研究通过结合4972条河流及其河口的泥沙负荷和潮汐湿地面积的连续数据集，研究计算出，在72%的情况下，河流泥沙淤积不足以与海平面上升相匹配，因为大多数流域太小(中位数为21平方公里)，无法产生足够的泥沙。
近一半的潮汐湿地将需要10倍以上的河流沉积物来匹配海平面，这在某些地区通常是无法通过拆除大坝来实现的。研究认识到流域泥沙对大多数潮汐湿地高程影响不大，并将研究重点转向影响高程变化最大的生物过程和海岸沉积物动力学。
据悉，流域沉积物可以增加潮汐湿地抵抗海平面上升的海拔，但流域沉积物在哪里以及有多大的帮助还是未知的。
附：英文原文
Title: Watershed sediment cannot offset sea level rise in most US tidal wetlands
Author: Scott H. Ensign, Joanne N. Halls, Erin K. Peck
Issue&Volume: 2023-12-08
Abstract: Watershed sediment can increase elevation of tidal wetlands struggling against rising seas, but where and how much watershed sediment helps is unknown. By combining contiguous US datasets on sediment loads and tidal wetland areas for 4972 rivers and their estuaries, we calculated that river sediment accretion will be insufficient to match sea level rise in 72% of cases because most watersheds are too small (median 21 square kilometers) to generate adequate sediment. Nearly half the tidal wetlands would require 10 times more river sediment to match sea level, a magnitude not generally achievable by dam removal in some regions. The realization that watershed sediment has little effect on most tidal wetland elevations shifts research priorities toward biological processes and coastal sediment dynamics that most influence elevation change.
DOI: adj0513
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj0513