Estuaries

Estuaries are bodies of water and their surrounding coastal habitats typically found where rivers
meet the sea. In the estuary, there’s a mixture of fresh water and salty water called brackish water.
Estuaries are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world because there is a mixture of
nutrient that produced by many organism on estuaries.

Figure 1. Schematic of Estuary

Environment benefits from Estuaries is to provide critical habitat for species that are valued
commercially, recreationally, and culturally. Economics Benefits, Estuaries provide habitat for
more than 75 percent of the U.S. commercial fish catch, and an even greater percentage of the
recreational fish catch. Estuaries are also important recreational areas. People visit estuaries
each year to boat, swim, watch birds and other wildlife, and fish. Coastal recreation and tourism
generate from $8-$12 billion per year in the United States. Many estuaries are important centers
of transportation and international commerce like commercial shipping, logistics distribution, etc.

Classified by their existing geology or their geologic origins (in other words, how they were
formed).

As glaciers receded and melted, sea levels rose and

inundated low-lying river valleys. Coastal plain estuaries
are also called drowned river valleys. Example:
Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast of the United States.

Figure 2. Coastal Plain

Bar-built or restricted-mouth estuaries occur when sandbars

or barrier islands are built up by ocean waves and currents
along coastal areas fed by one or more rivers or streams. The
streams or rivers flowing into bar-built estuaries typically have
a very low water volume during most of the year. Bar-built
estuaries are common along the Gulf Coast of Texas and
Florida, in the Netherlands, and in parts of North Carolina.

Figure 3. Bar-Built Estuary

Deltas form at the mouths of large rivers, when sediments
and silt accumulate rather than being washed away by
currents or ocean waves. Over time, a complex set of
channels, sand barriers and marshes form at the mouth of
the river. As sediments continue to accumulate, the course
of the river may even be changed. In deltas, sediments are
carried downstream and deposited at the mouth of the river.
Example of delta estuary: the Mississippi Delta.

Figure 4. Delta Estuary

The first stage in the formation of a tectonic estuary

is when the rapid movement of the Earth’s crust
causes a large piece of land to sink, or subside,
producing a depression or basin. These
depressions often form a series of natural channels
that drain fresh water from nearby rivers and
streams into these newly formed basins. San
Francisco Bay, on the West Coast of the United
States, is an excellent example of a tectonic
estuary. Figure 5. Tectonic Estuary

Fjords are typically long, narrow valleys with steep sides

that are created by advancing glaciers. The glaciers leave
deep channels carved into the earth with a shallow barrier,
or narrow sill, near the ocean. When the glaciers retreat,
seawater floods the deeply incised valleys, creating
estuaries.
Fjords are found in areas that were once covered with
glaciers. Glacier Bay in Alaska and the Georgia Basin
region of Puget Sound in Washington State are examples
of fjords.
Figure 6. Fjords Estuary
Salt-wedge estuaries occur when a rapidly flowing
river discharges into the ocean where tidal currents
are weak. The force of the river pushing fresh water
out to sea rather than tidal currents transporting
seawater upstream determines the water circulation
in these estuaries. Examples of salt-wedge estuaries
are the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon
Figure 7. Salt-Wedge Estuary
As the glaciers receded they left deep channels
carved into the earth with a shallow barrier, or narrow
sill, near the ocean. The sill restricts water circulation
with the open ocean and dense seawater seldom
flows up over the sill into the estuary. Typically, only
the less dense fresh water near the surface flows
over the sill and out toward the ocean. These factors
cause fjords to experience very little tidal mixing;
thus, the water remains highly stratified. Fjords are
Figure 8. Fjords
found along glaciated coastlines such as those of
British Columbia, Alaska, Chile, New Zealand, and
Norway.

Slightly stratified or partially mixed estuaries,

saltwater and freshwater mix at all depths; however,
the lower layers of water typically remain saltier than
the upper layers. Puget Sound in Washington State
and San Francisco Bay in California, are examples
of slightly stratified estuaries.
Figure 9. Slightly Stratified

A vertically-mixed or well-mixed estuary occurs

when river flow is low and tidally generated currents
are moderate to strong. Strong tidal currents
eliminate the vertical layering of freshwater floating
above denser seawater, and salinity is determined
by the daily tidal stage. The estuaries salinity is
highest nearest the ocean and decreases as one
moves up the river. This type of water circulation
might be found in large, shallow estuaries, such as
Figure 10. Vertically Mixed Estuary
Delaware Bay.

Freshwater estuaries are semi-enclosed areas of the Great Lakes in

which the waters become mixed with waters from rivers or streams.
These freshwater estuaries do not contain saltwater, they are unique
combinations of river and lake water, which are chemically distinct. In
freshwater estuaries the composition of the water is often regulated by
storm surges and subsequent seiches (vertical oscillations, or sloshing,
of lake water).

Figure 11. Freshwater Estuary

Estuarine Habitat divided into two: Salt marshes and Mangrove
Forests. Mangrove trees and blue crabs are some of the
estuarine species that have adapted to unique environmental
conditions. In almost all estuaries the salinity of the water
changes constantly over the tidal cycle. To survive in these
conditions, plants and animals living in estuaries must be able to
respond quickly to drastic changes in salinity.
Erosion and sediment transport form a spit that constricts the
mouth of the estuary and reduces the role of tides. So the spit
form a barrier because there is accumulation of energy. Figure 12. Wave Dominated Estuary

A tide-dominated estuary represents a bedrock coastal

embayment that has been partially in filled by sediment
derived from both the catchment and marine sources, in which
tidal currents, rather than waves, are the dominant force
shaping the gross geomorphology. In this case the water that
come from the ocean can enter until the river zone.

Figure 13. Tidal Dominated Estuary

 KL 2205
PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
Alamsyah Kurniawan, Ph.D.

Aisyah Anggraini
15516027

OCEAN ENGINEERING PROGRAM

FACULTY OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI BANDUNG
2018
 KL 2200
ANALISIS REKAYASA DASAR II
Alamsyah Kurniawan, Ph.D.

Aisyah Anggraini
15516027

PROGRAM STUDI TEKNIK KELAUTAN

FAKULTAS TEKNIK SIPIL DAN LINGKUNGAN
INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI BANDUNG
2018