This is SeaTalk: Ocean News from the University of Delaware.

Each year, more than a million tons of sediment wash into the Delaware River estuary. Some of this mud settles out, where it stabilizes and helps prevent erosion on the river bottom. Some sediment ends up in neighboring marshes, where it helps keep the marsh above sea level and provides nutrients that are vital to plant and animal survival. But there's a lot that scientists are still learning about all that mud. UD researchers are working to determine just how effectively the estuary traps sediment supplied by rivers. The findings could shed light on how human or natural changes to the flow of sediment could affect the estuary.

This is SeaTalk, a public service announcement from the University of Delaware, the Delaware Sea Grant College Program, and this station.