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A CLASSIFICATION OF U.S. ESTUARIES BASED ON PHYSICAL, HYDROLOGIC ATTRIBUTES
Citation:
ENGLE, V. D., JAN C. KURTZ, L. M. SMITH, C. A. CHANCY, AND P. BOURGEOIS. A CLASSIFICATION OF U.S. ESTUARIES BASED ON PHYSICAL, HYDROLOGIC ATTRIBUTES. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT. Springer, New York, NY, 129(1-3):397-412, (2007).
Impact/Purpose:
This classification of estuaries can be used by natural resource managers to describe and
inventory coastal systems, understand stressor impacts, predict which systems are most sensitive to stressors, and manage and protect coastal resources.
Description:
A classification of U.S. estuaries is presented based on estuarine characteristics that have been identified as important for quantifying stressor-response
relationships in coastal systems. Estuaries within a class have similar physical/hydrologic and land use characteristics and would be expected to demonstrate
similar biological responses to stressor loads from the adjacent watersheds. Ten classes of estuaries were identified by applying cluster analysis to a database
for 203 U.S. estuarine and coastal drainage areas. The database included physical measures of estuarine and watershed areas, depth and volume, hydrologic
parameters (i.e., tide height, tidal prism volume, and freshwater inflow rates), and land cover percentages. The ability of an estuary to dilute or flush pollutants
can be estimated using physical and hydrologic properties such as volume, bathymetry, freshwater inflow and tidal exchange rates which influence residence
time as well as watershed land cover characteristics which can affect pollutant loading rates. Thus, physical, hydrologic and land cover characteristics can be
used to estimate the susceptibility of estuaries to pollutant effects. This classification of estuaries can be used by natural resource managers to describe and
inventory coastal systems, understand stressor impacts, predict which systems are most sensitive to stressors, and manage and protect coastal resources.