Geostatistical Modeling of Intertidal Sediment Distribution in the Ba Lat Estuary, Vietnam

Intertidal sediment grain size is one of the environmental parameters that can explain the interaction between the marine and terrestrial environments. Geostatistics has been widely used to model spatial distribution of many geological objects. However, there have been a few researches concerning application to grain size distribution. The aim of this study is to clarify surface sediment distribution on tidal flats based on the geostatistical approach. Data of sand content (percent of fraction >0.063 mm) in sediments taken from the Ba Lat estuary were characterized by using ordinary kriging (OK) to model sediment distribution. Four sediment types could be recognized: sand, muddy sand, sandy mud and mud. The sandy sediments are dominant from the near sea shoals (Con Mo, Con Vanh, Con Thu) to the centre of study area. The muddy sediments are concentrated from the inner edge to the centre of the study area, where mangroves cover partly these tidal flats. These results contribute to understand the hydro-dynamic and environmental pollution processes in the estuarine area.