Gravel bedforms in the West Solent, Southern England

Data is presented on distinctive gravel bedforms which occur in the tidal marine environment of the west Solent in Southern England. Discrete zones of gravel waves of different sizes and flat bed gravel occur in similar depths and hydrodynamic conditions. In the absence of comparable field data the conclusions are related to flume data: a purely physical explanation is not obvious and requires more detailed hydrodynamic data. It is considered that other factors such as availability of mobile sediment and biological accretion may be important influences.