Recognition and characterization of Holocene tidal inlet sequences

Moslow, Thomas F.; Tye, Robert S.

doi:10.1016/0025-3227(85)90081-7

Cited by 99 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Obliquely approaching waves move sediment along the shore, which affects the morphology of tidal inlets [Johnson, 1919] and can cause inlets to migrate alongshore up to hundreds of meters per year (Figure 1b). Inlet migration has long been recognized to shape the morphology of barrier coasts [Hayes, 1980;Moslow and Tye, 1985] and to affect the long-term landward movement of barrier islands [Pierce, 1970;Leatherman, 1979]. Therefore, understanding the mechanics and rates of tidal inlet migration is critical for predicting the morphologic evolution of barrier coastlines under modern and future sea level rise and anthropogenic change.…”

Section: Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Inlets also leave a sedimentological imprint on barrier islands [Moslow and Heron, 1978;Moslow and Tye, 1985;Fitzgerald, 1988]-geologic investigations suggest that as much as 50% of the Outer Banks of North Carolina was at one point a tidal inlet [Mallinson et al, 2010]. Because of inlets' ubiquity and effectiveness as a sediment transport agent, Moslow and Tye [1985] conjectured that tidal inlets provide an important mechanism for barrier rollover, the long-term landward movement of barrier coasts. Despite their importance, however, the effect of tidal inlets on barrier islands remains poorly quantified and generalized.…”

Section: Effect Of Tidal Inlets On Barrier Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many models of barrier island response to sea level rise consider landward retreat to depend on overwash fluxes: storm-induced episodic sediment supplied from the nearshore environment that overtops barriers and is deposited on backbarrier marshes [Stolper et al, 2005;Lorenzo-Trueba and Ashton, 2014]. Given that 50% of barrier complexes show tidal inlet fill sequences [Moslow and Tye, 1985], inlet migration, through flood-tidal delta deposition, is likely also an important sediment mover that allows barrier islands to transgress.…”

Section: Implications For Barrier Island Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wave dominance leads to straighter barrier coasts, whereas more tidally influenced coasts tend to develop "drumstick"-shaped barrier islands that curve inward around the inlet [Hayes, 1980]. Inlets also leave a sedimentological imprint on barrier islands [Moslow and Heron, 1978;Moslow and Tye, 1985;Fitzgerald, 1988]-geologic investigations suggest that as much as 50% of the Outer Banks of North Carolina was at one point a tidal inlet [Mallinson et al, 2010]. Because of inlets' ubiquity and effectiveness as a sediment transport agent, Moslow and Tye [1985] conjectured that tidal inlets provide an important mechanism for barrier rollover, the long-term landward movement of barrier coasts.…”

Section: Effect Of Tidal Inlets On Barrier Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mechanics and rates of tidal inlet migration: Modeling and application to natural examples

Nienhuis

Ashton

2016

JGR Earth Surface

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Tidal inlets on barrier coasts can migrate alongshore hundreds of meters per year, often presenting great management and engineering challenges. Here we perform model experiments with migrating tidal inlets in Delft3D‐SWAN to investigate the mechanics and rates of inlet migration. Model experiments with obliquely approaching waves suggest that tidal inlet migration occurs due to three mechanisms: (1) littoral sediment deposition along the updrift inlet bank, (2) wave‐driven sediment transport preferentially eroding the downdrift bank of the inlet, and (3) flood‐tide‐driven flow preferentially cutting along the downdrift inlet bank because it is less obstructed by flood‐tidal delta deposits. To quantify tidal inlet migration, we propose and apply a simple mass balance framework of sediment fluxes around inlets that includes alongshore sediment bypassing and flood‐tidal delta deposition. In model experiments, both updrift littoral sediment and the eroded downdrift inlet bank are sediment sources to the growing updrift barrier and the flood‐tidal delta, such that tidal inlets can be net sink of up to 150% of the littoral sediment flux. Our mass balance framework demonstrates how, with flood‐tidal deltas acting as a littoral sediment sink, migrating tidal inlets can drive erosion of the downdrift barrier beach. Parameterizing model experiments, we propose a predictive model of tidal inlet migration rates based upon the relative momentum flux of the inlet jet and the alongshore radiation stress; we then compare these predicted migration rates to 22 natural tidal inlets along the U.S. East Coast and find good agreement.

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Section: Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Effect Of Tidal Inlets On Barrier Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Barrier Island Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Effect Of Tidal Inlets On Barrier Islandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mechanics and rates of tidal inlet migration: Modeling and application to natural examples

Nienhuis

Ashton

2016

JGR Earth Surface

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“…The trough cross-beds were formed at the floor of the deeper part of the channel (cf. Moslow and Tye 1985;Boyd 2010) due to the development of mega-ripples. The dominant northwest (landward) current direction, which is oblique to the present shoreline, was thus the paleochannel orientation.…”

Section: Trough Cross-bedded Faciesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Sedimentological evidence for the Late Holocene sea level change at the Enjefa Beach exposures of Kuwait, NW Arabian Gulf

Tanoli

2014

Arab J Geosci

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The mid-late Holocene drop in relative sea level has resulted in the deposition and progradation of coastal facies along the Enjefa Beach in Kuwait, NW Arabian Gulf. These coastal facies display various depositional subenvironments, including landward foreshore beach, tidal channel, shallow tidal channel, and coastal sand flat. The foreshore beach facies consist of dominantly planar laminated beds. Main tidal channel subenvironments are interpreted for the trough crossbedded facies. The shallow tidal channel deposits are composed of variable oriented planar wedge-shaped and ripple cross-bedded facies. The coastal sand flat deposits consist of extensively burrowed beds with a large network of Ophiomorpha burrows. These exposures are overlain by the recent continental deposits of rubbles and artificial infill. The mere exposed occurrence of these rocks as well as the above facies stacking pattern reflects progradation as a result of relative drop in sea level. Based on the carbon dating of these sediments, the last phase of the relative sea level drop likely occurred around 1,800 years ago. Neotectonics of local structuring, due to the regional northeastward movement of the Arabian Plate under the Zagros Fold Belt, might have a role in this sea receding

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