a b s t r a c tMany estuaries worldwide are becoming more urbanised with heavier traffic in the waterways, requiring continuous channel deepening and larger ports, and increasing suspended sediment concentration (SSC). An example of a heavily impacted estuary where SSC levels are rising is the Ems Estuary, located between the Netherlands and Germany. In order to provide larger and larger ships access to three ports and a shipyard, the tidal channels in the Ems Estuary have been substantially deepened by dredging over the past decades. This has led to tidal amplification and hyper concentrated sediment conditions in the upstream tidal river. In the middle and outer reaches of the Ems Estuary, the tidal amplification is limited, and mechanisms responsible for increasing SSC are poorly understood. Most likely, channel and port deepening lead to larger SSC levels because of resulting enhanced siltation rates and therefore an increase in maintenance dredging. Additionally, channel deepening may increase up-estuary suspended sediment transport due to enhanced salinity-induced estuarine circulation.The effect of channel deepening and port construction on SSC levels is investigated using a numerical model of suspended sediment transport forced by tides, waves and salinity. The model satisfactorily reproduces observed water levels, velocity, sediment concentration and port deposition in the estuary, and therefore is subsequently applied to test the impact of channel deepening, historical dredging strategy and port construction on SSCs in the Estuary. These model scenarios suggest that: (1) channel deepening appears to be a main factor for enhancing the transport of sediments up-estuary, due to increased salinity-driven estuarine circulation; (2) sediment extraction strategies from the ports have a large impact on estuarine SSC; and (3) maintenance dredging and disposal influences the spatial distribution of SSC but has a limited effect on average SSC levels.

Deepening of estuarine tidal channels often leads to tidal amplification and increasing fine sediment import. Increasing fine sediment import, in turn, may lower the hydraulic drag (due to a smoother muddy bed and/or sedimentinduced damping of turbulence), and therefore, further strengthen tidal amplification, setting in motion a process in which the sediment concentration progressively increases until the river becomes hyper-turbid (Winterwerp and Wang, Ocean Dyn 63(11-12):1279-1292, 2013). To advance our understanding of the relative role of bed roughness and bed topography on sediment import mechanisms and sediment concentration, a Delft3D numerical model has been setup for an estuary which has been deepened and as a consequence experienced a strong increase in suspended sediment concentration: the lower Ems River. This model is calibrated against present-day hydrodynamic and sedimentary observations, and reproduces the basic sediment transport dynamics despite simplified sedimentological formulations. Historic model scenarios are semi-quantitatively calibrated against historic high and low water observations, revealing that changes in hydraulic roughness and deepening are probably equally important for the observed tidal amplification. This model is subsequently used to better understand historic changes in the hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes in the lower Ems River. Import of fine sediment has increased because of larger tidal transport, even though the degree of tidal asymmetry may not have significantly changed. The resulting rise in suspended sediment concentration reduced hydraulic drag, amplifying the tidal range. Export of fine sediment became less because the river-induced residual flow velocity decreased with deepening of the channel.

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