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Diagnostic sedimentary structures of the fluvial-tidaltransition zone – Evidence from deposits of the Rhine andMeuse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2017

J.H. van den Berg ,
J.R. Boersma  and
A. van Gelder
J.H. van den Berg*
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands
J.R. Boersma
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands
A. van Gelder
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

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In mesotidal settings the transition of a coastal plain estuary to the riveris marked by the change of a multiple ebb and flood channel configuration toa single channel system. At high river discharge fluvial processes operate,whereas in periods of low discharge the flow is complicated by a tidalcomponent and a landward intrusion of the salt wedge. These hydraulic andmorphological characteristics make the transitional zone different from the‘pure’ fluvial and estuarine environment. Inspection of published andunpublished data from a number of outcrops of Recent and Tertiary depositsof the Rhine reveals that also in a sedimentary sense a transitional zonecan be recognized. In order to separate this zone from the upstream fluvialand downstream estuarine environment a sedimentological definition of thefluvial-tidal zone is proposed being the part of river that lies between thelandward limit of observable effects of tidal-induced flow deceleration onfluvial cross-bedding at low river discharge and the most seaward occurrenceof a textural or structural fluvial signature related to the high riverstage.

Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 86 , Issue 3 , September 2007 , pp. 287 - 306
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2007

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