Short-term changes in sedimentological and hydrographic characteristics over a sandy intertidal zone, the Wash, U. K.

Observations of tidal current velocities, their structure throughout the water column and associated sediment distribution patterns were made in 1972 and 1980. The results demonstrated: 1. an increase in the tidal current speeds and an enhancement in the longshore component; 2. a trend toward a more logarithmic velocity distribution in the water column; and 3. a general increase in grain size, but the development of alower mud flat. Such significant changes could relate to the construction of an embankment, as part of a land reclamation scheme, or to the reversion to a longer-term period of erosion over this region of intertidal flat.