UCLA

California’s coastal wetlands provide valuable ecosystem services to the environment, including sequestering carbon, improving water quality, and providing habitat for many endangered species. Yet due to sea level rise the future of coastal wetlands is in question. Sediment placement is a new and promising technique that aims to help coastal wetlands combat sea level rise. We measured suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) and volatile suspended solids (VSS) at the marsh surface of experimental and control sites one week, one month, three months, six months, and one year after sediment addition. SSC on the experimental and control sites was initially high, but then it decreased and remained low. VSS was lower at the experimental site than the control site for the first three sampling periods and similar for the remainder of the year. This is the first study to evaluate SSC and VSS changes associated with sediment placement.