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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Ecol. Evol.
Sec. Conservation and Restoration Ecology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fevo.2025.1518759
This article is part of the Research Topic Coastal Adaptation Through Nature: Natural and Nature-Based Features (NNBF) Research View all articles

Wetland Elevation Change Following Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Nourishment

Provisionally accepted
Brian H. Harris Brian H. Harris 1*Aleksandra Ostojic Aleksandra Ostojic 1Lenore P Tedesco Lenore P Tedesco 2Keith VanDerSys Keith VanDerSys 3Susan Bailey Susan Bailey 1Justin L Shawler Justin L Shawler 1Navid H Jafari Navid H Jafari 4Monica Chasten Monica Chasten 5
  • 1 Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Vicksburg, United States
  • 2 The Wetlands Institute, Stone Harbor, NJ, United States
  • 3 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 4 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
  • 5 US Army Corps of Engineers- Philadelphia District, Philadelphia, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The beneficial use of dredged material (BUDM) to nourish degrading wetlands is a direct solution to increase surface elevation to help wetlands keep pace with sea level rise (SLR). While there have been numerous demonstrations of BUDM in wetland environments, there is a limited understanding of the resultant spatial and temporal elevation response due to consolidation of the dredged material and underlying wetland foundation soils. To address this, surface elevations were monitored following multiple BUDM nourishments on a back-bay island in New Jersey. Field data was compared to consolidation models to assess the viability of current geotechnical modeling practices. Multispectral surveys were performed to document the revegetation of the nourished island over time. The placement of dredged material smothered the vegetation, but the site experienced significant revegetation (low of 22% cover in August 2021 to 52% in September 2023) after three full growing cycles. Approximately two years post BUDM, the nourished area experienced a 0.19 ± 0.11-m increase in elevation. The comparison of elevation immediately after nourishment and two years post-nourishment found that approximately one-third of elevation loss was the result of consolidation of deposited dredged material and the underlying wetland foundation. It was found that a reliance on solely laboratory data can induce a large degree of uncertainty within projected surface elevations. Thus, the implementation of in-situ geotechnical methods is strongly advised when possible. This investigation allowed for a comprehensive examination of geotechnical modeling methods for planning wetland nourishments, including predicting the ability to keep pace with sea level rise. Ultimately, the two BUDM nourishments offset the effects of SLR by approximately 18-28 years.

    Keywords: wetland restoration, consolidation, Cone penetrometer test, lidar, Ecogeomorphology, compaction, Elevation capital

    Received: 28 Oct 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Harris, Ostojic, Tedesco, VanDerSys, Bailey, Shawler, Jafari and Chasten. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Brian H. Harris, Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Vicksburg, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.