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Skeena River Estuary and Marine Approaches: Patterns and Rates of Sedimentation
Natural Resources Canada marine geoscience surveys have acquired multibeam and
acoustic backscatter datasets, piston cores, and grab samples across the Skeena Estuary and
the contiguous marine areas. Data from these cruises have been compiled to produce an
overview of seabed geomorphology, texture and sedimentations rates in the estuary and
marine approaches. The model HydroTrend was used to estimate incoming sediment load from
the Skeena River. Model estimates for suspended sediments are higher than past estimates due
to a large contribution of suspended sediment predicted within a portion of the Skeena
watershed previously excluded due to a lack of available hydrographic data. At the same
distance from the river mouth, sedimentation rates of 2.9 cm/yr estimated with the SedFlux
model using HydroTrend sediment load results were similar to sedimentation rates of 2.75
cm/yr in Ogden Channel derived from radiocarbon-dated sediment cores. Cores recovered mud
sequences in Ogden Channel, proximal to the Base Sands, and within Marcus Passage where
radiocarbon dates indicated that indicated sedimentation rates were as high as 2.83cm/yr. In
comparison, sedimentation rates further offshore in Chatham Sound are as low as 0.004cm/yr.
A relatively high sedimentation rate, seaward fining trends in grain size, and very poorly sorted
sediments with a dominant presence of fine sediments were interpreted as indicators of high
riverine input to the seabed regionally
