely recognized that in mixed-grain size envi-
ronments, sediment remaining on eroding shorelines tends to
be coarser than that found on accreting shorelines. Available
results from the literature for tidal flats likewise support this
Figure 9. Conceptual diagram summarizing response of tidal flat profile
shape in SSFB to a variety of forcings.
trend (Woo and Je, 2002; Yang et al., 2008). In the long-term,
sediment grain size on tidal flats is primarily a function of
hydrodynamic energy and sediment supply (Amos, 1995), Developments in Sedimentology. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 273–
306.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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