Effect of a broad shallow sill on tidal circulation and salt transport in the entrance to a coastal plain estuary (Mira—Vila Nova de Milfontes, Portugal)

We describe the tidal circulation and salinity regime of a coastal plain estuary that connects to the ocean through a flood tide delta. The delta acts as a sill, and we examine the mechanisms through which the sill affects exchange of estuarine water with the ocean. Given enough buoyancy, the dynamics of tidal intrusion fronts across the sill and selective withdrawal (aspiration) in the deeper channel landward appear to control the exchange of seawater with estuarine water. Comparison of currents on the sill and stratification in the channel reveals aspiration depths smaller than channel depth during neap tide. During neap tide and strong vertical stratification, seawater plunges beneath the less dense estuarine water somewhere on the sill. Turbulence in the intruding bottom layer on the sill promotes entrainment of fluid from the surface layer, and the seawater along the sill bottom is diluted with estuarine water. During ebb flow, salt is effectively trapped landward of the sill in a stagnant zone between the aspiration depth and the bottom where it can be advected farther upstream by flood currents. During spring tide, the plunge point moves landward and off the sill, stratification is weakened in the deep channel, and aspiration during ebb extends to the bottom. This prevents the formation of stagnant water near the bottom, and the estuary is flooded with high salinity water far inland. The neapspring cycle of tidal intrusion fronts on flood coupled with aspiration during ebb interacts with the sill to play an important role in the transport and retention of salt within the estuary.     

径潮共同作用对径流型河口盐水上溯的影响

为进一步认识径流型河口枯季盐水上溯距离变化的影响因素及其作用机制,将实际河口简化并在不同径流量下分别用等潮差正弦潮和主要分潮驱动,进行盐水三维数值模拟试验。结果表明:随着径流和潮汐两大基本作用的相对强度不同,平衡态下盐水形态和位置自动调整并最终达到盐输运平衡,径流量小于3 000 m3/s且潮差小于2 m时,最大上溯距离随潮差的变化规律在不同径流量下存在明显差别;大小潮半月周期内盐水呈现非平衡态,非强混合时潮周期盐水上溯最大距离围绕平衡态随潮差呈顺时针绳套关系变化。径流导致的密度环流作用和潮汐的混合作用交织,两者相互影响并协同发展,两种作用相对强度的不同是导致径流型河口盐水上溯距离变化显著的主导因素。     

Axial zonation patterns of subtidal macrozoobenthos in the Gamtoos estuary,South Africa

The distribution of macroinfauna was quantified in subtidal, soft-bottom habitats, extending from the estuarine mouth to the tidal head of the Gamtoos—a small, shallow, temperate estuary situated on the south coast of South Africa. Sampling covered the full salinity gradient from fresh to marine waters, and all sediment types from marine sands to fluvial silts. A total of 35 taxa was recorded, of which 22 occurred throughout the year. Species richness and diversity declined from the seawater-dominated mouth region toward the fresh water section at the tidal head of the estuary. Sediment type generally bore no clear relation to biotic diversity. A marked drop in salinity between winter and summer sample series (Δ 0.2‰ to 24‰) coincided with a reduction of mean macrofaunal density by 70%, a more seaward relocation, and a compression of axial ranges of most taxa. Numerical classification and ordination of faunistically similar regions and of co-occurring species delineated four habitat zones along the longitudinal axis of the estuary which harbour four distinct macrofaunal assemblages: 1) A tidal inlet area with salinities close to seawater; clean, coarse, marine sands, rich in CaCO₃ harbour a stenohaline fauna normally found on adjacent, marine sandy beaches. 2) In the lower reaches, where fine, fluvial silts of high organic content prevail, euryhaline polychaetes dominate the macrozoobenthic community; bottom salinities in this zone seldom dropped below 25‰ 3) The middle reaches, characterized by oligohaline- to polyhaline waters, stretch over sandy sediments of intermediate carbonate, silt, and organic fractions; the fauna comprises typical estuarine forms, which occurred throughout most of the estuary except at its seaward and landward limits. 4) The upper reaches encompass the limnetic waters near the tidal head of the estuary with sediments in this zone being composed mostly of coarse, clean sands, low in CaCO₃; the macrobenthos in this region is dominated by taxa of freshwater origin, which generally do not penetrate seaward beyond the oligohaline waters, and by exceptionally euryhaline estuarine species. Salinity appears as the main factor in controlling faunal assemblages at both extremes of the estuarine gradient (i.e., tidal inlet and head), whereas sediment type delineates between communities in the mesohaline to polyhaline reaches. Axial (i.e., from tidal inlet to tidal head of the estuary) zonation patterns of macroinfauna broadly matched those of mesozooplankton and fishes, supporting the notion of a general structure underlying species distribution patterns in the Gamtoos estuary.     

Transport of Crustacean Larvae Between a Low-Inflow Estuary and Coastal Waters

The effectiveness of larval behavior in regulating transport between well-mixed, low-inflow estuaries and coastal waters in seasonally arid climates is poorly known. We determined the flux of an assemblage of benthic crustacean larvae relative to physical conditions between a shallow estuary and coastal waters on the upwelling coast of northern California (38°18′N, 123°03′W) from 29 to 31 March 2006. We detected larval behaviors that regulate transport in adjacent coastal waters and other estuaries for only two taxa in the low-inflow estuary, but they were apparent for taxa outside the estuary. Vertical mixing in the shallow estuary may have overwhelmed larvae of some species, or salinity fluctuations may have been too slight to cue tidal vertical migrations. Nevertheless, all larval stages of species that complete development in nearshore coastal waters were present in the estuary, because they remained low in the water column reducing seaward advection or they were readily exchanged between the estuary and open coast by tidal flows. Weak tidal flows and gravitational circulation at the head of the estuary reduced seaward transport during development for species that completed development nearshore, whereas larval release during nocturnal ebb tides enhanced seaward transport for species that develop offshore. Thus, nonselective tidal processes dominated larval transport for most species back and forth between the low-inflow estuary and open coastal waters, whereas in adjacent open coastal waters, larval behavior in the presence of wind-induced shear was more important in regulating migrations between adult and larval habitats along this upwelling coast.     

钱塘江下切河谷充填物沉积序列和分布模式

以最新钻取的SE2孔沉积物为重点研究对象,对晚第四纪以来钱塘江下切河谷充填物的沉积特征和沉积相进行了精细研究,重建了研究区地层结构和层序地层格架,总结了强潮型钱塘江河口湾和下切河谷的沉积模式。钱塘江下切河谷充填物自下而上依次发育河床、河漫滩、古河口湾、近岸浅海和现代河口湾5种沉积相类型,表现为一个较完整的Ⅰ型层序,其内部层序界面、初始海泛面、最大海泛面、海侵和海退潮流侵蚀面、体系域内海侵面发育。钱塘江下切河谷充填物自海向陆可划分为海向段、近海段、近陆段和陆向段4段,各段沉积序列和海陆相互作用程度不同。在钱塘江下切河谷充填物中海陆过渡部位首次明确划分出了古河口湾相,并对其沉积特征和分布模式进行了初步探讨;其形成时间在9000 a BP左右,具有与现代河口湾不同的沉积特征,表现为中部为潮道砂体沉积,向陆渐变为受潮流影响的河流沉积,两侧被潮坪或盐沼沉积包围,沉积物在平面上自陆向海呈现粗-细-粗的分布模式。现代河口湾平面上自陆向海依次发育受潮流影响的河流沉积、粉砂质砂坎、潮道-潮流砂脊复合体和湾口泥质沉积区,沉积物呈现粗-细-粗-细的分布模式,与大多数河口湾常见的粗-细-粗的分布格局明显不同。     

Sedimentation in a fluvially infilling, barrier-bound estuary on a wave-dominated, microtidal coast: the Ouémé River estuary, Benin, west Africa

The Ouémé River estuary is located on the seasonally humid tropical coast of Benin, west Africa. A striking feature of this microtidal estuary is the presence of a large sand barrier bounding a 120 km² circular central basin, Lake Nokoué, that is being infilled by heterogeneous fluvial deposits supplied by a relatively large catchment (50 000 km²). Borehole cores from the lower estuary show basal Pleistocene lowstand alluvial sediments overlain by Holocene transgressive–highstand lagoonal mud and by transgressive to probably early highstand tidal inlet and flood‐tidal delta sand deposited in association with non‐preserved transgressive sand barriers. The change in estuary‐mouth sedimentation from a transgressive barrier‐inlet system to a regressive highstand barrier reflects regional modifications in marine sand supply and in the cross‐barrier tidal flux associated with barrier‐inlet systems. As barrier formation west of the Ouémé River led to an increasingly rectilinear shoreline, the longshore drift cell matured, ensuring voluminous eastward transport of sand from the Volta Delta in Ghana, the major purveyor of sand, to the Ouémé embayment, 200 km east. Concomitantly, the number of tidal inlets, and the tidal flux associated with a hitherto interlinked lagoonal system on this coast, diminished. Complete sealing of Lake Nokoué has produced a large, permanently closed estuary, where tidal intrusion is assured through the interconnected coastal lagoon via an inlet located 60 km east. Since 1885, tides have entered the estuary directly through an artificial outlet cut across the sand barrier. Although precluding the seaward loss of fluvial sediments, permanent estuary‐mouth closure has especially deprived the highstand estuary of marine sand, a potentially important component in estuarine infill on wave‐dominated coasts. In spite of a significant fluvial sediment supply, estuarine infill has been moderate, because of the size of the central basin. Estuarine closure has resulted in two co‐existing highstand sediment suites, with limited admixture, the marine‐derived, estuary‐mouth barrier and upland‐derived back‐barrier sediments. This situation differs from that of mature barrier estuaries characterized by active fluvial‐marine sediment mixing and facies interfingering.     

Effects of Wave–Current Interaction on Salt Intrusion During a Typhoon Event in a Highly Stratified Estuary

Wave–current interaction (WCI) is important in modulating hydrodynamics and water mixing in estuaries, and thereby the transport of water-borne materials. However, the effects of WCI on salt transport and salt intrusion in estuaries during storm events have been rarely examined. In the present study, we use a coupled atmosphere–ocean–wave–sediment transport (COAWST) modeling system to investigate the effects of WCI on salt intrusion in the highly stratified Modaomen Estuary during Typhoon Hagupit (2008). The model is validated by the measured wave, water elevation, and surface salinity data, and several diagnostic model experiments are conducted. WCI increases the storm surge by 0.8 m at the peak surge (25% of the total surge height). The wave-breaking-induced momentum flux and the Stokes drift increase the magnitude of the landward flow by 0.3 m s^?1 (30% of the total landward flow). In addition, the waves increase water mixing by 2–4 times compared with that without waves. Hence, WCI significantly increases the landward advective salt transport and decreases the steady shear transport. The net effect of the WCI is a significant increase of salt import and salt intrusion during the typhoon event. However, in the aftermath of the storm, the imported salt water is rapidly flushed out by the increased river discharge, and the estuary regains its stratification within one day.     

Facies architecture in a tectonically influenced estuarine incised valley fill of Miocene age, northern Brazil

The Miocene Barreiras Formation in the Middle Rio Capim area records an incised valley system for which facies analysis and ichnology (Skolithos, Ophiomorpha, Planolites, Gyrolithes, Taenidium) suggest an estuarine character. Three stratigraphic units are recognized (from bottom to top): Unit 1 includes an inner estuarine tidal channel complex and tidal flat/salt marsh deposits; Unit 2 consists of estuarine bay/lagoon and flood tidal delta deposits related to the estuary mouth; and Unit 3 includes a tidal channel with a tidal point bar, as well as tidal flat/salt marsh deposits similar to those from Unit 1. These units and their bounding surfaces record the history of relative sea level changes in the estuary. After a sea level drop, the valley was inundated and formed an amalgamated sequence boundary and transgressive surface. Transgression (Unit 1) promoted the landward shift of flood tidal deltas and lagoon settings (Unit 2). The system then moved seaward, with the superposition of inner estuarine deposits (Unit 3) over Unit 2. Facies architecture seems to have been controlled by tectonics, as shown by: the paleovalley orientation according to the main tectonic structures of the basin; the presence of faults and fractures that displace the basal unconformity; and the abundance of soft sediment deformation.     

The Effects of Wind,Runoff and Tides on Salinity in a Strongly Tidal Sub-estuary

Measurements over an annual cycle of longitudinal and vertical salinity distributions in a small sub-estuary, the Tavy Estuary, UK, are used to illustrate the dependence of salt intrusion and stratification on environmental variables. The interpretations are aided by vertical profiling and near-bed data recorded in the main channel and on the mudflats. Generally, high water (HW) salt intrusion at the bed is close to the tidal limit and is dominated by runoff and winds, with decreasing salt intrusion associated with increasing runoff and increasing up-estuary winds (or vice versa). Tidal effects are not statistically significant because of two compensating processes: the long tidal excursion, which is comparable with the sub-estuary length for all but the smallest neap tides, and the enhanced, near-bed, buoyancy-driven salt transport that occurs at small neap tides close to the limit of saline intrusion. The effect of wind on HW surface salt intrusion in the main channel is not statistically significant, partly because it is obscured by the opposing local and estuary-wide effects of an up-estuary or down-estuary wind stress. These processes are investigated using a simple tidal model that incorporates lateral, channel–mudflat bathymetry and reproduces, approximately, observed channel and mudflat velocities. Surface salinity at HW increases with tidal range because of enhanced spring-tide vertical mixing—a process that also reduces salinity stratification. Stratification increases with runoff because of increased buoyancy inputs and decreases with up-estuary winds because of reduced near-bed salt intrusion. Stratification and plume formation are interpreted in terms of the bulk and estuarine Richardson Numbers, and processes at the confluence of the sub-estuary and main estuary are described.     

A model study of turbidity maxima in the York River estuary,Virginia

A three-dimensional numerical model is used to investigate the mechanisms that contribute to the formation of the turbidity maxima in the York River, Virginia (U.S.). The model reproduces the basic features in both salinity and total suspended sediments (TSS) fields for three different patterns. Both the prominent estuary turbidity maximum (ETM) and the newly discovered secondary turbidity maximum (STM) are simulated when river discharge is relatively low. At higher river inflow, the two turbidity maxima move closer to each other. During very high river discharge event, only the prominent turbidity maximum is simulated. Diagnostic model studies also suggest that bottom resuspension is an important source of TSS in both the ETM and the STM, and confirm the observed association between the turbidity maxima and the stratification patterns in the York River estuary. The ETM is usually located near the head of salt intrusion and the STM is often associated with a transition zone between upriver well mixed and downriver more stratified water columns. Analysis of the model results from the diagnostic studies indicates that the location of the ETM is well associated with the null point of bottom residual flow. Convergent bottom residual flow, as well as tidal asymmetry, is the most important mechanisms that contribute to the formation of the STM. the STM often exists in a region with landward decrease of bottom residual flow and net landward sediment flux due to tidal asymmetry. The channel depth of this region usually decreases sharply upriver. As channel depth decreases, vertical mixing increases and hence the water column is better mixed landward of the STM.     

裂后岩浆活动中岩床复合体的特征:以南海北部和南极西罗斯海地区为例

由于蕴含着潜在的油气勘探和资源储藏信息,岩床复合体在全球范围内被广泛研究。本文基于南海北部三维地震资料以及南极罗斯海地区二维多道地震资料,对岩床复合体的形态特征及分布进行分析,对两个地区岩床复合体的形成时间进行判断,阐述岩床复合体的侵位机制。研究发现,岩床复合体代表性产状除了菱形、碟形及复合型外,还存在沿着层位平行侵入的板状,推测它可能是夭折了的岩床侵入体,以及由几个小型岩床堆叠而成的透镜状岩床复合体。分布上,南海北部岩床主要发育于珠江口盆地白云凹陷三维工区西部,东部只零星可见;南极西罗斯海岩床主要发育于西北角的阿黛尔盆地内。根据岩床上覆的强制褶皱结合区域构造背景,推测南海北部岩床复合体的形成时间为早中新世(15.5 Ma),海底扩张结束之时。残余岩浆将盆地内裂谷时期形成的断层作为岩浆运移的通道,并最终在断层终点处即下中新统近海相砂泥岩地层中实现侵位。南极西罗斯海岩床复合体的形成时间则非常晚,不早于5.5 Ma。该区这期岩浆活动可能与构造作用无关,而是受到冰川消融的影响。研究发现岩床复合体内部的岩床个体互相供给,即深部的大岩床为上覆浅层的小岩床提供岩浆供给,并且互相组合,形成大的岩床复合体。然而,每个岩床复合体则可能由不同的岩浆供给发育而成。     

Fingered Intrusion of Shallow Saucer-shaped Igneous Sills: Insights from the Jiaojiang Sag, East China Sea

An extensive suite of igneous sills was intruded into the Tertiary sedimentary section of the Jiaojiang sag,East China Sea.This suite has been well imaged offshore through 2D and 3D seismic surveys,showing a close relationship with CO2 content in nearby gas discoveries.A new observational model,which incorporates simple upward propagation,simple horizontal propagation,and transgressive propagation,was proposed to interpret these sill intrusions.In this model,the source magma of the saucer-shaped sills was injected from their lowest points near the center.The transgressive propagation can be interpreted as a combination of the vertical and horizontal propagation.Most shallow sub-volcanic intrusions in the Jiaojiang sag exhibit fingered characteristics,both vertically and horizontally.The vertical fingered propagation produced saucer-shaped sills arranged in the flower style.Along the brims of lower sills could usually be found the upper sills,which are interpreted to have formed simultaneously with or later than the lower feeder sills.In the second type,the chilled paths of the older sills were reutilized by subsequent intrusions.The horizontal fingered propagation formed sheet intrusions that exhibit groove,lobate,tubular,and crevasse splaylike geometry in plan view.In 3D view,the sheet intrusions have still preserved the lower center and higher rim that similar with the sub-rounded saucer-shaped sills.Although fracture propagation may be important,flow inflation was the key mechanism of magma intrusion.Further consideration of the mechanisms underlying sill formation may help explain the fingered characteristics of sill propagation.     

Modelling the Transport and Export of Sediments in Macrotidal Estuaries with Eroding Salt Marsh

A process-based numerical model is applied to investigate sediment transport dynamics and sediment budget in tide-dominated estuaries under different salt marsh erosion scenarios. Using a typical funnel-shaped estuary (Ribble Estuary, UK) as a study site, it is found that the remobilization of sediments within the estuary is increased as a result of the tidal inundation of the eroded salt marsh. The landward export of the finest sediment is also intensified. The relationship between salt marsh erosion and net landward export of sediments has been found to be non-linear—with the first 30% salt marsh erosion causing most of the predicted export. The presence of vegetation also influences the sediment budget. Results suggest that vegetation reduces the amount of sediment being transported upstream. Again, the trapping effect of salt marsh in terms of plant density is non-linear. Whilst a vegetated surface with a stem density of 64 plants/m² decreased the net landward export of very fine sand by around 50%, a further increase in stem density from 64 to 512 plants/m² had a relatively small effect.     

Distribution of carbon in a tropical hypersaline estuary,the Casamance (Senegal,West Africa)

The Casamance estuary, on the coast of Senegal, is an inverse hypersaline estuary: salinity increases landward, and dry season salinity values are up to 172 psu due to the evaporation of seawater. Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations decreased landward as a negative linear function of salinity. Thermodynamic modelling and the absence of CaCO₃ in the sediments indicate that this loss of DIC was not due to calcite precipitation in the main water body. The innermost, almost landlocked, waters contained high phytoplankton biomass (50–300 μg chl I^?1) and high concentrations of allochthonous dissolved organic carbon. Photosynthetic uptake of DIC and subsequent particulate organic carbon sedimentation is proposed as hypothetical explanation of the relationship between DIC and salinity; localized overheating in shallow waters might also be involved.     

Hydrography and circulation of the Chubut River estuary (Argentina)

The hydrography and circulation of the Chubut River were investigated under exceptionally low river discharge. The frontal zone formed by the entrance of the tide in the estuary may be observed as far as 4.5 km from the mouth, showing that the salt intrusion due to tidal effects reaches further inland than during normal river discharge. Based on the classification of Hansen and Rattray (1966), the estuary corresponds to Type 1 with some vertical stratification observed on the seaward side of the frontal zone. A lateral salinity gradient was found, which was not the result of Coriolis force. The general morphology of the estuary and the consequent secondary circulation due to meanders and interchannel bars may explain the lateral variation. Wind effect is a major component of the circulation and mixing of this shallow estuary.     

钱塘江河口段盐水入侵的时空变化及预测模型

杭州城市供水85%取自钱塘江河口段,取水水质在枯水大潮期都不同程度地受到盐水入侵的威胁,分析钱塘江河口盐水入侵时空变化及研制二维数值预测模型对保障城市供水安全十分必要。根据钱塘江河口段实测水文氯度资料,分析了强潮作用下盐水入侵的时空变化特征;据此构建考虑斜压作用的二维水流、盐度输移的耦合数学模型,计算格式采用守恒性较好的有限体积法;在模型验证的基础上,数值分析了径流和潮汐对钱塘江河口段盐水入侵的影响,结果表明河口段的盐水入侵明显地受径流和潮汐的影响,据此可通过增大上游新安江水库的下泄流量抑制盐水入侵上溯以减小取水口氯度及超标时间,确保用水安全。     

An ephemeral turbidity maximum generated by resuspension of organic-rich matter in a macrotidal estuary, S.W. Wales

An ephemeral estuarine turbidity maximum (ETM) occurs at high water in the macrotidal Taf estuary (SW Wales, United Kingdom). A new mechanism of ETM formation, due to resuspension and advection of material by flood tidal currents, is observed that differs from classical mechanisms of gravitational circulation and tidal pumping. The flood tide advances across intertidal sand flats in the main body of the estuary, progressively entraining material from the rippled sands. Resuspension creates, a turbid front that has suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) of about 4,000 mg I⁻¹ by the time it reaches its landward limit which is also the landward limit of salt penetration. This turbid body constitutes the ETM. Deposition occurs at high slack water but the ETM retains SSC values up to 800 mg I⁻¹, 1–2 orders of magnitude greater than ambient SSC values in the river and estuarine waters on either side. The ETM retreats down the estuary during the ebb; some material is deposited thinly across emergent intertidal flats and some is flushed out of the estuary. A new ETM is generated by the next flood tide. Both location and SSC of the ETM scale on Q/R³ where Q is tidal range and R is river discharge. The greatest expression of the ETM occurs when a spring tide coincides with low river discharge. It does not form during high river discharge conditions and is poorly developed on neap tides. Particles in the ETM have effective densities (120–160 kg m⁻³) that are 3–4 times less than those in the main part of the estuary at high water. High chlorophyll concentrations in the ETM suggest that flocs probably originate from biological production in the estuary, including production on the intertidal sand flats.     

Convection and crystal settling in sills

It has been advocated that convective and crystal settling processes play significant, and perhaps crucial, roles in magmatic differentiation. The fluid dynamics of magma chambers have been extensively studied in recent years, both theoretically and experimentally, but there is disagreement over the nature and scale of the convection, over its bearing on fractionation and possibly over whether it occurs at all. The differential distribution of modal olivine with height in differentiated alkaline basic sills provides critical evidence to resolve this controversy, at least for small to medium-large magma chambers. Our own and others' published data for such sills show that, irrespective of overall olivine content, modal olivine contents tend to increase in a roughly symmetrical manner inwards from the upper and lower margins of the sill, i.e. the distribution patterns are more often approximately D-shaped rather than the classic S-shape generally ascribed to gravity settling. We concur with the majority of other authors that this is an original feature of the filling process which has survived more or less unchanged since emplacement. We therefore conclude that the magmas have not undergone turbulent convection and that gravity settling has usually played only a minor modifying role since the intrusion of these sills. We offer a possible explanation for the apparent contradiction between fluid dynamical theory and the petrological evidence by suggesting that such sills rarely fill by the rapid injection of a single pulse of magma. Rather, they form from a series of pulses or a continuous pulsed influx over a protracted interval during which marginal cooling severely limits the potential for thermal convection.     

Distortion of tidal currents and the lateral transfer of salt in a shallow coastal plain estuary (O estuário do Mira, Portugal)

We describe the tidal circulation of a coastal plain estuary across a flood tide delta located at its entrance. The area connects the downstream portion of the main estuary extending 30–40 km inland to the more complex delta reach that consists of a shallow main channel and a series of smaller side channels. The delta acts as a frictionally dominated zone that modifies the tidal wave from a simple sinusoid to one with ebb currents that accelerate to maximum early in the tidal cycle and last more than one-half of the tidal cycle. Along smaller side channels, the tidal currents favor stronger flood or ebb currents, depending upon the local surrounding morphology. The phase difference between ebb currents in the small channels relative to those in the main channel cause some of the salt to be retained thus reducing the tendency of freshwater discharge to flush salt out of the system. This mechanism of retention differs from the selective withdrawal mechanism described for this estuary in Blanton et al. (2000).     

Dynamics and facies model of a macrotidal sand-bar complex, Cobequid Bay—Salmon River Estuary (Bay of Fundy)

The 40-km-long, Cobequid Bay—Salmon River estuary has a maximum tidal range of 16·3 m and experiences limited wave action. Sediment, which is derived primarily from areas seaward of the estuary, is accumulating faster than the high-tide elevation is rising, and the system is progradational. The deposits consist of an axial belt of sands, which is flanked by mudflats and salt marshes in the inner half of the estuary where a funnel-shaped geometry is developed, and by erosional or non-depositional foreshores in the outer half where the system is confined by the valley walls. The axial sands are divisible into three facies zones: zone 1—elongate, tidal sand bars at the seaward end; zone 2—sand flats with a braided channel pattern; zone 3—the inner, single-channel, tidal—fluvial transition. Tidal current speeds reach a maximum in zone 2, but grain sizes decrease headward (from medium and coarse sand in zone 1, to fine and very fine sand in zones 2 and 3) because the headward termination of the major flood channels prevents the coarse, traction population from entering the inner part of the estuary. Longitudinal progradation will produce a 20-m-thick, upward-fining succession, the lower 1/2–2/3 of which will consist of cross-bedded, medium to coarse sand deposited on the zone 1 sand bars. The ebb-dominated portion of this unit will be finer grained than the flood-dominated part, and will contain trough crossbedding produced by 3-D megaripples; the flood-dominated areas, by contrast, will consist mainly of compound cross-bedding created by sandwaves with superimposed megaripples. Headward migration of swatchways (oblique channels that link the ebb- and flood-dominated areas) will create packages of ebb cross-bedding that is orientated at a high angle to the long axis of the estuary and that contains headwardinclined, lateral-accretion surfaces. The overlying fine and very fine sands of zones 2 and 3 will be composed mainly of upper-flow-regime parallel lamination. The succession will be capped by a 4-m-thick unit of mixed flat, mudflat and salt marsh sediments. A review of other macrotidal estuaries with tidal ranges greater than 10 m suggests that the major elements of the model have general applicability.