Articles | Volume 12, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-537-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-12-537-2024
Research article
 | 
22 Apr 2024
Research article |  | 22 Apr 2024

Benthos as a key driver of morphological change in coastal regions

Peter Arlinghaus, Corinna Schrum, Ingrid Kröncke, and Wenyan Zhang

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Cited articles

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Arlinghaus, P., Zhang, W., Wrede, A., Schrum, C., and Neumann, A.: Impact of benthos on morphodynamics from a modeling perspective, Earth-Sci. Rev., 221, 103803, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103803, 2021. 
Arlinghaus, P., Zhang, W., and Schrum, C.: Small-scale benthic faunal activities may lead to large-scale morphological change- A model based assessment, Front. Mar. Sci., 9, 1011760, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1011760, 2022.  
Baar, A. W., Boechat Albernaz, M., van Dijk, W. M., and Kleihans, M.: Critical dependence of morphodynamic models of fluvial and tidal systems on empirical downslope sediment transport, Nat. Commun., 10, 4903, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12753-x, 2019. 
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Short summary
Benthos is recognized to strongly influence sediment stability, deposition, and erosion. This is well studied on small scales, but large-scale impact on morphological change is largely unknown. We quantify the large-scale impact of benthos by modeling the evolution of a tidal basin. Results indicate a profound impact of benthos by redistributing sediments on large scales. As confirmed by measurements, including benthos significantly improves model results compared to an abiotic scenario.