Seasonal Erodibility of Sediment in the Upper Bay of Fundy

This project developed methods for studying sedimentation to the macro-tidal flats of the upper Bay of Fundy. The researchers looked at seasonal variation in the erodibility of sediments in tidal creeks and flats using a Gust Erosion Chamber and repeated grain size surveys. This provided data on key parameters for sediment transport modeling, including erosion rate, critical erosion shear stress values, and mass erosion. This work contributes to the growing database on sediment dynamics that is essential for proper impact assessment of in-stream tidal devices in the Upper Bay of Fundy. In a broader sense, this work improves the predictive capacity of sediment transport models designed for management of coastal zones locally, nationally and internationally.

Team

Principal Investigators: Brent Law, Tim Milligan, and Gary Bugden, Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Dr. Paul Hill, Dalhousie University

Date
February 2012 – January 2015