Tidal-Flat Environment

and Facies

Manalo, Tiarra Mojel F.

2014150275
Tidal-Flat Environment
■ Composed of the mixture of sand and mud
■ An environment wherein flooding and drying alternate rapidly.

Stewart Island Tidal flat on Stewart Island, New Zealand

Common questions
regarding Tidal Flat
Environment How can an environment apparently so
unstable lead to any sort of well-defined
sedimentary succession that is stable
over long term?
 What sedimentological results get
preserved from the ebb and flood tides?
Terminology:
 Ebb – outgoing phase, when tide drains
away
 Flood– incoming phase when water rises
Where tidal flats are
formed?
■ Global classification of coastlines by tidal range:
a. Microtidal: tidal range less than 2m
b. Mesotidal: tidal range between 2-4m
c. Macrotidal: tidal range greater than 4m
 Coasts differ from one another depending on the relative
influence of tides and waves.
Microtidal coast Barrier islands may be well developed

Mesotidal coast Tidal inlets transects the barrier islands

Macrotidal coast Tidal ridges and broad tidal flats

develop but no barrier islands.

 Tidal flats forms primarily on Mesotidal and Macrotidal coast

where strong wave activity is absent.
Where tidal flats are
formed?

Tidal flats forms primarily on Mesotidal

and Macrotidal coast where strong wave
activity is absent.
Tidal flat occurs in:

Bay (Hanalei Bay) Barrier island (Galveston Island

Delta (South Skagit River Delta) Estuaries (Ace Basin Estuary)

Depositional Setting
■ The tidal-flat environment is confined to the shallow margin of
the oceans.
■ It is also divided into three zones
a. Subtidal zone
b. Intertidal zone
c. Supratidal zone

Physiography and Facies of a Tidal flat

 Subtidal zone Intertidal zone Supratidal zone
Compariso - Lies below mean low -Lies between mean high -Lies above normal high
n among tide level and low tide levels tide level but is incised
tidal channels and
Subtidal, flooded by extreme tides.
-Inundated with water -Subaerially exposed -Exposed to subaerial
Intertidal most of the time and is either once or twice each condition most of the
normally subjected to day, depending upon times but maybe flooded
and highest tidal currents local wind and tide
condition
during spring tides or by
storm tides.
Supratidal -Tidal influence is -Bedload and suspension -Sedimentation is
important within tidal sedimentation takes dominantly from
zones channels, where bedload place. suspension.
transport and deposition
is dominant
■ On some tidal flats, the
supratidal zone is a Salt
marsh environment incised
by tidal channels.

■ In arid or semiarid climates,

it is commonly an
environment of evaporite
deposition and is often
referred to as Sabkha.
Schematic diagram showing the relationship
of Subtidal, Intertidal and Supratidal zones
in the Tidal-flat environment.
WHAT
STRUCTURES CAN
BE FOUND IN A
TIDAL FLAT?
 Tidal creeks : small, sinuous
channels with numerous
tributaries that carry water
into the tidal flat.
 Tidal channel : wide-swept
inlets through barrier islands.
 Tidal inlet : opening along
barrier islands.
 Marsh : wetland that is
dominated by herbaceous
rather than woody plant
species.
 Ebb-tidal delta: form on the
seaward margin of the tidal
channel as water flows out of
the lagoon when the tide
recedes
Sedimentary Processes
and Sediment
Characteristics of
Tidal-flats
 Sedimentation in the channels of
tidal flats is dominated by tidal
currents, but wind-driven waves
and currents generated by waves
also plays an important role.
 The tidal velocities achieved
during reversing tides are
commonly asymmetrical.
 The ebb current is stronger and
short-lived than the flood causing
mud to be carried landward and
sand to be carried seaward.
 Thus, the higher tracts of a tidal
flat, close to high water level, are
muddy. And the lower tracts, close
to low tide level, are sandy
 Mud chips
 Bipolar cross beds
 Bundled foresets
 Current ripples

 Ladderback ripples
 Flaser bedding
 Lenticular bedding
 Lateral accretion bed
 Mud cracks

 Storm lag
 Bioturbation
 Mud chips - Pieces of mud
cracks
 Herringbone cross
stratification – cross laminated
sediment deposited during Mud chip
flood tide dip in the opposite
direction to those formed
almost afterward during ebb
tide. Ripple marks
 Bundled foresets - individually
differentiable because of small- Herringbone cross
stratification
scale separation between layers
of material of different sizes
and densities.
 Current ripples - sedimentary
structures that indicate
agitation by water (current or
waves) or wind. Bundled foresets
 Ladderback ripples - consist of sediment surfaces showing two sets
of ripple crests intersecting at high angles. They form as ripples get
developed on an already-rippled sediment surface
 Flaser bedding- sedimentary, bi-directional, bedding pattern created when
a sediment is exposed to intermittent flows, leading to alternating sand and
mud layers

 Lenticular bedding sedimentary bedding pattern displaying alternating

layers of mud and sand. ... Geologists use lenticular bedding to show
evidence of tidal rhythm, tidal currents and tidal slack, in a particular
environment

 Lateral accretion bed - Inclined layers of sediment, deposited laterally

rather than in horizontal strata, particularly by the lateral
outbuilding sediment on the surface of a river point bar.
 Mudcracks - sedimentary structures formed asmuddy sediment dries and
contracts
Ladderback ripples Flaser bedding

Lateral accretion bed Lenticular bedding

 Storm lag - A coarse-grained residue left behind after finer particles have
been transported away, due to the inability of the transporting medium to
move the coarser particles.
 Bioturbation - the disturbance of sediment layers by biological activity, is a
significant process on the ocean floor. In that environment, numerous
animals such as worms exist by consuming organic matter trapped between
sediment grains

Storm lag deposits Bioturbation

Ancient Tidal-Flat Sediments
■ Distinctive characteristics of Tidal Flat:
– Bimodal direction of current-formed cross-bedding resulting from
reversing tidal currents (Herringbone cross stratification)
– Sediments that reflect repeated, small scale alternation in
sediment transport conditions (Tidal rhythmites or tidalites) and
joint occurrence of large scale and small scale structural units in
superposition or juxtaposition
Ancient Tidal-Flat Sediments
– Abundant reactivation surfaces and flaser bedding

Reactivation surface Flaser Bedding

– High frequency of erosional contacts and abrupt facies changes.

other supporting criteria:

- Vertical succession of facies discussed
- High degree of Bioturbation of many tidal-flat sediments
- Presence of mudcracked stromatolites and other evidences of subaerial exposure
such as raindrop imprints, hail marks, and animal/bird tracks.