Preface

Typically bordering between land and sea, river deltas are among the most diversely utilized environments on the planet. River deltas are extremely important environments socioeconomically, and their usage places ever-increasing stresses on these very sensitive aquatic regions.

The effective management of predominantly shallow aquatic environments requires a detailed scientific understanding of the various contributary natural processes. This has both environmental and economic implications, especially where there is any anthropogenic involvement. Numerical models are often the tool used for predicting the trends and patterns in these situations, as they can estimate the various spatial and temporal changes. However, the processes (e.g., physical, biological, and chemical) can vary quite considerably depending upon local conditions. Thus, for more than half a century, scientists, engineers, hydrologists, and mathematicians have been researching the many aspects that influence river delta environments. These issues range from processes such as water quality, pollution, land reclamation, and tidal dynamics to how geomorphodynamics, water column structure, and ecosystem habitats can be applied within river delta environmental frameworks.

*River Deltas Research - Recent Advances* draws on international scientific research to examine the following river delta-related issues: water quality and contamination, environmental disasters, climate change, land reclamation, geomorphology, biodiversity, sediment dynamics, classification, circulation hydrodynamics, ecosystems, and anthropogenic stresses. These key topics are supported by case study examples of river deltas from around the world. The research included herein was carried out by researchers who specialise in shallow water processes and related issues.

The book includes nine chapters written by an international group of research scientists who specialise in areas such as geomorphology, sediment dynamics, water quality, hydrology, and numerical modelling. Most of the chapters are concerned with natural process-related issues in river delta environments. They discuss water management in the Danube Delta, anthropogenic activities in the Mekong River Delta, and land use and land cover changes in the Crocodile River catchment, South Africa. Other chapters discuss wave-forced dynamics, oil-contaminated sediments, physico-chemical parameters, river-sea interaction, mangroves, and delta sinking issues.

This book is an excellent source of information on recent research on river delta environments from an interdisciplinary perspective. I would like to thank all the authors for their contributions, and I highly recommend this textbook to both scientists and engineers who deal with related issues.

### **Andrew J. Manning**

HR Wallingford Ltd, Coasts and Oceans Group, UK

> University of Hull, UK

University of Delaware, USA

University of Florida, USA

Stanford University, USA

Technical University Delft, Netherlands

University of Plymouth, UK

### **Chapter 1**
