Unraveling The Impacts of Meteorological and Anthropogenic Changes on Sediment Fluxes Along an Estuary-Sea Continuum

Unraveling The Impacts of Meteorological and Anthropogenic Changes on Sediment Fluxes Along an Estuary-Sea Continuum | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Unraveling The Impacts of Meteorological and Anthropogenic Changes on Sediment Fluxes Along an Estuary-Sea Continuum Florent Grasso, Eliott Bismuth, Romaric Verney This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-677174/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Sediment fluxes at the estuary-sea interface strongly impact particle matter exchanges between marine and continental sources along the land-sea continuum. However, human activities drive pressures on estuary physical functioning, hence threatening estuarine habitats and their ecosystem services. There is an increasing societal need to better predict the potential trajectories of estuarine sediment fluxes resulting from natural and anthropogenic pressures, but the concomitance of human-induced and meteorological-induced changes makes the responses ambiguous. Therefore, this study explores a 22-year numerical hindcast, experiencing contrasted meteorological conditions and human-induced morphological changes (i.e., estuary deepening and narrowing), in order to disentangle the relative contributions of meteorological and anthropogenic changes on net sediment fluxes between a macrotidal estuary and its adjacent coastal sea. Our results highlight that intense wave events induce fine sediment (≤100 µm) export to the sea but coarser sediment (≥210 µm) import within the estuary. Remarkably, moderate to large river flows support mud import within the estuary. Over 25 years, the reduction of intense wave and river flow events reduces fine sediment export to the sea. In addition, the estuary morphological changes due to human activities increase fine sediment import within the estuary, shifting the estuary from an exporting to importing system. We propose a conceptualization of mud flux response to river flow and wave forcing, as well as anthropogenic pressures. It provides valuable insights into particle transfers along the land-sea continuum, contributing to a better understanding of estuarine ecosystem trajectories under global changes. Ocean Engineering Oceanography Environmental Engineering estuary sediment changes human fluxes pressures estuarine anthropogenic Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major revision 04 Aug, 2021 Reviews received at journal 04 Aug, 2021 Reviewers agreed at journal 04 Aug, 2021 Reviews received at journal 02 Aug, 2021 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Jul, 2021 Reviewers invited by journal 26 Jul, 2021 Editor assigned by journal 26 Jul, 2021 Editor invited by journal 09 Jul, 2021 Submission checks completed at journal 08 Jul, 2021 First submitted to journal 01 Jul, 2021 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-677174","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":38333845,"identity":"c3721e99-f85c-4969-a6ea-bb5796695158","order_by":0,"name":"Florent Grasso","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAUlEQVRIie3QP0sDMRzG8d8RuCxP2zXS0nsLkcJ1KfaFOB7cSxAnORDicu7tuyi4OHQIBJ1KXS0Zhc4egrRQwdiiUDA9R6H5LvlDPpCEKBT6h/Gb/fUAvNjNWj4Csx3k9zoH9G52UvyRGKonjD2+VvcbSs7NS7W6fOqgbR4m1ZRE32PA4mw8nkk6nedpGzMLNPN8MVqS6OjfyZChxxrKkZJSFimLIZBad7sr4b2YIx9bwt+qtZoDaL3bjSZxkESOJIAUDaUdQWzpIImz6Fb1IIEL95bsS6SLUgs/4deG1qrbTUp+537szD2FLZ9XeuAlP1Tq/Y064EqK+jOhUCh0pH0CubRKVlQk3/4AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Ifremer – DYNECO/DHYSED","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Florent","middleName":"","lastName":"Grasso","suffix":""},{"id":38333846,"identity":"094aabf6-e170-4f63-b767-d771e558b7f0","order_by":1,"name":"Eliott Bismuth","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ifremer – DYNECO/DHYSED","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Eliott","middleName":"","lastName":"Bismuth","suffix":""},{"id":38333847,"identity":"03bb8224-1219-4f64-b930-0ee2d02068d3","order_by":2,"name":"Romaric Verney","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ifremer – DYNECO/DHYSED","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Romaric","middleName":"","lastName":"Verney","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2021-07-01 12:14:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-677174/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-677174/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":13662046,"identity":"0a26edca-3e23-4706-b224-044aec5b4247","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-09-17 10:31:17","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1272380,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Grassoetalsubmittedv2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-677174/v1_covered.pdf"},{"id":11684808,"identity":"462f9367-6b62-4914-8b92-60fca7c2b890","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-07-21 20:47:25","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1268763,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Grassoetalsubmittedv2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-677174/v1_covered.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eUnraveling The Impacts of Meteorological and Anthropogenic Changes on Sediment Fluxes Along an Estuary-Sea Continuum\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[{"header":"Full Text","content":"This preprint is available for \u003ca href='/article/rs-677174/latest.pdf' target='_blank'\u003edownload as a PDF\u003c/a\u003e."}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"estuary, sediment, changes, human, fluxes, pressures, estuarine, anthropogenic","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-677174/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-677174/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Sediment fluxes at the estuary-sea interface strongly impact particle matter exchanges between marine and continental sources along the land-sea continuum. 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