Soil salinity change and dynamics of the ecosystem in response to depoldering of Rammegors

Versie van 10 sep 2018 om 16:14

Project summary

Monitoring of soil salinity change and dynamics of the ecosystem in response to depoldering of Rammegors Research type: field and laboratory experiments, desk study and data analysis Research level: project level for Water Management, Environmental Engineering and/or Civil Engineering students Prerequisite: Driver’s License, interest in ecology, environmental hydrology, and soil science

Start date:	februari 1, 2019
End date:	juli 1, 2019

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 {{Project
-|Supercontext=Building with Nature,Water Safety and Spatial Planning
+|Supercontext=Building with Nature,Resilient Deltas
 |Project type=Standaard
-|Name=Emergency measures dikes
+|Name=Monitoring of soil salinity change and dynamics of the ecosystem in response to depoldering of Rammegors
-|Start date=2018/09/01
+|Start date=2019/02/01
-|End date=2019/02/01
+|End date=2019/07/01
-|Summary=In the Netherlands the dikes are monitored continuously to prevent the hinterland from flooding. When the situation becomes critical (because of high water levels or storms) this becomes even more intense and every possible failure needs to be reported. If a dike, in this situation, is endangered, immediate actions need to be taken. Due to climate change this is expected in the riverine area, the IJsselmeer area and in the South-Western delta. Within a few hours (temporary) emergency measures are taken to prevent the dike from breaching, which would result in flooding of the hinterland. These measures are for example inflatable tubes, boxbarriers or the regular sandbags that are placed on top of the dike. The sandbags have proven to be a good strategy. The other measures are newly introduced and more or less only used in a test situation. The fact that they are only used in test situations gives some doubts about the reliability. It is important to study the effectiveness of emergency measures to prevent dike breaching under critical high water levels.
+|Summary=Eastern Scheldt suffers from 'sand hunger', as a result more swales and salt marshes disappear in the Eastern Scheldt. Therefore, in 2014 Rijkswaterstaat, part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, has brought the tide back to the Rammegors polder and thus allowed saltwater intrusion. Rammegors was natural reserve for birds that was closed off from the Eastern Scheldt by the construction of the Scheldt-Rhine Canal for more than forty years. This HZ University of Applied Sciences project provides a unique opportunity to monitor and study the changes i.e. transformation from a freshwater area to a tidal saltwater natural area. Further, the studying of soil salinity in Rammegors can provide valuable information for understanding salinization trend in polders with similar situation and may serve as a basis for future water management practice. This research aims at (i) identifying the extent and distribution of soil salinity over the time in the upper soil horizons, (ii) understanding the dynamics of the ecosystem (e.g. vegetation and benthos species) development due to changing soil water quality, and (iii) determining temporal evolution of soil, and vadose and phreatic water salinity due to saltwater intrusion. Overall, it can be noted that in-situ monitoring is the first stage of proper water management.
+In this project you will monitor (ground)water quality (e.g. electrical conductivity) and hydrological conditions (e.g. groundwater level) at the study location. Further, you will measure in the laboratory total salt content from collected soil samples. Moreover, based on the fieldwork and desk study you will try to determine relations between abiotic and biotic factors  in Rammegors polder.
-Research type: experiments in flume, modelling; Research level: minor; Prerequisite: interest in Coastal Engineering.
+Research type: field and laboratory experiments, desk study and data analysis
+Research level: project level for Water Management, Environmental Engineering and/or Civil Engineering students
+Prerequisite: Driver’s License, interest in ecology, environmental hydrology, and soil science
+Partners: (in alphabetic order) Deltares, Province of Zeeland, Rijkswaterstaat, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Wageningen Marine Research.
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