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GSA Bulletin; December 2001; v. 113; no. 12; p. 1522-1531; DOI: 10.1130/0016-7606(2001)113<1522:NESTIA>2.0.CO;2
© 2001 Geological Society of America
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Net ebb sediment transport in a rock-bound, mesotidal estuary during spring-freshet conditions: Kennebec River estuary, Maine

Michael S. Fenster*,1, Duncan M. FitzGerald*,2, Joseph T. Kelley*,3, Daniel F. Belknap*,3, Ilya V. Buynevich*,4 and Stephen M. Dickson*,5

1 Environmental Studies Program, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia 23005, USA
2 Department of Earth Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
3 Department of Geological Sciences and Center for Marine Studies, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, USA
4 Department of Earth Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
5 Maine Geological Survey, 22 State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333-0022, USA

Hydrographic data—obtained concurrently along the 25 km longitudinal axis of the Kennebec River estuary during a 13 h semidiurnal tidal cycle of a spring freshet superimposed on near-perigean spring tides—revealed a strong ebb-current dominance along the length of the estuary. Ebb- current dominance is produced by riverine flow that supplants a substantial part of the flood-tidal prism. In addition, side-scan sonograms showed a suite of large bed forms (1–12 m height) with nearly ubiquitous ebb orientations veneering the estuary bottom. Embayment geometry, salinity, water temperature, discharge, current velocity, and bed-form data all suggest that ebb- velocity asymmetry, set up by seasonal changes in freshwater discharge superimposed on ebb-directed tides, is the most important control on net bed-load sediment transport within this high-latitude, rock- bound estuary. These data augment a model that shows that a freshwater discharge threshold exists for net seaward bed-load sediment transport. The results from this study can be used to refine existing conceptual sedimentologic and morphologic classifications of estuaries.

Key Words: currents • discharge • estuary • freshet • sediment transport






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