Sedimentation in a disequilibrium river-dominated estuary: the Raša River Estuary (Adriatic Sea, Croatia) |
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| Authors: | IVAN SONDI MLADEN JURA&#;I&#;† VELIMIR PRAVDI&#; |
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| Institution: | Center for Marine Research, Ruder Bo?kovi?Institute, Bijeni?ka 54, POB 1016, 41000 Zagreb, Croatia;Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zvonimirova 8, POB 153, 41000 Zagreb, Croatia |
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| Abstract: | This paper examines sediment transport, sedimentation and properties of suspended matter and sediments in the Ra?a River estuary, a small, rock-bounded, microtidal, low-wave-energy karstic estuary in the north-eastern Adriatic. The Ra?a River is characterized by large variation in water flow and variable load of mineral particles. More than 90% of this load is brought into the estuary as fine-grained suspended matter, consisting of only 24–36% of carbonates, the rest being clays. Sedimentation occurs at the salt wedge, resulting in a prograding estuarine delta. Salt-induced flocculation is the predominant process of sediment deposition. The Ra?a estuary is infilling with sediment, and classifies as a disequilibrium estuary. We propose a modification of Cooper's (1993) classification scheme to include river-dominated, disequilibrium estuaries, with the Ra?a River as an example. |
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