Shore erosion processes and sediment flux from eroded islands in the apex of the Lena Delta

• Main Authors: Grigoriev, M. N., Schneider, W.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung 2002
• Subjects: Laptev Sea; laptev; lena delta; Polar Research; Reports on polar research
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/30018/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/30018/1/BerPolarforsch2002426.pdf

Accumulation and erosion in the coastal Zone and deltas are of major importance for the sediment budget of the Laptev Sea. Sediment balance within the Lena Delta is an Open question still. The portion of sediment that is deposited in the Lena Delta and sediment flux from eroded delta's islands is not known. Admittedly, up-to-date sediment flux from the Lena Delta is some more than amount of accumulated deposits in that area. One of goals of the coastal team was to conduct reconnoitering studies of shore retreat dynamics in the apex of the Lena Delta. In August 2001 27 key sites (Figure 5-1) which are characterized by active shore erosion were investigated in order to estimate a range of shore retreat and the amount of sediment income into the water due to shore erosion. Most studied sites belong to the islands composing the first terrace above flood-lands because the first terrace is a dominating geomorphological level in the studied area. Totally about 50 km of shore cliffs were studied in respect to the rate of erosion processes. The first part of studies was to evaluate dynamics of only eroded shore sections. In 2001 we did not measure shore transformation in the accumulative or accretive shore sections. That will be our next step.