Mudflat slope angles and wave attenuation inside mangroves

Abstract

Mangrove forests cover large parts of the tropical and subtropical shorelines. These trees are tolerant to saline environments, which enable them to grow in the intertidal zone. Very diverse flora and fauna can be found in mangrove areas. Often, these coastlines are sheltered or are subject to a moderate wave climate. Mangrove forests act as a natural coastal protection. The most important features of this protection are the prevention of erosion by the collecting of sediment and the reduction of the wave climate. Understanding these key processes is important to the preservation of the mangrove forest themselves, but also of the often highly populated areas behind it. Nevertheless there is a lack of both quantitative and qualitative knowledge on wave processes in mangrove forests. Therefore there is a need to quantify, wave attenuation in particular, in order to relate the natural shore morphology which is slope angle and vegetation density. In this study, two different slope angle was taken which is l 60 and 1 Oo slope angle, and it is found that l 60 slope angle give more reduction than 1 Oo slope angle. The percentage of wave reduction for 160 is 4.41% and for lOo is 2.71%. Finally it is concluded that the relationship wave reduction on slope angle was successful showed. The steepness of slope at mangrove area gives the benefit to protect coastal area.