. Earth Science News .
WATER WORLD
New York oyster beds once protected against storms and wave damage
by Staff Writers
Amherst MA (SPX) Mar 08, 2016


Jon Woodruff and doctoral student Christine Brandon collected core sediment samples from 5 to 6.5 meters (about 16 to 21 feet) deep, going back about 3,000 years in outer New York Harbor's hisory to analyze storm layers and other features. Image courtesy UMass Amherst. For a larger version of this image please go here.

A recent study of past disturbance of the oyster beds in New York Harbor led by geoscientist Jonathan Woodruff and his doctoral student Christine Brandon of the University of Massachusetts Amherst is the first to link Europeans' overharvesting and disturbance of the ancient shellfish beds to loss of natural coastal defenses against floods and storm waves.

Woodruff and first author Brandon, with colleagues at Stevens Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, used a new approach based on sediment reconstructions from coastal ponds and hydrodynamic model simulations to show that the initial degradation of oyster reefs in the harbor following European settlement coincides with "a significant increase in wave-derived overwash deposition" at all of their field sites. Details appear in an early online issue of Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.

Woodruff says, "We initially set out to investigate what Hurricane Sandy's resultant sand deposit looked like in coastal ponds on Staten Island, a location in outer New York Harbor that is occasionally exposed to ocean swells. These sites were flooded severely during the event and we were curious how this "Sandy" deposit compared to sediments deposited by earlier flood events. An event layer from Hurricane Sandy was clearly present at all our sites, as well as older storm deposits that dated to historical floods."

An event layer is a tell-tale sign in sediment, in the case of Sandy a red layer of denser, coarse-grained sediment associated with storm overwash.

He adds, "However, prior to between 1600 and 1800 these storm deposits went away. If it were just one site it would have been one thing, but at every site we saw the same: no storm deposits for thousands of years before European settlement and then after colonization, storm waves start to become more and more effective in transporting sand inland to our field sites. Something the early colonists did seemed to increase storm-induced overwash at the study sites. The million dollar question was what."

At first the authors thought the answer might be sea-level rise, variability in storm activity or land clearing, but when reviewed in detail none of these explanations was consistent with observations, Woodruff notes. "We kept reaching dead ends until we considered one of the largest impacts European settlers had on New York Harbor, the decimation of its natural oyster beds."

These beds were one of the most notable features of New York Harbor when Europeans arrived, covering as much as 220,000 acres of the Hudson and Raritan Rivers' estuary. Oysters were a staple of early colonial diets, and an important lime source for farm fields and construction mortar, the geoscientist says.

Between 1600 and 1800, the New York oyster beds were rapidly over-harvested by hand and from dredges towed by sloops and schooners. The authors hypothesize that the reefs had absorbed a significant fraction of storm-wave energy before they were destroyed.

To test this hypothesis, co-author Philip Orton at Stevens used a circulation and wave simulation model to reconstruct past wave heights and storm surge elevations, and to model the effects of oyster beds on wave heights in two historic storms, Sandy in 2012 and a severe 1992 winter storm. Woodruff and colleagues also collected core sediment samples from 5 to 6.5 meters (about 16 to 21 feet) deep, going back about 3,000 years, to analyze storm layers and other features.

Simulations for the two storms included a control case without oyster beds, as well as with oyster beds at locations roughly corresponding to those historically documented in New York's outer harbor. The authors conclude from this modeling that "sensitivity to reef height is strong."

For example, in the control with no oyster bed present, the 1992 storm model showed as much as a 200 percent increase in wave energy when compared to the oyster reef cases. Thus, they say, "reefs provided significant coastal protection from waves prior to their disturbance between 1600 and 1800."

They acknowledge, "As with any sedimentary record, there will always be a certain level of uncertainty related to its interpretation." However, numerical modeling shows that the overharvesting and destruction of oyster reefs "provides a reasonable explanation for the increase in storm-induced overwash observed at our study sites."

The study showed that this area of New York Harbor is now experiencing between about 30 percent and 200 percent higher wave energy from extreme storms than in the distant past. "This translates into increased vulnerability of the area to storms: a result most likely shared by other coastal areas that have lost their natural oyster beds," Woodruff and colleagues note.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
WATER WORLD
Shallow-water corals are not related to their deep-water counterparts
Miami FL (SPX) Mar 07, 2016
A new study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science found that shallow-reef corals are more closely related to their shallow-water counterparts over a thousand miles away than they are to deep-water corals on the same reef. The researchers studied the genetic connectivity of a common Caribbean coral species, the mustard hill cor ... read more


WATER WORLD
Mutations, DNA damage seen in Fukushima forests: Greenpeace

Fukushima 'dark tourism' aids remembrance and healing

Quake-hit Nepal hands out free SIM cards to tourists

Former TEPCO bosses indicted over Fukushima disaster

WATER WORLD
University of Kentucky physicist discovers new 2-D material that could upstage graphene

Disney automated system lets characters leap and bound realistically in virtual worlds

New catalyst makes hydrogen peroxide accessible to developing world

Research demonstrates that air data can be used to reconstruct radiological releases

WATER WORLD
Aussie crayfish alpine hideout under threat

Food limitation linked to record California sea lion pup strandings

Shallow-water corals are not related to their deep-water counterparts

Water returns to Syria's Aleppo: official

WATER WORLD
How permafrost thawing affects vegetation, carbon cycle

Russian scuba divers set deepest under-ice dive record

Australian icebreaker heading home after Antarctica grounding

Australian icebreaker refloated in Antarctica after grounding

WATER WORLD
Recoupling crops and livestock offers energy savings to dairy farmers

Climate change poised to hurt food supplies: study

NGOs sue Monsanto, EU food safety watchdog over pesticide

University of Guam scientist and colleagues tag coconut rhinoceros beetles

WATER WORLD
The maximum earthquake magnitude for North Turkey

Indonesian tsunami warning buoys not working when quake hit

Guatemala on alert as volcano spews ash over vast area

Powerful quake in western in Indonesia sparks panic

WATER WORLD
Nigerian Army Council clears Boko Haram arms officer

S.African private army protects world's largest rhino farm

Rwanda prosecutors demand 22 years in jail in sedition trial

US top brass urge tighter W. Africa response to Islamist threat

WATER WORLD
ONR Global sponsors research to improve memory through electricity

Easter Island not destroyed by war, analysis of 'spear points' shows

Neanderthals and modern H. sapiens crossbred over 100,000 years ago

Neanderthals mated with modern humans much earlier than previously thought









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.