Satellite image of rivers, tidal river and estuary with high turbidity in light blueThe Berau delta and barrier reef system, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, represents a complex coastal system with a variety of coastal landforms. The physical, biological and socio-economic aspects are studied in the East Kalimantan research cluster that kicked off at the end of 2005. This PhD project focuses on the physical part. First, the river discharge and sediment supply from the Berau drainage basin will be quantified. With this input, the actual flow and sediment transport through the tidal river, the estuary and the coastal shelf towards the coral reefs will be estimated. An important question is under what conditions the estuary acts as either a trap or a conduit of sediment. This part of the project is based on intensive fieldwork carried out in 2007.

With the obtained data a hydrological model with erosion module will be built. This model can estimate the effect on water and sediment fluxes when climate variations, such as ENSO events, or land use change, e.g. logging of rainforest, occur. Estimates will be made how much of these modelled fluxes would be transported to the barrier reef.

Please contact Frans Buschman for more info on this project.