Sea-level rise in a coastal marsh: linking increasing tidal inundation, decreasing soil strength and increasing pond expansion

Huyzentruyt, Mona; Schepers, Lennert; Kirwan, Matthew L.; Guntenspergen, Glenn R.; Temmerman, Stijn

doi:10.5194/bg-23-751-2026

Articles | Volume 23, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-751-2026

Copyright waived. This work has been dedicated to the public domain (Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication).

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-751-2026

Copyright waived. This work has been dedicated to the public domain (Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication).

Articles | Volume 23, issue 2

Research article

|

26 Jan 2026

Research article |

| 26 Jan 2026

Sea-level rise in a coastal marsh: linking increasing tidal inundation, decreasing soil strength and increasing pond expansion

Mona Huyzentruyt, Lennert Schepers, Matthew L. Kirwan, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, and Stijn Temmerman

Data sets

Sea level rise in a coastal marsh: linking increasing tidal inundation, decreasing soil strength and increasing pond expansion - dataset M. Huyzentruyt et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17206424

Short summary

In some tidal marshes, vegetation can convert to ponds as a result of sea level rise. We investigated to what extent this is related to decreasing strength of the marsh soil in relation to sea level rise. We found a reduction of marsh soil strength in areas with more inundation by sea water and more ponding, which results in easier erosion of the marsh and thus further expansion of ponds. This decrease in marsh soil strength is highly related to lower content of roots in the soil.