Sand transport patterns in the ebb-tidal delta off Texel Inlet, Wadden Sea, The Netherlands

Abstract

Sand transport patterns in the ebb-tidal delta of Texel Inlet were studied using current and wave measurements, calculations of sediment transport rate, bedform orientations, dips of cross beds and the morphological evolution. A qualitative picture of sand transport patterns was formed. Sand supplied from the North Sea and the adjacent coast is transported in and out through several neighboring flood- and ebb-dominated channels in the southwestern ebb delta. Along the seaward margin of the ebb-tidal delta of Texel Inlet, sand is transported in both directions parallel to the coast by tidal currents, but predominantly northwards and landwards. Some sand is desposited where a weak rotational tidal current pattern is produced north of the inlet by the interruption of tidal currents parallel to the coast by the inlet. Waves transport the sand further onshore over the swash platform. Some of it returns to the main circulation of the inlet through the Molengat. Sand transport through the inlet is flood-dominated. It is revealed that not only the interaction of tidal currents and waves but also the interaction between the tidal currents in the North Sea and through the inlet greatly influence the system.