Muddy Coasts of the World: Processes, Depositsand Function

T. Healy, Y. Wang and J.-A. Healy (Editors) 99

9 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Chapter Six

Geographic distribution of muddy coasts

BURGHARD W. FLEMMING
Senckenberg Institute
Wilhelmshaven, Germany

1 INTRODUCTION

M u d d y coasts have been defined as land-sea transitions which are entirely or in

substantial part composed of m u d d y sediments. The definition of mud, as
comprising non-indurated moist sediments with grain sizes <0.063 m m with the
silt/clay boundary at 0.002 m m (i.e. m u d = silt + clay + H20, as originally proposed
by Twenhofel 1937; cf. also Folk 1954, 1956, and Pettijohn 1957), follows the formal
recommendation of the SEPM Intersociety Grainsize Study Committee (cf. Tanner
1969; also see Folk 1961; Folk et al. 1970; Friedman et al. 1992). For practical reasons
this geographic survey has been restricted to coasts or shorelines along which m u d is
visibly exposed for a substantial cross-shore width and longshore distance, at low
tide at the very least. A substantial width and distance could, for example, be
understood to imply that the m u d deposit should form a mappable geological unit at
a chart scale of 1:100,000. This excludes numerous small estuarine deposits, whose
inclusion would have gone beyond the scope of this overview.
This compilation of the geographic distribution of m u d d y coasts (Figure 1)
essentially follows the structure laid d o w n in the comprehensive overview of The
World's Coastline presented by Bird and Schwartz (1985). It has been augmented by
reference to important summaries on related topics (e.g. Emery and Stevenson 1957;
McGill 1960; Ayala-Castafiares and Phleger 1969; Leatherman 1979; Schwartz 1982;
Augustinus 1989; Allen and Pye 1992; Pernetta 1993; Flemming and Hertweck 1994;
Davis 1994a; Mitsch 1994) and other published literature. In this way, it is hoped, that
most of the important known occurrences of m u d d y coasts have been included.
The largest expanses of m u d d y shorelines are associated either with tropical
mangrove systems or temperate salt marshes. The former occupy an area of some
170,000 km 2 or about 75% of the world's coastline between the 25~ and
25~ Latitudes (Chapman 1974; Lugo and Snedaker 1974; Wong and Tam 1995).
100
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 101

On the other hand, there are still extensive coastal regions about which very little
is known, e.g. the Arctic shoreline of Russia. Some of these coasts are either not or
only sparsely populated and are hence of more academic interest at this stage.
Others, however, are u n d e r heavy h u m a n pressure and there is thus an urgent need
for more information about such coastlines.
Where available, the m e a n tidal range (in some cases the spring tidal range) is
quoted in metres (m) and, where possible, the description of the tidal setting follows
the classification of Hayes (1979). This latter classification allows a more detailed
subdivision than the scheme initially proposed by Davies (1964; cf. also Davies 1980).
The two classification schemes are contrasted below:

Table 1 Two c o m m o n approaches to the classification of tidal ranges

after Davies (1964)" after Hayes (1979):

<2.0 m = microtidal <1.0 m = microtidal

2.0-4.0 m = mesotidal 1.0-2.0m = lower mesotidal
>4.0 m = macrotidal 2.0-3.5 m = u p p e r mesotidal
3.5-6.0 m = lower macrotidal
>6.0 m = u p p e r macrotidal

Being essentially a literature survey, it is inevitable that some relevant studies will
have been missed and that the sedimentary character of some coasts m a y have been
misrepresented. A positive feedback from better informed readers w o u l d therefore
be appreciated. In this w a y corrections could be m a d e to a future revision of this
overview.

2 G L O B A L G E O G R A P H I C SURVEY OF M U D D Y C O A S T S

2.1 The coast of Alaska and the Pacific Coast of Canada (Figure 2)

The classification of coastal Alaska, as discussed by Walker (1985), is primarily

based on Dolan et al. (1972). The Arctic section of Alaska has been described in
greater detail by Hartwell (1973), the Arctic coast of C a n a d a being discussed in a
later section.
Beginning with the Arctic Coast of Alaska, a short stretch of a microtidal
m u d f l a t / m a r s h coast, with a m e a n tidal range of only 0.12 m, is found a r o u n d
Point Barrow at the b o u n d a r y b e t w e e n the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. A second
occurrence of a microtidal m u d f l a t / m a r s h coast is found along the southern
shoreline of Kotzebue Sound near the southern limit of the Chukchi Sea. Here the
m e a n tidal range is 0.82 m.
102

Larger stretches of m u d d y shorelines are found along the Bering Sea coast of
Alaska. The first extends from Norton Sound almost up to Nelson Island and
includes the Yukon river delta. The coast mainly classifies as lower mesotidal, barely
reaching upper mesotidal conditions with a mean range of 2.07 m at Cape Romanzof.
A second, shorter stretch of lower to upper mesotidal m u d d y coast encompasses the
Kuskokwin Estuary (mean tidal range at Bethel being 1.22 m) up to Goodnews Bay in
the south, where the mean tidal range reaches 2.71 m.
The longest coastal reach in this region with an almost continuous muddy
character includes the whole of the Bristol Bay area and extends south-westwards
along the Alaska Peninsula to the first two or three of the Aleutian Islands.
The coastal character varies from lower macrotidal in Bristol Bay (mean range at
Port Heiden being 3.75 m) to lower mesotidal along the eastern Aleutian Islands
(1.13 m at Dutch Harbor on Bogoslof Island).

70
,
CHUKCHI
" '6 rr.;
" "
EAUFORT
~,C
.., i S
s S
s

~Great
- .,~. "Bear
I jt%'Lake
\

% Au~SKA
CANADA
.~. Nelso~...."'.~
.- 60. N ,~. .:.::.
Goodnews
Bay ,,
BERING GULF
o SEA
Bristol
Bay OF ALASKA
~
Port Hei(
Queen ~ 1
Charlotte '
I 500 km I Islands

IX~'~" I 150"
I ~ ,,,- ~3~ Island

Figure 2 Muddy shorelines along the coast of Alaska and the Pacific coast of Canada
(British Columbia).

By contrast, the Pacific coast along the Gulf of Alaska has only a few small muddy
reaches, including parts of the southern shorelines of some of the eastern Aleutian
Islands, Cook Inlet (e.g. Bartsch-Winkler and Ovenshine 1984), a short coastal barrier
section south of Cordova fronting the Copper River delta, and a number of estuarine
 103

tidal flats with narrow salt marsh fringes along the coast up to Cross Sound, e.g. the
mud flats and marshes of Controller Bay, the muddy marshes of the Dangerous and
Alsek River estuaries (Hayes and Ruby 1994). With the exception of the upper
macrotidal Cook Inlet, with a mean tidal range of 8.84 m at Anchorage, the
remaining areas are exposed to upper mesotidal or lower macrotidal conditions. The
Pacific coast of Canada (British Columbia) is essentially a fjord coast and the only
muddy sections of any significance are those formed by the Fraser and Skeena river
deltas (Kellerhals and Murray 1969; Luternauer 1980; Swinbanks and Murray 1981;
Owens and Harper 1985). The Fraser delta is set in an upper mesotidal environment
with a mean tidal range of 3 m, whereas the delta of the Skeena River is exposed to
lower macrotidal conditions.

2.2 The Pacific Coast of the United States of America (Figure 3)

The Pacific coast of the United States of America is fronted by the States of
Washington, Oregon and California. The upper mesotidal coast is mainly composed
of rocky cliffs and sandy beaches. Muddy shores do not occur along the open Pacific
coast, but exist locally within lagoonal estuaries, embayments and river mouths such
as Greys Harbour and Willapa Bay in the State of Washington (Clifton and Phillips
1980; Dingler and Clifton 1994), the Columbia River estuary, Tillamook Bay, Yaquina
Bay and other smaller estuaries in the State of Oregon (e.g. Kulm and Byrne 1966,
1967; Terich and Schwartz 1981).
The only muddy wetlands of importance along the California coast are located
within estuaries sheltered by sandy barrier spits such as the Smith, Klamath, Mad,
Eel, Mattole, and Gualala rivers in the Arcata and Humboldt Bay area near Eureka
(Orme 1985a; Dingler and Clifton 1994). Within San Francisco Bay some 200 km 2 of
marshes and mudflats are exposed at mean tide (Pestrong 1972, 1973). Further south
salt marshes are found along Morro Bay, in Mugu Lagoon (Warme 1969; Onuf 1987;
Dingler and Clifton 1994) and barred estuaries such as that of the Tijuana River on
the Mexican border (Zedler et al. 1992; Cahoon et al. 1996). The salt marshes of
Southern California have been discussed in detail by Zedler (1982). The mean tidal
range along this generally upper mesotidal coast reaches 2.5 m.

2.3 The Pacific Coasts of M6xico and Central America (Figure 4)

In contrast to the Pacific coast of North America, muddy coastal environments

become more frequent along the Pacific coast of Mexico and the Central American
Republics of Guatemala, E1 Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
Besides the more recent summaries on the coastal character of this region by
Guti~rrez-Estrada and Ortiz-P6rez (1985) and Schwartz (1985a), a comprehensive
review on coastal lagoons and estuaries with special reference to M6xico can be
found in Ayala-Castafiares and Phleger (1969), whereas the coastal morphology and
ecology of Central America has been described by Gierloff-Emden (1982), and
104

Psuty and Mizobe (1982). The mean tidal range varies between lower mesotidal and
lower macrotidal.

GraysHarbor;~..-~0~: I ~an P~'anoi~co

WllapaBa~~'~2"O.. I

-. ~ON

244" y~ . MOrro
YaquinaBa p~s (~'- CALIFORNIA
CoosBay~!
BlCape /-"
anco~"
,q
_42~ ~ e ~ MuguLagoon
~. o.s Angeles

"~o
C%oc'no N t lOOkm ;
~ 00

Figure 3 Muddy shorelines along the Pacific coast of the United States of America
(Washington, Oregon and California).

Along the Peninsula de California a number of coastal lagoons, fringed by muddy

wetlands, occur at larger intervals. The most important of these, e.g. the Laguna
Scammon system which consists of a number of smaller lagoons (Laguna Manuela,
Laguna Guerrero Negro, and Laguna Ojo de Liebre), Laguna San Ignacio, and the
lagoons of Santo Domingo and Bahia Magdalena, has been described by Phleger and
Ewing (1962) and Phleger (1969). The largest continuous stretch of muddy coast in
this region is found along the north-western shore of the Gulf of California as part of
the upper mesotidal Colorado River delta, where mean tidal ranges of 4-5 m are
 105

observed (e.g. Thompson 1968, 1975). The same applies to the eastern shore of the
Gull where muddy coastal wetlands are found in Bahia de Adair, Bahia de San Jorge
and Bahia Kino, from the delta of the Yaqui River down to Yavaros Lagoon
(Estero de Agiabampo) in Sonora Province (Ayala-Casta~ares et al. 1980).

San Ignaclo

% %
~nZo . 25~,,,
3~uz ""

CabO . . . . -el~_ _'i~,/.-/,~.,,,_Trop_icof Cancer ~ ,

san LucaS

L'~'U"
Agua"~,,aVa~@~T~--~'-
... I.. . . 500
. . .km d
110 o %

GULF OF MEXICO N~ 20"N

05~
"'"J [ GUERRERo i

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~ GUATEMALAf.-
~.. HONDURAS ~~
.,-<-. _ j----- ,?
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,

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,

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PACIFIC OCEAN

I 500 km I ~e"
co~176~)~\c,e

95" 90~ 85"

I I

Figure 4 Muddy shorelines along the Pacific coast of M6xico and Central America
(Guatemala, E1 Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama).
106

A number of large deltaic complexes and lagoons with m u d d y salt marshes and
swamps are found along the coast of Sinaloa Province from its northern border down
to La Cruz, e.g. Bahia de San Esteban, Bahia de Topolabampo, Bahia de Santa Maria,
and the Ensenada de Pabelion. This is followed by the well-known and extensively
studied beach ridge and mangrove swamp system associated with the delta and
chenier complex along the coast of Nayarit Province, stretching from Laguna del
Canaronero, past Laguna Agua Brava, to the mouth of the Rio Grande de Santiago
(e.g. Curray et al. 1969). In fact, most rivers of this region which enter the sea via low-
lying coastal plains have well-developed mangrove swamps in and around their
mouths, e.g. the Balsas River in Michoacan Province, or the Mitla, Nahnala,
Chatengo, Notengo, and Pastoria lagoons along the coast of Guerrero and northern
Oaxaca provinces (Guti~rrez-Estrada 1971). Finally, some of the largest continuous
lagoonal mangrove swamp systems along the Pacific coast of M~xico, consisting of
four larger (Laguna Superior, Laguna Inferior, Mar Muerto, and Laguna la Joya) and
a number of smaller lagoons, occur east and south-east of Salina Cruz in the Oaxaca
and Chiapas Provinces along the Golfo de Tehuantepec just north of the border
with Guatemala.
Of the Central American States Guatemala is almost devoid of muddy coastal
environments. By contrast, almost half of the E1 Salvador coast is muddy, being
partitioned between extensive backbarrier wetlands along its central coastal reach
and a mangrove-fringed deltaic environment along the northern shore of the Golfo
de Fonseca. This muddy, mangrove-fringed shoreline continues along the short
coastal reach of Pacific Honduras, which occupies the inner shore of the Golfo de
Fonseca, and extends into Nicaragua, where most of the southern Gulf shore is made
up of such deposits.
A similar barrier island and backbarrier wetland system as observed to the north
of the Golfo de Fonseca in E1 Salvador is also found further south in Nicaragua up to
Bahia de Salinas. Practically no mud is found along the Pacific coast of southern
Nicaragua, Costa Rica (with the exception of the innermost shore of the Golfo de
Nicoya) and most of Panama, where tidal wetlands once more appear in Bahia de
Parita and to the east of the Panama Canal, where extensive marshes and mangrove
swamps are found.

2.4 The Pacific Coast of Colombia and the coasts of Ecuador and Perli (Figure 5)

With the exception of the long, continuous coastal cliff section north of
Cape Corrientes (ca. 300 km), a short cliff section to the north-west of Buenaventura
Bay along the central Colombian coast, and a third section near Tumaco in the south,
the remaining 900 km of the Colombian coast are fronted by mud flats and mangrove
swamps (Schwartz 1985b), including 62 low barrier islands (Martinez et al. 1995).
West (1956) has divided this coast into four parallel belts commencing on the
seaward side with a shoal water zone with mud flats, followed landwards by a series
of discontinuous sand beaches (in reality low barrier islands). They are interrupted
by tidal inlets, estuaries and wide mud flats which grade into a 1-5 km wide belt of
 107

swampy mangrove forests. The sequence is completed on the landward side by a belt
of m u d d y fresh-water tidal swamps. The coastal plain in this region is essentially
composed of sediments supplied by the Baudo, San Juan,. Patia and Mira rivers,
the latter three having formed extensive, mangrove-fringed deltas. Mean tidal ranges
are 2.5 m along the northern and southern shorelines and 3.5 m in the middle section
at Buenaventura. The Pacific coast of Colombia thus falls into the upper
mesotidal category.

'~:::...'ll '~"- ~ I ! ' I "

'
85"W ~~o- ~:.i ,~" ', ,o"
--.. . ..... e~,o ~,,,,,.
v.. -%

_~.N Oa~~~176 ~._

San Juan ~. ". .
B u e n a v e ~ . i" COLOMBIA

.;.~_" "
9 .~b,,'
Bahia Ancon ~ ~ . ~.
de S a r d i n a s ~ . " r'" ""
~~'.... ~-..
- 0" Cojimies ~'_":L~,.._ ___ _~"_'_'_'~_~_,L Equator t"" ''~
C~o~] ~ _~-o-u~. . . . . ~',,._ -....... %---

Go, to
~oG~,~ ~ ~i
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9

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/''" BRAZIL

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Punta C o r r e t a ~
Laguna G r a n d e ~ ~L r /"i~
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t 300 km ~ .-.'--'.:::
: . . : : :.....:.:..::j
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I t l

Figure 5 M u d d y shores along the Pacific coast of Colombia and the coasts of
Ecuador and Pert1.
108

In Ecuador the coastal character changes considerably, muddy shorelines being

essentially restricted to three major localities and a number of small estuarine-
lagoonal sites (Ay6n and Jara 1985). In the north, adjacent to the Bahia Anc6n de
Sardinas and south of the Mira River delta on the Colombian side of the border, a flat
mangrove and salt marsh area, covering some 500 km 2, is developed. Narrow
mudflats of limited extent are found along the north-eastern shores of some
estuaries, notably those of the Esmeraldas and Atacames rivers. Along the open coast
the tidal range reaches 3 m.
The second major mudflat/salt-marsh/mangrove system is developed in the
shelter of Cojimies Peninsula, reaching as far north as the town of Muisne. Here,
shrimp ponds have been extensively excavated in the salt marshes. Between Cojimies
Peninsula and the Gulf of Guayaquil in the south, mangrove-fringed muddy shore
deposits are once more restricted to the northern shores of some estuaries, e.g. that of
the Chone River. Bordering the Golfo de Guayaquil is the third major and, with a
total area exceeding 900 km 2, also the largest muddy coastal sector of Ecuador.
Between Isla Puna, itself fringed by shallow lagoons with mudflats, salt marshes and
mangroves, and the City of Guayaquil, the Guayas River has built an extensive
(ca. 640 km 2) and intricate barrier and channel system lined by salt marshes and
mangrove forests, separating the main river channel and the Estero Salado, situated
to the north of Isla Puna. The mean tidal range in this channel region is 4.5 m. The
Guayas River discharges into the shallow but wide Canal de Jambeli which separates
Isla Puna from the eastern shore which comprises a narrow but laterally extensive
coastal plain draining numerous short rivers and reaching as far south as the Jambeli
Arc ~pelago (260 km 2) which forms the border with Peril. The entire shoreline,
including the Archipelago, is fringed by salt marshes and mangroves (Coronel and
Ay6n 1980). Here too, numerous shrimp ponds have been excavated, partly even
within the mangroves. No muddy shores are found on the Gal,~pagos Islands which
are politically part of the Republic of Ecuador.
Another marked change in coastal character takes place south of Punta Aguja in
northern Peril, with arid to semi-arid climatic conditions induced by the intense
upwelling regime and prevailing as far south as Coquimbo Bay in Chile. As a result
of the episodic nature of river discharge, the coastline of Peru is interrupted by few
estuarine inlets and deltaic protrusions (Bird and Ramos 1985). Mean tidal ranges are
generally below 1 m, increasing only towards the border of Ecuador in the north.
Due to the sudden change in oceanography and climate, the southern-most
mangrove occurrence along the Pacific coast of South America is found within the
distributary channel system of the Tumbes delta on the southern shore of the Gulf of
Guayaquil (5~ north of Punta Malpelo just south of the Ecuador border. Some
muddy supratidal evaporite deposits are found south of Negritos. For the remaining
part of the coastline muddy deposits are restricted to a few small estuarine lagoons
associated with river mouths, as observed south of LOs Salinas, at Punta Zarrata, at
Laguna Grande on the east coast of the Carreta Peninsula bordering Bahia de
Independencia, as well as at the Rio Ocona, Rio Camana and Rio Tambo.
 109

2.5 The coasts of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay (Figure 6)

The only m u d d y depositional environments along the coast of Chile worth

mentioning are restricted to small estuarine barrier lagoons to the south of
San Antonio and fringing some fjord-head deltas along the Patagonian coast of
southern Chile (Araya-Vergara 1985). Thus, small barrier lagoons are found at the
mouths of the Maipo, Rapol, Malequita, Maulo, Itata, Biobio, and Imperial rivers.
The coast here is microtidal with mean tidal ranges below I m. Within the fjord coast,
tidal ranges locally increase dramatically, reaching 10 m in Bahia PosesiOn near the
eastern entrance to the Magellan Straits, north of Tierra del Fuego.
Switching to the South Atlantic coast of South America, the character of the
shoreline contrasts sharply with that on the Pacific side. Brackish water and marine
salt marshes on a m u d d y substrate occur in numerous estuaries, lagoons and river
deltas along the entire Atlantic coast of South America. Various characteristics of the
Argentinian coastline of interest here have been described by Angulo et al. (1979),
Iriondo and Scotta (1979), Schnack et al. (1982), and Schnack (1985). Beginning on the
Argentinian side of Tierra del Fuego, m u d d y salt marshes are extensively found
along the macrotidal shore of Bahia de San Sebastian which is situated in the shelter
of Punta de Arenas (Vilas et al. 1999).
The Patagonian coast of Argentina remains macrotidal almost up to the mouth of
the Rio Negro in the north, being characterized by numerous small estuarine
wetlands associated with river mouths and lagoons. The most notable of these are
the Gallegos, the Santa Cruz, the Deseado, and the Chubut Rivers. Lagoonal and
open coast salt marshes are found at San Julian near Punta Desengano, in Bahia
Bustamante along the northern shore of the Golfo San Jorge, in Golfo Nuevo to the
south of Vald6s Peninsula, in the lagoon of Caleta Vald~s along the seaward margin
of the Peninsula, in Golfo San Jose, a small embayment along the southern shore of
the Golfo de San Matias, and finally in the Bahia San Antonio, a small embayment
situated along the northern shore of the Golfo San Matias.
The mesotidal coastal sector stretches from just west of the mouth of the Rio
Negro to Monte Hermoso. Extensive mud flats and salt marshes begin some 50 km
north of the Rio Negro, continue across the delta of the Rio Colorado to occupy most
of the shore around Bahia Blanca (e.g. Depetris 1980; Depetris and Irion 1996). They
terminate just west of Monte Hermoso. East of Monte Hermoso the microtidal sector
of the Argentinian coast commences. The generally sandy or cliffed coast up to Punta
Rasa (or Punta Norte), at the southern limit of the outer Rio de la Plata (Bahia
Samboromb6n), is interrupted by a few small estuaries and the more extensive
m u d d y wetland of Laguna Mar Chiquita which is situated about 40 km north of Mar
del Plata. From Punta Rasa up to the delta of the Rio Paran~ almost the entire south-
western shore of the outer and inner Rio de la Plata, including the brackish marsh
coast of Bahia SamborombOn, is occupied by mud flats or m u d d y estuarine deposits
(Depetris and Griffin 1968). Even the city of Buenos Aires has essentially been built
on reclaimed marshy loess and silt deposits.
110

By comparison, the north-eastern shore of the Rio de la Plata stands in sharp

contrast to its south-westerly counterpart in that it is composed mainly of sandy
sediments (Jackson 1985). Between the mouth of the Rio Uruguay and Punta Brava
muddy shores and wetlands are restricted to a few river mouth estuaries, such as
that of the Santa Lucia river, freshwater swamps lining the former delta front of the
Santa Lucia and partly eroding mud flats in north-eastern Montevideo Bay. Along
the outer Rfo de la Plata, between Punta Brava and Punta del Este, only the estuarine
lagoon of the Solis Grande river is lined by muddy salt marshes. The remainder of
the Urugayan coast, stretching from Punta del Este in the south-west to Chuy Beach
in the north-east, is essentially composed of rocky shores or sandy beaches. Along
this coast a number of brackish or freshwater lagoons and lakes partly lined with salt
marshes (e.g. Maldonado inlet, Laguna de Jos~ Ignacio, Laguna Garz6n, Laguna
Rocha, and the landlocked Laguna de Castillos, Laguna Negra, and Laguna Merin
which continues into Brazil) occur close to the shore, in some cases being isolated
from the open ocean by partly consolidated Pleistocene barrier sand ridges.

"~:7~ BOLIVIA s~

iiji
20 ~
9 t !
/.-
1
i! _~-.t__

BRAZIL
ARGENTINA

' ~ Mangueira
San Antonic . ~ Lagoa Uirim ~,
=unta del Este /,~'.
Conceccion
g
"~6~ ~ ~.~0
' Bahia Blanca
Valdivia
40" lifo San Matias
2 )Peninsula Valdes
UJ OlfoNuevo
8
0
LL
c~
,_~UStarnente ! 500kin I
=<
'l~Jnta
Desengano
50*-.
Falkland
Islands

Cape Horn
o~ ~0~ 70~ 60= 50 ~ 40,,
1 I t !

Figure 6 Muddy shoreline deposits along the coasts of Chile, Argentina and
Uruguay.
 111

2.6 The coasts of Brazil, the Guianas and eastern Venezuela (Figure 7)

The Brazilian coast spans a number of climatic belts from dry subtropical to humid
tropical. As a result, the coastal character is similarly variable. A brief but concise
summary is given by Cruz et al. (1985). A more detailed description of the
geomorphology of the Brazilian coast can be found in Silveira (1964), while the
mangrove systems of Brazil have been reviewed by Kjerfve and Lacerda (1993).
Mangrove muds have been studied since the 1930s (Freise 1938). More recently, the
accumulation of heavy metals in Brazilian mangrove and other intertidal sediments
have been studied by Lacerda and Abrao (1984), and Lacerda and Rezende (1987). A
state of the art assessment of the conservation and sustainable utilization of
mangrove forests has been published by Lacerda and Field (1993), while the
vulnerability of the Brazilian coast to climate change and human impact has been
assessed by Diegues et al. (1990).
Hydrographically the southern coastal sector, south of Cabo Frio, is lower
mesotidal in character with mean tidal ranges below 2 m. The tide becomes upper
mesotidal north of Cape Frio, increases to lower macrotidal along the northern coast,
to reach upper macrotidal conditions with ranges up to 12 m in the Amazon mouth
region (Diegues 1972).
In the south, the border with Uruguay is formed by the Chui River which forms
the natural outlet for Lagoa Mirim (called Laguna Merin in Uruguay), followed by
Lagoa dos Patos, the second largest lagoonal system of southern Brazil. Both are
partly lined by m u d d y salt marshes and sedge swamps. Between Lagoa Mirim and
the coast an elongated lagoon (Lagoa Mangueira) is situated between Pleistocene and
Holocene coastal barrier ridges. A chain of similar but smaller lagoons continues
northwards up to Cabo de Santa Marta (e.g. Lagoa dos Quadros, Lagoa Itapeva,
Lagoa do Sombrio) which also marks the southern limit of mangrove occurrence in
Brazil (ca. 28~ The mangrove swamps are initially limited to narrow fringes along
estuaries between Punta do Rapa in the south and Ilha de Sao Sebastiao in the north.
They become more extensive only in Paranagua and Guaratuba Bays (e.g. Barbosa
and Suguio 1999) and within narrow lagoons and coastal swamps of the Canan6ia-
Iguape channel system and the mouth of the Ribeira de Iguape, north of Ilha do
Cardoso. The coastal city of Santos is backed by extensive muddy, estuarine
mangrove swamps. Mangroves also occur along some of the more sheltered bays,
e.g. Baia Caraguatatuba and the western part of Baia de Ilha Grande, between Ilha de
Sao Sebastiao and Rio de Janeiro, which itself is situated within the partly mangrove-
fringed Baia de Guanabara. A series of smaller, land-locked lagoons, notably Lagoa
de Araruama, occur between Baia de Guanabara and Cabo Frio.
Between Cabo Frio and Baia de Todos os Santos are a number of deltaic river
mouths (e.g. Sul, Doce, Sao Mateus, Mucuri, Yucuru~li, Jequitinhonha, Pardo,
Contas, Camamti, Itanhaem), where muddy mangrove swamps can cover large areas
(e.g. Kjerfve and Lacerda 1993). This is underlined by the existence of extensive
mangrove forests in rias and estuaries, including Baia de Todos os Santos into which
the Paragua~ti drains. Between Baia de Todos os Santos and Punta do Calcanhar
112

there are once more numerous river estuaries, notably that of the Sao Francisco,
where muddy mangrove pockets occur, although the density of mangroves
gradually reduces in response to the drier climatic conditions along the north-east
coast of Brazil.
J. . . . .
i I I
60" 50"W 40"
^;,noc~
IO'N
NORTH ATLANTIC

-_ Equator
................ 0o
~ S~rt MarcoS

FoMeleza

BRAZIL I0"S

-.,,.
hia do Todos
t. os Santos
~-.m.).

20'-.
'~ Ft~O
Tropic of Capricorn
,,. "- . . . . . . .

~.....!~::~'Ilha de St. CaTarina

x. ~ Cabo St. Maria

Lagoa dos Paros

SOUTH A T L A N T I C

L ~ km I
30 ~_
Lagoa Mangueira
agoa Mirim

50" 40*W 30.

I | .............. I

Figure 7 Muddy shores along the coast of Brazil and the Guianas (French Guiana,
Surinam, and the Republic of Guyana).

From Punta do Calcanhar to the Maranhense Gulf (Baia de Sao Marcos) the coast
is mostly sandy, being interrupted by numerous estuaries and lagoons, where
 113

m u d d y salt marshes and small pockets of mangroves on muddy substrates may be

found. Larger mangrove swamps once more appear in the muddy delta
environments of the Parnaiba River.
Between the Maranhense Gulf and the Orinoco delta, situated along the north-east
coast of Venezuela, one of the longest continuous stretches of swampy and muddy
mangrove-fringed coasts in the world is found, covering a distance of >2,000 km in
Brazil alone. Up to the Orinoco River the main source of the mud is the Amazon
River (e.g. Eisma et al. 1991), although numerous smaller rivers, e.g. the Par~i-
Tocantins and Aragu~i in Brazil, the Oyapoc, Maroni, Courantyne and Essequibo
along the coast of the Guianas, provide additional sources. The Amazon mouth
region is upper macrotidal in character, the tidal range decreasing northwards.
About 45% of the 11-13 x 108 tonnes of silt and clay supplied annually by the
Amazon River (e.g. Meade et al. 1985; Allison et al. 1996) is deflected to the north by
prevailing winds, waves and currents, leading to rapid accretion of fine-grained
sediments along the coast, with subsequent colonization by mangroves. This process
of active mud accretion is highly complex and still in progress today.
A peculiar phenomenon observed along the coast of the Guianas is the occurrence
of nearshore mud banks (e.g. Gutsmuths 1827; Brouwer 1953) which slowly migrate
northwards along the coast (e.g. Wells and Coleman 1978; Wells and Coleman
1981a). The dynamics of these mud banks, originally investigated by the Delft
Hydraulics Laboratory (1962), suggest a mechanism linking highly concentrated mud
suspensions with wave refraction and residual currents. The banks are on average
20-35 km long and have a spacing of 15-25 km, with a net migration rate of 1->5 km
per year (Eisma et al. 1991). The influence of Amazon mud has been traced as far as
the northern continental shelf of Venezuela (Milliman et al. 1982).
The low-relief, muddy mangrove swamp and coastal chenier environment
continues northwards beyond Brazil to the northern margin of the Orinoco River
delta. In French Guiana the coastal landscape of mangroves and salt marshes is of
variable width, covering a distance of 370 km (Turenne 1985). The mean tidal range
in southern French Guiana is 2.75 m, indicating upper mesotidal conditions,
decreasing to lower mesotidal conditions towards the border of Surinam. The coastal
plain of French Guiana lies at an average altitude of 4 m and is composed of
Holocene marine muds (20% fine silts and 60% clay, the latter predominantly
comprising kaolinite) that have been accumulating over the past 8,000 years.
Mud bank migration along the coast of French Guiana has been discussed by
Froidefond et al. (1988).
The coast of Surinam is 350 km long and, with a mean tidal range of 1.8 m, is
lower mesotidal in character (Psuty 1985). Here the fine-grained coastal plain
deposits are 20 km wide in the south-east, widening to a maximum of 140 km in
north-west (Zonnefeld 1954). The general topography is dominated by groups of
chenier ridges, composed of sand and shell material, separated by wide mud flats
(e.g. Augustinus 1978). The chenier ridges occur up to 20 km inland, indicating
considerable Holocene coastal progradation (Augustinus 1980; Augustinus et al.
1989). The nearshore mud platform, situated between the coast and the nearest
114

chenier ridge, is 1-5 km wide and has accreted over the last 1,000 years (Brinkman
and Pons 1968). Along the coast of Surinam eight mud banks have been identified.
Their dimensions are 5-10 km in the alongshore and 2-3 km in the offshore direction,
with a spacing of 30-60 km (Augustinus 1983). Recent investigations have shown that
an interim period of erosion beginning in 1947 reverted back to accretion in 1959,
coinciding with a shift in direction of the trade winds from dominantly NE to ENE
(e.g. Wells and Coleman 1981b; Eisma et al. 1991).
As in the case of French Guiana and Surinam, the 434 km long coastline of Guyana
consists mainly of mud flats, mangrove forests and chenier ridges (McGill 1958;
Schwartz 1985c). Its width varies from 25-35 km, being lower mesotidal to microtidal
in character. An unusual feature of this coast is that the mangrove Avicennia grows
seaward of Rhizophora, an anomaly explained by the presence of more sand along the
outer shore than is normally the case.
The Atlantic coast of eastern Venezuela north of Guyana is dominated by the
Orinoco River delta (Van Andel 1967; Eisma et al. 1978). It is characterized by
extensive muddy, mangrove-fringed interdistributary channels and barrier-lagoons
undergoing rapid changes.

2.7 The coasts bordering Caribbean South America, Central America and the
Caribbean Islands (Figure 8)

The coastal types of Venezuela have been described by Ellenberg (1978) and are
summarized in Ellenberg (1985). While direct human influence on the Venezuelan
shoreline has been small, the effects of deforestation and poor farming practices in
the hinterland have led to a dramatic increase in the sediment yield of all major
rivers such as the Orinoco, the Unare and the Tocuyo. The climate progressively
changes from humid tropical in the east to warm arid conditions in the west. With
the exception of the Gulf of Paria, where upper mesotidal conditions prevail, the
coast of Venezuela, which is about 3,000 km long, is mostly micro- to lower mesotidal
in character.
The eastern, Caribbean coast of Venezuela between Punta Penas and Puerto la
Cruz is initially steep and strongly dissected into rocky headlands and small bays,
the latter incorporating some muddy mangrove shores. Up to Cabo Codera, 200 km
to the west, follows a barrier-lagoon coast, notably Laguna de Unare and Laguna de
Tacarigua, with pockets of mangrove swamps and muddy wetlands. At Cabo Codera
a second rocky coastal reach commences. The western part of this east-west aligned
coastal reach is dissected by a number of rias (drowned river valleys), which are also
partly lined by muddy mangrove swamps, and lagoons. At Puerto Cabello the
coastal orientation becomes north-west aligned and is initially sandy before grading
into an area of extensive muddy mangrove swamps in the north of the Golfo Triste
known as Los Manglares which is situated south of the Cerro de Chichiriviche. The
seaward margin of this coast is occupied by mangrove-lined islands which are locally
called cayos (= cays or keys, e.g. Florida Keys).
 115
oI , ~ (#i 0 I I
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. ~- # t~ ~ .~ . ~~ ~ .~,~ i,=-,4
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116

To the north of the Cerro de Chichiriviche, the Golfete de Guare is lined by

mangrove swamps which grade shorewards into extensive salt flats or muddy
swamps, depending on the season. This seasonally swampy salt-flat environment,
locally interrupted by mangrove-lined lagoons (e.g. south of San Juan de los Cayos),
continues north-westwards until the coast once more becomes rocky and east-west
aligned. It is terminated in the west by the Peninsula de Paraguan~i in the shelter of
which muddy, mangrove-lined lagoonal deposits and saline clay plains fringe the
Golfete de Coro which forms the eastward extension of the Golfo de Venezuela. The
south-western shore of the Golfete de Coro is occupied by the actively prograding
delta of the Rio Mitare. The southern shore of the Golfo de Venezuela, up to the
entrance channel to Lago de Maracaibo, the coast is sandy. On the other hand, the
entire shoreline of the Lago de Maracaibo and the west coast of the Golfo de
Venezuela, up to the Peninsula de Guajira, is extensively lined by muddy mangrove
swamps and lagoons.
In contrast to Venezuela, much less detail is available on the coast of Caribbean
Colombia (e.g. Schwartz 1985d), although coastal morphology is apparently quite
variable (Psuty and Mizobe 1982). Over half of the 1,030 km long coastline is entirely
or intermittently fringed by muddy shores. From the border with Venezuela to Santa
Marta, just south of Cabo San Juan de Guia, the coast is rocky or sandy, being lined
by some barrier beaches in its central reaches. The remainder of the coast, up to the
border with Panama1 at Acandi, the coast is extensively lined by mud flats, the
shoreward margins being fringed by mangrove swamps. More extensive mangrove
swamps are found especially in the barred embayment of Ci~naga Grande de Santa
Marta and the adjacent delta region of the Rio Magdalena, as well as the southern
shore of the Golfo de Urbada in the extreme west.
As in the case of Colombia, the 2,200 km Caribbean coastline of PanamG Costa
Rica, Nicaragua and Belize has received little attention (e.g. Dengo 1985). Indications
are that m u d d y shores are rare and widely spaced, being restricted to localized salt
marsh wetlands and mangrove occurrences associated with a number of estuaries
and coastal lagoons. The most important of these are Laguna de Chiriqui, situated
just south of the border with Costa Rica, the Laguna Tortuguero system along the
north coast of Costa Rica which continues into Nicaragua up to the mouth of the Rio
San Juan. In Nicaragua there is the estuary of the Punta Gorda south of Punta del
Mono, the coast northward from the Escondido estuary at Bluefields up to the
Grande estuary at La Barra, including the extensive Laguna de las Perlas system, and
almost the entire north coast of Caribbean Nicaragua up to Cabo Gracias a Dios
which, besides a number of estuaries and landlocked lagoons, includes Laguna
Huanta, Laguna Carata and Laguna Huani. Significantly, the Caribbean coast of
Nicaragua is also known as the Costa de los Mosquitos. Beginning in the south-east,
the most important muddy salt marsh and swamp systems of Honduras are the
extensive Laguna Caratasca, Laguna de Brus, Laguna de Ibans and Laguna
Guaimoreto at the mouth of Rio Agu~n. The list is completed with Laguna de los
Micos and the delta of the Rio Ulfia in the north-west of the country.
 117

In Caribbean Guatemala, which is essentially restricted to a short coastal section

along the Golfo de Honduras, muddy and swampy environments commence with
the mouth region of the Rio Montagua, situated just north of the Honduran border
and continues with the estuary of the Rio Sarstun which drains into Bahia Amatique.
A coastal section with almost continuous muddy character is found along the north
coast of Belize between Stann Creek and Chetumal on the border of M@xico. Here,
mangroves fringe the landlocked shores of a series of elongate, sand-barred lagoons
and the southern shore of Bahia de Chetumal. Since the coastal character is
increasingly influenced by the Peninsula de Yucatan, which is a land-attached
carbonate ramp, the sediments mostly comprise limestone sands and lime muds.
The coast of M~xico is divided between the Caribbean and the Gulf of M~xico
(Ortiz-P~rez and Guti6rrez-Estrada 1985), the former commencing in the south-east
at the town of Chetumal in the Province of Quintana Roo and extends up to Cabo
Catoche in the north-east of the Peninsula de Yucatan. Along this coast there are
three sections lined by mangrove swamps. The first occupies the northern part of
Bahia de Chetumal, including Laguna de Bacalar. The second extends northward
from Punta Herrero to Punta Solim~n, essentially encompassing the shores of Bahia
del Espiritu Santo and Bahia de la Ascensi6n. The third swamp complex comprises a
narrow coastal fringe commencing at Puerto Ju~irez and continuing up to Cabo
Catoche along the north-eastern tip of the Peninsula de Yucat~in.
Most of the smaller Caribbean Islands and the Bahamas are characterized by
microtidal conditions and steeply rising hinterlands which preclude the development
of laterally extensive muddy shores. Instead, muddy mangrove swamps generally
occur in small pockets in favourable localities. Exceptions are the larger islands of the
Greater Antilles. Thus, along the shores of Cuba, the largest of the Caribbean Islands
(cf. Bird 1985a), extensive mangrove swamps occupy the entire Peninsula de Zapata
along the eastern margin of the Golfo de BatabanG situated on the south-west coast.
The mangrove swamps continue eastwards along the coast up to Cienfuegos.
Another stretch of mangrove-lined coast commences just west of Jucaro, occupying
most of the shore of the Golfo de Ana Maria, situated in the lee of the Cayos de las
Doce Leguas which themselves are partly fringed by mangroves. The swampy coast
continues into the Golfo de Guacanayabo up to the town of Manzanillo. Along the
north coast of Cuba, muddy mangrove shores commence north-east of Cabo San
Antonio, the westernmost point of Cuba, lining the Golfo de Guanahacabibes, being
particularly concentrated in Bahia Guadiana. Mangroves again appear further east
along the irregular coastline of Bahia C~irdenas and continue almost uninterrupted
for several hundred kilometers up to the town of Nuevitas. From here to Punta de
Maisi at the eastern extremity of Cuba small mangrove pockets occur in a number of
rias and in Bahia de Nipe.
On Jamaica, by comparison, muddy shoreline deposits associated with mangroves
are small and scattered (e.g. Jones 1985). Along the south coast one might mention
the Black River morass, the small delta of the Milk River, Portland Bight, the Rio
Cobe area west of Kingston, part of which has been reclaimed for the Portmore
Harbour development, and the Yallahs River delta east of Kingston. Along the north
118

coast mangrove growths are even more limited, having partly also been sacrificed for
harbour development schemes such as that in Montego Bay along the north-
west coast.
Hispaniola, divided between Ha'fti in the west and the Dominican Republic in the
east, is the most mountainous island in the Caribbean. As a result, coastal plains are
mostly narrow or absent, m u d d y mangrove environments being largely confined to
small, sheltered bays (e.g. Alexander 1985). Worth mentioning is the coast near
Grand-Goave along the southern shore of the Golfe de la Gonave, situated on the
west coast of Hispaniola, where the shore is lined by mangroves and mud flats over
some distance. Other areas along the west coast include the lowland of Cul-de-Sac
north of Port-au-Prince and the delta of the Artibonite River further north. Along the
north coast mangrove-fringed shores straddle the international border between Cap-
Haitien and Punta Mangle. The remaining coastline of the Dominican Republic is
mostly cliffed or lined by elevated marine terraces.
The coast of Puerto Rico, the easternmost island of the Greater Antilles, is mostly
rocky or sandy, m u d d y mangrove fringes being restricted to short stretches along
sheltered shorelines (Morelock and Trumbull 1985). Along the northern shore
mangroves are rare, occurring in the form of elongated, landlocked belts several
hundred metres behind sandy beaches in the vicinty of Punta Maldonado. Along the
west coast mangroves are found in pocket beaches between high mountain ridges
along the shoreline of the northern section, whereas somewhat more extensive
mangrove belts are found along the south-western shore which is more protected
from wave action due to a wider and shallower shelf. Along the south coast, between
Cabo Rojo and Punta Montalvo in the west, the coast is predominantly lined by
mangroves, as is the case between Salinas and Punta las Marias. Between Punta
Montalvo and Salinas mangroves are mainly restricted to small embayments. Along
the south-east coast mangroves are rare, but become more conspicuous along the
north-east coast between Naguabo and Cabo San Juan.
The islands of the Lesser Antilles are sometimes not even 10 km in diameter and
m u d d y salt marshes or mangrove swamps may thus appear insignificant in size on a
global scale. Nevertheless, even such small areas may be of local economic
importance as illustrated by the example of Anguilla, where the commercial
production of salt in "salt ponds", which are associated with small salt-marsh
lagoons, forms the main export commodity (e.g. Deane 1985). The same, in principle,
applies to the Bahamas, although here the muds are of carbonate composition
(Shinn et al. 1969; Garrett 1972; Ginsburg and Hardie 1985). The fine-grained shoals
along some leeward shores are known as "fish muds" (Craig 1985).

2.8 The coast of the Gulf of M6xico including the Atlantic Coast of Florida
(Figure 9)

Along the Gulf of M0xico, between Cabo Catoche on the north-eastern tip of the
Peninsula de Yucatan and the Rio Bravo del Norte (called Rio Grande on the Texas
side of the border) in the north-west, the coast of M6xico is characterized by
 119

numerous microtidal lagoons of different sizes lined by muddy salt marshes or

mangrove swamps (Ortiz-P~rez and Guti~rrez-Estrada 1985). Beginning in the south-
east, a partly swampy barrier coast is situated just west of Cabo Catoche along the
northern coast of the Peninsula de Yucat~in. An almost continuous swampy coastal
barrier system is found between the towns of Progreso and Campeche along the
north-west coast of the Peninsula de Yucat~in (or north-eastern shore of the
Golfo de Campeche).
Along the southern shore of the Golfo de Campeche we find several major muddy
and swampy lagoonal systems. The most important are the Lagunar Atasta-Pom
with Laguna T~rminos in the east (Phleger and Ayala-Casta~ares 1971; Day et al.
1987; Guti~rrez-Estrada 1982; Yafiez-Arancibia and Day 1982; Rivera-Monroy et al.
1995), intermittent mangrove-lined coastal marshes and shallow lagoons along the
coast of Tabasco Province up to the Rio Tonala (Thom 1967), and the Laguna de
Alvarado south of Vera Cruz which has extensive muddy mangrove swamps
developed along its landward shore. Further north, as the climate becomes
increasingly more arid, mangroves gradually disappear and the lagoonal systems
and river estuaries along the coast are predominantly lined by salt marshes, exposing
extensive mud flats at low tide. South of Tampico, between the Tuxpan, Panuco and
Tamesi rivers, a series of marsh- and swamp-lined lagoons are found, the largest of
which is Laguna de Tamiahua (Ayala-Castafiares et al. 1969; Ayala-Castafiares 1981).
The muddy shores of M~xico are completed by the extensive, fine-grained Laguna
Madre system, situated between the mouths of the Soto la Marina at La Pesca and the
Rio Bravo del Norte at Matamoros on the border with Texas.

~ategorda Bay ~ Mis's;issippi~r ~r~

San Antonio Bay Delta
Raffin Bay
Laguna

R i o B r a v o del N o r t e
GULF OF MEXICO

Madre
9 ..u.b" ~.o"

i Pesca r ,~.
Tropic of Cancer

T.mo,co ~......~
~L.~.T.m,.,u. --~ .... ~:.~0 " " ~ ..........

Campeche ..~ . :~: ! 300 km I

85~
I

Figure 9 Muddy shorelines along the Gulf of M~xico and Florida.

120

With a mean tidal range of 0.6 m and a maximum range of 0.9 m, the Gulf coast of
Texas is microtidal in character. The entire coast is fronted by sandy barriers and
barrier islands in the shelter of which extensive and often interlinked lagoonal
systems and bays are found (Fisher et al. 1972; Morton and McGowen 1980). The
most important of these are Laguna Madre, Baffin Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, Copano
Bay, San Antonio Bay, Matagorda Bay, and Galveston Bay (e.g. Aronow and
Kaczorowski 1985; Morton 1994). The landward margin of these lagoons have been
eroded into muddy deposits of deltaic origin (Price 1958; Le Blanc and Hodgson
1959; Wilkinson and Basse 1978). As a result, most of this shoreline is muddy, being
characterized by salt marshes and supratidal wind flats (Fisk 1959; Rusnak 1960;
Miller 1975). The wind tides have amplitudes of 30-50 cm, as opposed to the lunar
tides of only 15 cm within the lagoonal system. A peculiar phenomenon observed
along this coast is the formation of "clay dunes" (Price and Huffman 1949; Stelting
and van de Werken 1981). The formation of these unique aeolian landforms (lunettes)
are promoted by the intermittent wetting and drying of the wind tidal flats.
The Louisiana coast is entirely the product of depositional processes associated
with the Mississippi Delta (Penland et al. 1981), comprising an extensive muddy and
swampy chenier plain in the west (e.g. Penland and Suter 1989) and muddy swamps
of the delta proper in the east (e.g. Nummedal et al. 1985). With a mean daily supply
of 1-1.5 x 1 0 6 tons of sediment, of which 98% are muds (silts and clays), the
Mississippi River is the largest source of fine-grained sediments in the Gulf of M6xico
and, indeed, one of the largest in the world. Seaward of major distributary channels,
ephemeral "mud lump" islands can form by the diapiric intrusion of prodelta clays as
a result of instabilities caused by the overburden of bar finger sands.
Since littoral sediment transport along the northern Gulf coast is directed towards
the west, the influence of the Mississippi Delta is negligible along the coast of the
states of Mississippi and Alabama commencing at the eastern margin of the Delta.
The whole coast of the two states is lined by sandy barrier islands which are
separated from the mainland coast by microtidal muddy backbarrier lagoons and
marshlands. These extend into the estuarine bays of the St. Louis, Biloxi, Mobile and
Perdido Rivers, all of which have developed muddy bay-head deltas in late Holocene
times (Nummedal and Otvos 1985). This coastal type continues into north-western
Florida up to and including the Apalachicola River delta (Tanner 1985). The entire
coast of the Florida peninsula, by contrast, is composed of either sandy barrier
beaches, organic mudfree marshes or mangrove swamps. The total absence of mud is
explained by a lack of a suitable mud source on this ancient carbonate platform.

2.9 The Atlantic Coast of the United States of America and Canada (Figure 10)

The Atlantic coast of North America is extremely variable with respect to

its climatic, geological and geomorphological character. Between northern Florida
and Boston the coast is for the most part dominated by muddy salt marshes
associated with barrier islands and numerous estuaries, amongst them a number
of very large estuarine embayments such as Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay and
 121

Long Island Sound. North of Boston the coast becomes rocky, m u d d y environments
being restricted to numerous small estuaries and the fringes of the Bay of Fundy in
Nova Scotia, Canada. Correspondingly variable is the tidal regime, ranging from
microtidal to upper macrotidal.

LABRADOR SEA

::.. .
HUDSON BAY ' "" New
Foundland
e..-~

I#i 9
jl., ..~

James Bayt
...

Lake
~or
, . . 9 CANADA
.#
#
#
Lake .?
~
oo
Cape Cod

Island

U.S.A.
Bermuda
-"e 8ej, d

lioo
, 8oune
"~176 t

1000 km

"Mississippi
Delta
GULF OF MEXICO ~.'..~!J:"
" :: .~.. '~ ~ea,
"':"'" ' \ ~'..%. o
, 9 i" 1

Figure 10 Muddy shores along the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada.
122

As in the case of the Gulf coast, the Atlantic coast of Florida is basically devoid of
m u d d y sediments. This is born out by the fact that the largest river in north-eastern
Florida, the St. Johns, drains an area essentially composed of Pleistocene dune
deposits. As a result, the Florida mangrove swamps are mud-free environments,
their northern limit being situated just north of Cape Canaveral. This situation
continues up to the St Marys River which forms the boundary between the states of
Florida and Georgia. Being a typical coastal plain river draining the mudfree
Okefenokee Swamp region it is essentially sediment starved. Muds begin to
dominate the coast where the coastal deposits are influenced by rivers draining the
Piedmont hinterland. In Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina rivers such as
the Altamaha, Savannah, Santee, Pee Dee, Cape Fear, Neuse, and Roanoke carry a
high suspended sediment load (e.g. Meade 1969; Oertel 1976), much of which is
subsequently deposited in the extensive estuarine and backbarrier salt marsh
environments of this region (e.g. Oertel 1973; Edwards and Frey 1977; Cleary et al.
1979; Hayes 1985, 1994; Howard and Frey 1975, 1985).
The mean tidal range initially increases from <1.0 m (microtidal) in southern
Florida to just under 2 m (lower mesotidal) in the central parts of the Georgia
Embayment. From there it decreases once more to become microtidal at
Cape Hatteras (North Carolina). North of Cape Hatteras the mean tidal range
increases slightly to become lower mesotidal in Virginia (1.06 m in Chesapeake Bay),
Maryland (1.25 m), and Delaware (1.37 m in the Great Marsh situated along
the southern shore of Delaware Bay). In many of the coastal lagoons, however,
the tidal ranges remain <1 m. Throughout this coastal sector the almost continuous
sandy barrier shoreline is backed by extensive muddy wetlands and salt marshes
(Newman and Munsart 1968; Kraft 1971, 1985; Harrison 1975; Kraft and Allen 1975;
Bartberger 1976; Kraft and John 1979; Kraft et al. 1979, 1987; Colman and Mixon 1988;
Fletcher et al. 1990; Oertel and Kraft 1994).
The mean tidal range remains variable between microtidal and lower mesotidal
along the coast of New Jersey, Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and southern
Massachusetts (up to Cape Cod; cf. Fisher 1985; FitzGerald et al. 1994). While lower
mesotidal conditions prevail along the open coast, many of the numerous semi-
enclosed estuaries and embayments are microtidal with mean ranges of <1 m. From
Cape Cod to Boston the mean tidal range varies between 2.5 m and 3.0 m (upper
mesotidal) and gradually increases to lower macrotidal along the north coast of
Maine (e.g. 5.6 m at Eastport on the Canadian border). Most estuaries and all of the
backbarrier shores along the New England coast are lined by extensive muddy salt
marshes (e.g. Boothroyd et al. 1985; Duffy et al. 1989; FitzGerald et al. 1994).
From the Canadian border the tidal range continues to increase into the Bay of
Fundy until it peaks in the Minas Basin, where the highest range in the world is
reached with a mean tidal range of 11.5 m and a maximum recorded spring tidal
range of 16.3 m. Large stretches of the shoreline within the Bay of Fundy are lined by
thick mud deposits (Klein 1963; Knight and Dalrymple 1975; Lambiase 1980; Amos
and Long 1980). The southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, by contrast, is microtidal and
here too the estuarine and backbarrier environments are characterized by muddy salt
 123

marshes (McCann 1985). Into the St. Lawrence estuary the tidal range increases to
upper mesotidal. Here the coast is lined by m u d d y salt marshes and open m u d flat
environments characterized by the widespread occurrence of ice-rafted boulders and
associated scour pits (Dionne 1972; Rosen 1979). In the presence of high tidal ranges,
e.g. in Ungava Bay along the southern shore of the Hudson Strait, where the mean
tidal range is 9.3 m, the bulldozing of boulders by ice and the formation of scour
grooves on the m u d d y tidal flat surface is a common feature (Lauriol and Gray 1980).
Large upper mesotidal m u d flats are also found along the subarctic shores of H u d s o n
Bay and James Bay (e.g. Martini 1991; Ruz et al. 1998). The occurrence and
characteristics of salt marshes in Canada have been summarized in
Glooschenko et al. (1988).
It should not go unmentioned that extensive non-marine m u d d y wetlands occur
along parts of the Great Lakes, in particular the north-eastern part of Lake Michigan,
the east-central shores of Lake Huron, and the eastern shores of Lake Erie. A number
of smaller marshy sections also occur along the southern and eastern shores of
Lake Ontario (Carter and Haras 1985).
Y 70.~ 80' ~ ~- ~o.,, ~o,. ,~
80 I
70 9
,,
I

~ " ~o~ GREENLAND

SEA j
ARCTIC OCEAN .~ ~ /ICELAND

'i -4 ':" " I

' ij
"\ )" :" Par Ch.e. ~_ _

.i
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,~.,'~,%'~i'.'~"
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/'/ ~'N~(i'~'~,,. """ : ] ~ ~i;i';!~ ~ i ~ ' : . : ~ ~ ~ . ATLANTICN

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SEA
9 l '~.~ ~"~ ~ ' . .:. . . ." 9.... ".i7:
9""": ................ ~ :~i ~'~ " ' ~ ~ t --" ,
! ''d' ....... "
/ "- t oo~ - t

Figure 11 M u d d y shores along the Arctic coast of Canada and the coasts of
Greenland and Iceland:

2.10 The Arctic Coast of Canada and the coasts of Greenland and Iceland
(Figure 11)

The Arctic coast of Canada is composed of a triangular-shaped archipelago of

numerous islands almost exclusively situated within the Arctic Circle. The tidal
range varies from upper macrotidal along the shores of Baffin Island in the south-
124

east to microtidal along the delta of the Mackenzie River in the west. Most of the
shores consist of rocky cliffs or rocky shore platforms which are often lined by coarse
talus aprons or narrow sand beaches (Bird 1985). Muddy shores are rare and major
mud deposits are restricted to the Mackenzie delta region, the margins of backbarrier
lagoons and estuaries of Banks Island facing the Beaufort Sea, mudflats around low
islands and shoals north of the Parry Channel along Prince Patrick Island, and along
the macrotidal coast of Foxe Peninsula and the north-eastern parts of Foxe Basin
along the shores of Baffin Island (McCann et al. 1981; Aitken et al. 1988).
In similarity to Arctic Canada, the coast of Greenland too is mainly composed of
rocky shores (90%). The remainder of the coast is essentially sandy, the only
exception being the eastern shoreline of Disko Island, situated along the west coast of
Greenland. Here the lower mesotidal coast (mean range 2.5 m) is lined by long
barrier beaches harbouring muddy lagoons and marshes (Nielsen 1969). The same
basically applies to Iceland, a large volcanic island situated on the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge between Greenland and Norway, just below the Arctic Circle. The coast is
divided between rock-dominated shores in the north and sand-dominated glacial-
outwash shores in the south (Hine and Boothroyd 1978). The occurrence of muddy
wetlands and tidal flats appears to be insignificant (Bod~r~ 1985).

2.11 The coasts of Scandinavia and the states bordering the Baltic Sea (Figure 12)

The coast of Norway is mainly rocky, sandy and muddy shorelines being
restricted to small pocket beaches and sheltered embayments. The mean tidal range
is >0.3 m along the south-west coast, increasing northwards to 1 m along the west
coast, 1.5 m along the north coast and 2 m along the north-eastern shoreline. Clayey
beach deposits are occasionally found in wave-protected localities where muds are
supplied by local streams or where a nearshore mud blanket emerges along a
sheltered beach section. A third type is represented by muddy beach deposits in
sheltered embayments resulting from the accumulation of fine sediments locally
winnowed from Quaternary tills, a typical example being the muddy beaches in the
embayment of Sola 10 km south-west of Stavanger along the north coast of Jaeren
(Klemsdal 1985).
The coast of Sweden is microtidal in the Skagerrak and Kattegat, but essentially
nontidal in the Baltic Sea. Most muddy deposits occur below sea-level and in ice-
dammed lakes. Exceptions are the coastal plain coasts of the Quark, the Bothnian Sea
and the Baltic in the shelter of the Island of Oland. These coastal sectors are
characterized by wave-washed tills in their more exposed parts and muddy
glaciofluvial deposits associated with wide sedge belts that fringe numerous
sheltered bays (Norrman 1985).
As in the case of Baltic Sweden, the coast of Finland is nontidal, although
significant fluctuations in water level can occur due to wind effects and changes in
air pressure. Muddy shorelines are restricted to sheltered pocket beaches, where
muds winnowed from glacial till have accumulated. These are commonly associated
with reed and meadow swamps. Good examples are the shallow reed- and bulrush-
 125

lined bays of Kempeleenlahti and Liminganlahti, situated south of Oulu along the
north-eastern shore of the Gulf of Bothnia. Other examples can be found along the
landward shores of the numerous islands south of Turku and to the east of Helsinki,
where many of the numerous bay heads display muddy, reed-lined beaches
(Alestalo 1985).

I I I I I l l l ~_o %
O" 100E 20"
North Cape
I 400 km 1 ! Barents Sea

Tromsr

.,
Kola Peninsula

Arctic Circle
""............................. . . . . . . co~~
.~,
"k ;"...... "-~ White Sea

..-.J i
%

\
~:." ! ~ ~:~ "~:" FINLAND

60* I .,~:.~u~.~u. ~,-:.~-~p-....-.-:.~ -.

Oslo ..

~allin "~i"
Hiiumaa~. ~EI STONIA"
Saarema~ "" i- .:~.~"
" :!- ."~.
~ -
.IK._.OlkastlGulf of !':" " ' "
'~/i ~ , a g s ~ R i g z ~''''~" /'"

'/
r
]:?"'"%
o.~~ , ~
Tv,
.::.I"'~~-~.'
.'.'~ ~'"0~:'~i;....!~
I':: ":"~-''" ITHUANIA
~~ ~ . -...-~~! ~o_!Mar!o~/
Kursiu .
"" /
}
RUSSIA
istula i ,.~' 9J
:~ Bay -'-~'.v..(,~."
iERMANY "-:~.bzczecin POLAND "l ~ . . 2 5 ~ 30~
"""":- '.'4Bay .J iI ~ I l

Figure 12 Muddy shores along the coasts of Scandinavia and the states bordering the
Baltic Sea.
126

The coast of Baltic Russia and the coasts of the Baltic Republics of Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania are characterized by two large gulfs, the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf
of Riga, a long smooth coastal sector between Kolkas Rags Point in the north of
Kurzeme Peninsula and the Polish border, along the southern part of which two
large freshwater barrier lagoons, the Kursiu Marios (Kurisches Haft) and Vistula Bay
(Zalew Wislany or Frisches Haft), are situated (Gudelis 1967, 1985). Episodic storms
play an important role in shaping the coastline of this region. The head of the Gulf of
Finland is formed by the muddy marshes and wetlands of the Neva and Luga River
deltas, much of the former having been reclaimed in former centuries for the
construction of St. Petersburg. Muddy and marshy lowland shores are again found
locally along the Estonian Archipelago, including the eastern and southern shores of
the Islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Muddy wetlands and coastal meadows of
limited extent also interrupt the otherwise sandy shoreline of the east coast of the
Gulf of Riga. The west coast of the Gulf, by contrast, is dominated by muddy
wetlands and relict lagoons situated in the shelter of mostly sandy beaches, although
muddy meadow beaches along the Gulf coast can also be found. The only other
muddy wetland and marshy sections along the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea are
associated with the sheltered lagoonal shores of the Kursiu Marios and Vistula Bay.
The coast of the southern Baltic Sea straddles the shores of Poland and Germany
(Borowka 1985; Gierloff-Emden 1985a, 1985b). Tidal influence increases gradually
towards the west, where the mean range reaches 20 cm in the Mecklenburg and Kiel
Bays. Seiches, wind tides and storm surges are important additional factors in
controlling local water levels. Off the Polish coast some 195 km qualify as being
swampy. Such muddy sections are restricted to Vistula Bay in the east, Puck Bay
which is situated in the shelter of Hel Spit along the north coast of the Gulf of
Gdansk, and Szcecin Bay (Zalew Szczecinski) in the west. Muddy marshlands are
otherwise restricted to the landward margins of landlocked lagoons, such as the
Gardino and Lebsko Lake (Wypych 1973).
Partly landlocked lagoons (locally known as Bodden) also characterize the eastern
part of the German Baltic coast. Large parts of the Stettiner Haff (called Szczecin Bay
or Zalew Szczecinski on the Polish side) and the Bodden are lined by muddy
marshlands and reed swamps. Muddy salt marshes, normally associated with
intertidal environments, are observed in the shelter of the Island of Poel and the
Wustrow Spit north of Wismar, here produced by the frequent occurrence of wind-
elevated water levels. In fact, episodic storm surge levels in the Western Baltic can
attain water-level elevations of 3.5 m. In the westernmost Baltic coast of Germany
muddy, marsh-lined lagoons and estuarine fjords (FOrden) are found locally on the
Island of Fehmarn and along the shores of the Schlei estuary. In all, some 25 km 2 of
salt marshes occur along this coast in favourable locations. An up-to-date summary
of the coastal environments along the Baltic coast of Germany can be found in
Duphorn et al. (1995).
Along the Baltic coast of Denmark an essentially non-tidal barrier system is found
in Koge Bugt (south-west of Copenhagen) on the south-eastern shore of the Island of
Sjaelland (Nielsen and Nielsen 1978; Davis 1994b). As further south in the western
 127

Baltic Sea, wind-induced changes in water levels can vary here by as much as 1 m
(Moller 1985). Here muddy brackish-water marshes, besides lining much of the
landward margin of the lagoons, also cap overwash fans on the lagoonal side of
the barrier.

2.12 The coasts of North-West Europe between the Shetland Islands and the
English Channel, including the North Sea, the Celtic Sea, and the Irish Sea
(Figure 13)

The geographic distribution of salt marshes in this region, which are commonly
associated with m u d d y sediments, has been described by Dijkema (1987a). Tidal
ranges vary from <0.5 m (microtidal) in the Kattegat to >12 m (upper macrotidal) in
the Severn Estuary of the Bristol Channel.
The North Sea coast of Denmark, in which the coasts of the Kattegat and the
Skagerrak are included here, is characterized by a number of m u d d y environments.
The mean tidal range increases progressively from values around 0.2 m (microtidal)
in the southern Kattegat to about 2.0 m (lower mesotidal) in the Lister Deep at the
North Sea border with Germany. Typical examples in the Kattegat are the Mariager
Fjord, where m u d d y salt marshes line the shore of the estuarine section of the fjord
(Moller 1985) and the Island of Laeso off northern Jylland, where the mean tidal
range is 0.5 m. Muddy intertidal salt marshes are well developed along the southern
shoreline of the island (Hansen 1977). Along the west coast of Denmark substantial
m u d d y shoreline deposits are associated with the Danish sector of the Wadden Sea
which is lined by a chain of three barrier islands and a sand spit extending from
Blavandshuk to Skallingen (Pejrup 1988; Bartholdy and Pejrup 1994; Davis 1994b).
The mean tidal range in this area ranges from 1.5 m at Skallingen to 2.0 m at the
southern tip of Romo Island. The tidal regime of the entire Danish Wadden Sea thus
falls into the lower mesotidal category. Muds and m u d d y sands are found in a belt of
varying width adjacent to the mainland dike (Bartholdy and Pheiffer-Madsen 1985;
Bartholdy and Folving 1986). Situated in the shelter of the Skallingen Peninsula at the
north-eastern limit of the Wadden Sea, the Varde A estuary features the only
remaining natural salt marshes of any significance found along the entire southern
North Sea coast. Extensive salt marshes once occupied the landward margin of the
entire Wadden Sea, but most of these have been reclaimed for agricultural purposes
over past centuries. The narrow salt marshes fringing the mainland coast today have
mostly been cultivated by man to protect the foot of the dikes against wave erosion,
the adjacent intertidal flats being today mainly composed of m u d d y sands with mud
contents rarely reaching 50%. This essentially applies to the whole Wadden Sea
shoreline between Skallingen in Denmark and Den Helder in The Netherlands.
The German Wadden Sea stretches between Lister Deep in the north-east and the
Ems River estuary in the south-west. The mean tidal range increases from 2.0 m in
the north-east to just under 4.0 m in the Elbe and Weser estuaries and Jade Bay in the
south-eastern funnel section of the German Bight, and then decreases again to
about 2.4 m at the mouth of the Ems River estuary (Reineck 1982), the tidal regime
128

thus being upper mesotidal to lower macrotidal. Barrier islands line both mesotidal
sections of the coast (Davis 1994b), the island of Sylt being an exception in that it has
a Pleistocene core. As pointed out above, natural salt marshes have literally been
eliminated by land reclamation and dike construction. In fact, the entire southern
North Sea coast has been lined by a continuous dike since 1300 A.D., stretching from
Holland to Denmark (e.g. Streif 1990; Flemming and Davis 1994). As a result,
the Wadden Sea carries a strong human imprint for almost 1000 years, a time span
perhaps only rivalled by certain sections of the Chinese coast. Narrow mud and/or
mixed flats line practically the whole mainland coast, although substantial changes
have locally been documented in past decades due to changing weather patterns
(Linke 1939; H~intzschel 1939; Reineck 1975; Figge et al. 1980; Ragutzki 1982, 1983;
Reineck et al. 1986; Flemming and Davis 1994; Irion 1994; Flemming and
Ziegler 1995). Flemming and Nyandwi (1994) have demonstrated that
the widespread elimination of pure mud flats and salt marshes is a direct result of
land reclamation. Settling velocity measurements indicate that energy levels at
the foot of the dikes increase as a function of the backbarrier width, thus eliminating
or preventing the deposition of fine-grained sediments (see also Flemming and
Davis 1994; Flemming and Bartholom~i 1997). Geotechnical properties and organic
content of muddy intertidal sediments have in more recent times been investigated
by Ragutzki (1983) and Delafontaine et al. (1996). Numerous comparative studies on
the occurrence and substrate-related distribution of benthic organisms have been
undertaken (e.g. Linke 1939; Michaelis 1987; Hertweck 1994).
Along the Dutch coast the tidal range continues to decrease, reaching its lowest
mean elevation of 1.5 m at Den Helder, before increasing again towards the
Rhine delta. The evolution of the Dutch Wadden Sea coast almost presents a mirror
image of its German counterpart, land reclamation and human influences having
taken place on an even larger scale (e.g. Eisma and Wolf 1980; Veenstra 1980). This is
particularly evident on geological maps and cross-sections which show a wide belt of
reclaimed former intertidal mud flats and salt marshes (Jelgersma 1985; Zagwijn
et al. 1985). The response of a recent land reclamation scheme, the closure of the
Lauwerszee embayment south of the barrier island of Schiermonnikoog
(Zoutkamperslaag), has been documented in great detail by Oost and de Boer (1994),
Oost (1995) and Biegel and Hoekstra (1995). The origin and distribution of muds in
the Dutch Wadden Sea has been the subject of numerous studies (e.g. van Straaten
1954, 1964; van Straaten and Kuenen 1957; Postma 1961). The well-known settling
lag/scour lag concept explaining the deposition of muds along the mainland shore
was originally proposed by van Straaten and Kuenen (1958), although it is commonly
associated with Postma (1967), who was responsible for introducing the model to the
international community. As pointed out above, this model has recently been
extended by Flemming and Nyandwi (1994). The role played by vegetation in the
accumulation of muds has been addressed by van Eerdt (1985), Dijkema (1987b, 1989)
and Dijkema et al. (1990).
The coast of Belgium is today devoid of muddy deposits, although this was not
always the case (de Moor and Ozer 1985). With the exception of a few small areas
 129

along the Wester Schelde, practically all former intertidal areas of the Belgian coastal
plain, including extensive mud flats and salt marshes, have been reclaimed in
historical times (Tavernier 1947).

600
Shetland ~ " ~.~r~.".]:
I.
10~
250 km j
5~
Islands "~
0"
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1

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Orkney _~',J
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NORTH
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OCEAN %~
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O
It
o~~~ NORTH SEA
Skallingen
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I I

Figure 13 Muddy shorelines of north-west Europe (Denmark, Germany,

The Netherlands, Belgium, and the British Isles).
130

The coast of Scotland and its larger neighbouring islands (e.g. the Orkneys,
Shetlands, and Hebrides) is highly variable, being mostly rocky. Nevertheless,
estuarine shore environments claim as much as 15% of the 12,000 km long coastline
(Ritchie 1985). For the most part the coast is lower macrotidal in character, reaching
upper macrotidal conditions (7.0 m) in the Solway Firth on the south-west coast
(north-eastern Irish Sea) and 6.0 m in the Firth of Forth on the south-east coast.
As a result of the generally high tidal ranges, intertidal mud flats and salt marshes
occur on various scales in many estuaries, particularly along the east coast.
Of 155 major estuaries identified in a regional survey of Great Britain, 50were
located in Scotland. The total intertidal area of the 10 largest estuaries amounts to
603.82 km 2 (Mathieson and Atkins 1995). Listed in descending order these are:
the Solway Firth (275.5 km2), the Firth of Tay (57.2 km2), the Forth Estuary
(47.98 km2), the Inverness Firth (47.83 km2), the Dornoch Firth (43.97 km2), the
Cromarty Firth (36.42 km2), the Clyde Estuary (18.41 km2), the Eden Estuary
(9.37km2), the Montrose Basin (7.39 km2), and the Ythan Estuary (2.01 km2).
A substantial proportion of these intertidal areas comprises mud flats and salt
marshes. The three largest estuaries, i.e. the upper macrotidal Solway Firth
(Perkins and Williams 1966), the lower macrotidal Tay Estuary (McManus 1976) and
the lower macrotidal Forth Estuary (McLusky 1987) represent well-studied examples.
Small muddy pockets, however, are also found at the heads of numerous sea lochs
along the west coast. There is strong evidence that in some cases the muddy deposits
in Scottish estuaries are associated with changes in land use over historical times and
that many estuaries today suffer from eutrophication effects, such as increasing
macroalgal coverage (e.g. Mathieson and Atkins 1995).
The coastline of Ireland is characterized by a rugged, bedrock-controlled north,
west and south coast facing the Atlantic Ocean and Celtic Sea respectively, and
a somewhat smoother east coast bordering the Irish Sea which is dominated by
glacial drift deposits (Stephens 1985). The tidal range varies strongly, but is
dominated by lower macrotidal conditions. There are many estuaries with mud flats
and salt marshes along the Irish coast, but in general there is little information
available on them in the international literature (e.g. Guilcher and King 1961).
The coast of England and Wales is characterized by dozens of estuaries, lagoons,
barrier beaches and open tidal flats lined by sometimes extensive mud flats and
muddy salt marshes (Steers 1960, 1964; Bird 1985b). The tidal range varies
considerably, being dominated by lower macrotidal conditions. Lower mesotidal
coastal regimes are limited in extent, being restricted to short sections along the east
coast (Suffolk) and the south coast (Dorset). Upper macrotidal conditions, on the
other hand, are more widespread. Thus, large sections of the Cumbria and
Lancashire coasts bordering the Irish Sea have tidal ranges in excess of 6 m. Similarly,
the entire Bristol Channel region features macrotidal conditions, the tides in the
Severn Estuary reaching the second highest in Europe (>12 m at spring tide).
Some of the better known muddy intertidal environments are The Wash, a lower
macrotidal embayment along the east coast of England (Evans 1965, 1975; Evans and
Collins 1975), the muddy salt marshes along the coast of North Norfolk (Steers 1960;
 131

Pethick 1981), the mudflats along the Thames estuary, the Guldeford and Walland
Marshes at Dungeness (the Romney Marshes having been reclaimed; cf. Bird 1985b),
the salt marshes in the shelter of Hurst Castle spit and other shingle spits along the
south coast of England (Kidson 1963), the mudflats and salt marshes of Poole
Harbour in Dorset (Bird and Ranwell 1964; Hubbard 1965; Bird 1985b), the entire
Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary region (Kirby and Parker 1983; Allen 1987, 1988;
Allen and Rae 1988), and the larger embayments, such as Morecambe Bay and the
Solway Firth, bordering the Irish Sea. Generally speaking, the west coast marshes are
more sandy, whereas the east coast ones are dominated by mud. The rapid spreading
of Spartina anglica, a vigorous hybrid between the local form S. maritima and the
American variety S. alterniflora, led to an acceleration of marsh accretion in many
places (e.g. Gray et al. 1995). On the other hand, large areas (ca. 143.44 km 2) of former
mudflats and salt marshes have been reclaimed over past centuries
(e.g. Davidson et al. 1995).

2.13 The Atlantic Coast of Southern Europe (France and Iberia) and the coast of the
Western Mediterranean Sea (Figure 14)

The Atlantic coast of France is characterized by a number of major and minor mud
flats and salt marsh environments (Massoud and Piboub~s 1994) situated in the
sheltered parts of coastal embayments such as Baie des Veys (Ducrotoy and Sylvand
1991), Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel (Bourcart and Boillot 1960; Dolet et al. 1965; Bajard
1966; Larsonneur 1975, 1994; Caline et al. 1982), St. Brieuc Bay, and the Bassin
d'Arcachon (e.g. F6ni~s 1984), behind large sandy spits such as the Anse de
l'Aiguillon fronting the Marais Poitevin in French Flanders, Penn ar C'Hleuz near
Leon in the Bretagne, the Isle d'Oleron and the Charante River (Rochefort marshes),
or Pointe de la Coubre, where marshes have developed in the shelter of the bay of
Bonne Anse at the northern tip of the Gironde Estuary (Guilcher 1985a), and along
the margins of numerous estuaries, the larger ones being associated with the rivers
Somme (Ducrotoy and Sylvand 1991), Seine, Loire, and Garonne or Gironde
(Allen 1971, 1991; Allen et al. 1977). The tidal range is macrotidal throughout, being
nowhere lower than 4.5 m (lower macrotidal) and reaching maximum upper
macrotidal elevations of 15 m in the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel. The muddy deposits
along the coast of La Manche (English Channel) are locally known as tangue, a
predominantly calcareous, grey-coloured silt containing various amounts of shell
hash (Guilcher 1985a; Larsonneur 1994). In some areas such as the southern shore of
the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel and in French Flanders (Poitevin, Saintongeais), large
salt marsh areas have been reclaimed for agricultural use (e.g. Guilcher 1985a).
The Atlantic coast of northern Spain is mainly rocky with high cliffs, narrow
estuaries and wide rias (ria = drowned river valley, term introduced by
von Richthofen 1886). The mean tidal range varies from 4.5 m (lower macrotidal) in
the north-east to 2.2 m (upper mesotidal) along the north-west coast. Muddy shores
along this coastal sector of Spain are small and mainly confined to the inner parts of
estuaries such as those of the rivers Mifio and Corrubedo and the bay-head marshes
132

and lagoons of the various Rias (e.g. Jong and Poortman 1970; Vilas and Nombela
1985; Vilas and Rolzin 1985; Nombela et al. 1995). By contrast, the Atlantic coast of
southern Spain is characterized by a number of upper mesotidal estuaries which are
lined by mud flats and muddy salt marshes on various scales. The largest marsh
area, Las Marismas, is associated with the mouth region of the Guadalquivir River.
Although partly protected by the Dofmna National Park, these extensive marshlands
have come under heavy human pressure due to a large domestic freshwater demand.
Less extensive, but by no means insignificant, are the intertidal estuarine mud and
salt marsh deposits of smaller rivers such as the Guadiana which forms the border
with Portugal (Marquis and Julia 1985; Morales et al. 1994), the Piedras
(Borrego et al. 1993), the Odiel/Tinto (Borrego et al. 1995), and the Guadalete which
enters the sea near C~diz.

--50 ~ I ,.._ ,15,, I

50""
i 300 km
,%

R- Baie de -~-~i: " :~'; "" Mt. St. Michel

Douarnenea"~' 9 ..

9 Loire
d Quibero~ ~ i s
Baie de Bourgneu
Baie oe Breton

45 *N ~le d'OI4ron~ @ ,
BAY OF BISCAY Gironde FRANCE
Bassin
Arcachor
d'~.' ~,
Cape

9 ~....

t /
o'e

SPAIN
Delta
~ GoltO oe
~ Ofistano SARDINIA

WESTERN
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
Menor
Marismas .:.~
~0 ~
~?o~ Gulf ol
~x Cadiz

..:..:-~..--..
]. , )1 ,~"~" ...~...
MOROCCO !
I '
r I'
k "~),.
5~ ~9 0~ 5~ "\ ~ . . 1 ~
I ~, I I \ i

Figure 14 Muddy shores along the Atlantic coast of south-western Europe (France,
Spain, and Portugal) and along the European and North African coast of the Western
Mediterranean Sea.
 133

The coast of Portugal, which occupies the space between northern and southern
Spain on the Atlantic seaboard, displays a number of estuaries, the larger of which
are lined by significant mud flats and muddy salt marshes (Morais 1985). With the
exception of some data in biological publications, little detail is available on the
sediments of most estuaries. The coast is largely lower mesotidal in character, mean
spring tidal ranges varying from 3-4 m. Major estuaries are the Lagoon of Aveiro
(e.g. Moreira et al. 1993; Cunha and Moreira 1995), the lagoon at the mouth of the
Montego River (Morais 1985), the lower Tagus River or Mar dal Palha which is
essentially a river mouth lagoon lined by large mud flats and salt marshes along the
south-eastern shore and around the delta of the Tagus River in the north (e.g. Brotas
and Catarino 1995), the large estuarine lagoon dominated by Spartina grass at the
mouth of the Sado River (Rodrigues and Quintino 1993), and the lagoonal system of
the Ria Formosa along the south coast of Portugal (also known as the Faro-Olhao
Lagoon) which actually is a lower mesotidal barrier island system with extensive
m u d d y backbarrier salt marshes (Pilkey et al. 1989; Davis 1994b). Smaller estuarine
systems, partly lined by muddy marshes, include the Concha de Sao Martinho do
Porto and Lagoa de Obidos just north of Cabo Carvoeiro (Quintino et al. 1989),
Albufeira Lagoon south of the Tagus mouth (Quintino et al. 1987), Melides and Santo
Andr6 lagoons south of Cabo de Sines, and a number of yet smaller river mouths
(Morais 1985).
The Mediterranean coast of Spain stands in sharp contrast to its Atlantic
counterparts, being essentially characterized by the general absence of substantial
tides (mean range of ca. 0.2 m) and related currents. A number of m u d d y marsh
environments are nevertheless found in association with some lagoons, coastal lakes
and river mouths. The most notable lagoons and coastal lakes are Mar Menor and
Torrevieja just south of the Rio Segura mouth, and Albufera de Valencia south of the
City of Valencia. Marsh-lined river mouths include the delta of the Ebro, Pals Bay
and Rosas Gulf near the border with southern France (Marqu6s and Julia 1985).
Coastal lagoons and landlocked lakes also characterize parts of the mediterranean
coast of France, including the east coast of Corsica. Although these lagoons and lakes
are mostly dominated by sandy shores, short stretches of m u d d y marshlands do
occur (Martin 1978; Guilcher 1985a). Larger muddy swamps are only found in the
Rh6ne delta, especially in the Carmargue (Massoud and Piboub~s 1994).
The North African coast of the western Mediterranean is predominantly rocky
with coastal lowlands and salt pans or marshes (locally called sebkha, in other regions
also spelled sabkha or sebkra) interspersed at intervals. The coast is microtidal with
ranges not exceeding 0.5 m except along the south coast of Tunisia where lower
mesotidal conditions occur. The only sebkha marsh along the Mediterranean coast of
Morocco is the Sebkha Bou Ared, situated behind a 25 km long sand spit south of
Mellila near the Algerian border (Weisrock 1985). The next m u d d y and swampy
coastal section towards the east is La Macta along the shore of Arzew Bay in Algeria.
A similar stretch occurs further east around the large depression of Lake Fetzara and
at the mouths of the wadis of Seybouse and E1 Kebir (Mahrour and Dagorne 1985).
134

The rocky nature of the south Mediterranean coast continues into northern Tunisia,
but changes substantially towards the east of Cape Blanc. The coast becomes lower
and intertidal mud flats and silty sebkha marshes more frequent (Perthuisot 1974;
Davaud et al. 1994), especially around the Golfe de Hammamet and the Golfe de
Gab~s in the southeastern part of Tunisia where spring tides can reach 1.8 m. Many
parts of the Tunisian coast are under heavy human pressure due to the economic
importance of the tourist industry (Paskoff 1985).

2.14 The coasts of the Central Mediterranean Sea, including the Tyrrhenian,
Adriatic, and Ionian Seas (Figure 15)

With the exception of some landlocked marsh areas (maremme) associated with the
larger rivers, the entire west coast of mainland Italy, bordering the Ligurian and
Tyrrhenian Seas, is notable for the general absence of m u d d y shore environments.
The same applies to the south coast facing the Ionian Sea and the whole of Sicily. On
Sardinia, by contrast, marsh-lined coastal lakes and ponds are found along the Golfo
de Cagliari on the south coast and along the Golfo di Oristani along the west coast.
The tides in the western part of this region are hardly worth mentioning, reaching a
few decimetres at most. In the Adriatic Sea, by contrast, the tides may reach up to
I m, but sea level frequently rises by as much as 2 m due to wind build-up. Along the
Adriatic coast of Italy, m u d d y marshlands are found along the shores of the coastal
lakes of Varano and Lesina, situated on the north coast of the Gargano Peninsula,
and along most of the north coast between Ravenna and Trieste (Golfo di Ven~zia),
where coastal marshes (locally known as barene or velme) are associated with the
coastal plain deltas and lagoons of the Rivers Po, Adige, Brenta, Piave, Livenza,
Tagliamento and Isonzo (Zunica 1985).
The east coast of the Adriatic is mostly steep and rocky, coastal lowlands with a
few m u d d y deltaic deposits only appearing along the coast of Albania,
e.g. Karavastas and Narta Lagoons (Shuisky 1985a). A similar situation is found
along the microtidal coast of Greece, where muddy marshes occur very localized in
association with some coastal lagoons, lakes and deltaic river mouths (Tziavos and
Kraft 1985).
Along the west coast of Peloponnisos bordering the southern Ionian Sea, muddy
marshlands are found along the shores of some coastal lakes and lagoons on the
coastal plain of Elis associated with the rivers Pinios and Alphios. About 100 km
further south is Navarino Bay, in the shelter of which the Osmanaga Lagoon is lined
by low-lying swamps, the muds of which have carbonate contents >50% (Kraft et al.
1980). Crossing the peninsula which separates Navarino Bay from the Messinian Gulf
to the east, another muddy swamp area is found associated with the mouth region of
the Pamissos River near the town of Kalamata. Along the east coast of Greece, the
swamps and marshes of Marathon Bay have been of historical fame ever since they
sealed the fate of the Persian army in the year 490 B.C. The only other well-known
swamps along the east coast are those associated with the deltas of the rivers Axios,
Loudias and Aliakmon which are rapidly prograding into the Thermiakos Gulf
 135

(e.g. Lykousis and Chronis 1989), thereby threatening the access to the port of
Thessaloniki. Some muddy coastal marsh environments may also be expected in the
vicinity of river mouths along the Thrakian coast (e.g. the delta region of the Rivers
Nestos and Evros) situated to the east of Thessaloniki and stretching to the border
with Turkey (e.g. Pehlivanoglou 1989).
The southern shores of the central Mediterranean Sea are occupied by the coast of
Libya. The tides of this region are semidiurnal in the west and mixed in the east, with
a mean range generally below I m. In the west, near the border of Tunisia, the coast
is in some places backed by muddy sebkhas. Further east, between the towns of
Misratah and Buerat el Hsun, a 100 km long barrier-lagoon system is found, the
landward shore of which comprises extensive sebkha salt marshes. A similar system
is found between A1-Uqaylah and Bhengazi (Schwartz 1985e).

I ' ,_" I ......... I I -I

100
, , ~~e~." ~-r' -
. ~ ii~., nes~.e 20~ 25 ~ I
/
"~ , ' . ~ ~:' ~'~: L 3(X) km , 45~
:~..::~.:.Ravenna.~- ~,~9- ',~';~i~...~.O~ ~, ~ I
~. ~ -"~:',.' _ ':',.~. " "C~'~'A/\,/,/~,2~N, "-. Danube ~ - ~ .

2 o'' ':..9
:,., ' """
"~ pG a r ~qa no "";.-.
:"~ I. [~. "~
. ./.'x~o ...-.J~"
. ":'.

~"..,r SARDINIA ~.3" '~- '"~Karavastas~'~ ~ \ ~ o J

"o-~ ., .r ,o,,,,A,,,~,=,, ~ : . , , , ; ~ -%~ ~ I

r:...-.~...-~~,.~ ~.....~ ~o~:~ ",,, , ~ . . , ":,,I

" ~ :~":':'~ ~"""" ~ ~ " - , ' : " ,,' - I
W9 .::~'G~, o~ "~ o~'~/~o~ ' : ~ 3 i ~ - "'., 9 - I

9":::"'" o'~ G~es ~ t

-. G~\~- CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN SEA
~,:.,~ !
TUN~ ~
.,.J :" ; ~ : : ~ M i s r a t a h ~ _
/.J" " :"il
/'J ": "!'~'.'.~ Buerat el H s u n (E~enghazi " ~ ~
Y "v..:v.. .::. ~.
o
10 ;
15 E ,.-i20 -,,
/

Figure 15 Muddy shores of the central Mediterranean Sea, comprising the coasts of
Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece and Libya.
136

2.15 The coasts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea (Figure 16)

Continuing northwards from the western Aegean Sea, the Turkish section of the
European coast, which occupies the western margin of the Marmara Sea and south-
western shore of the Black Sea, is practically free of mud. It is only to the north of
Bourgas in Bulgaria that muddy shorelines are encountered in the form of slumping
and eroding Mio-Pliocene and Quaternary clays, causing severe erosional problems
(Simeonova 1985). Engineering works designed to protect the coast have in the past
suffered from a lack of understanding the hydrogeology of the region, in particular
critical changes in groundwater levels (Stanev and Simeonova 1979). Tides are
insignificant in the Black Sea, barely reaching 10 cm, and wind effects are thus of
much greater influence.
The coast of Rumania is partly sandy and partly muddy, the greatest influence in
the latter respect being exerted by the modern fluvial muds associated with the large
delta of the Danube River. Other significant sources of mud are older shelly mud
deposits exposed along many parts of the shoreline to the south and to the north of
the delta. This coastal sector is characterized by numerous landlocked lagoons and
lakes, many of them hypersaline and extensively lined by swampy marshes
(Charlier and de Julio 1985). The same basically applies to large sections of the
Ukrainian coast to the north of the delta, including the Sea of Azov, where soft clay
and loam outcrops along the coast are subject to extensive slumping and landsliding,
in the process producing mostly muddy sediment (Shuisky and Schwartz 1980;
Shuisky 1985b).
The east coast of the Black Sea, by contrast, is mostly characterized by steep
eroding shorelines, beaches being gravelly and narrow or absent. The only exception
is found along the coast of the Georgian Republic, where submergence has produced
a vast muddy, water-logged coastal plain situated behind narrow sand barriers along
the Kolkhida shore, which is located between the Kodori, Rioni, and Supsa rivers,
and which are themselves overlying partly outcropping lacustrine clay deposits
(Zenkovich 1985a).
The south coast of the Black Sea, forming part of Turkey, is lined by high
mountain ranges in its eastern and central sections. The western section between the
town of Eregli and the entrance to the Bosporus is lined by the high-lying plateau of
the Kocaeli Peninsula. The shoreline is thus mostly rocky or gravelly. Bay-head
beaches are commonly composed of shingle and heavy-mineral sands. Muddy
environments are only found in association with barrier lagoons and marshes of the
deltas formed by the two largest Anatolian rivers, the Yesil Irmak and the Kizil
Irmak (Erol 1985). The coast of the Marmara Sea and the eastern Aegean, by contrast,
is rather more complex. Cliffed shorelines and rocky promontories alternate with
bay-head deltas which are often accompanied by muddy lagoonal marsh deposits as
in the case of the Havran at Edremit, the Gediz at Izmir, the K~i~ik Menderes and
B(iy(ik Menderes near the sites of the ancient hellenistic towns of Ephesus and Priene
(GOney 1973; Kraft et al. 1977). As in the case of the southern Black Sea coast, the
Mediterranean coast of Turkey is lined by high mountains. Coastal mud deposits are
 137

only found on the ~ukurova deltaic plain associated with the delta swamps and
marshes of the Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers in the south-eastern corner of the country
(e.g. GOney 1976). Much of this deltaic plain has been drained for agricultural use.
The general sedimentology of the Turkish coast has been reviewed by Evans (1971).
The east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, bordering the states of Syria, Lebanon
and Israel, can be neglected as far as muddy coastal deposits are concerned.
The same applies to the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, with the exception of some
lagoonal sabkha deposits in the vicinity of the Nile Delta, e.g. the muddy salt pans
east of Alexandria (Lake Maryut) and the Burullus, Manzala, and E1 Bardawil
lagoons (Levy 1977; E1-Ashry 1985).

,
25" %
RUSSIA

Danube
Delta
RUMANIA
BLACK SEA ., I( o

Burga,.
BULGARIA "'~
.J

l 400 km

TURKEY

i
!

~,.

3 5 ~-

'=~ " i" ~~'

CRETE ,~ ~ CYPRUS c-~, i

- 35"N 9 EASTERN ~ ~ l~' ~.'-"- ,"

# oo F..(-~ .....
MEDITERRANEAN SEA o~ o~ ~'x "t.
. ~" l-'J l
N;]~ -+ # ~'~.~.,
~.r 9

UUrullus L=-- Delta ~.~ ._~ o~- ~.'::t ~P~ "t

.... . ~ e Mary--..~ ' ; . ~ ' ~ : .... ~'. ( .
.... ;... :.~. .:+ ',. t

0{

Figure 16 Muddy shores along the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, the eastern
Aegean and the Black Sea.
138

2.16 The coast of the Caspian Sea (Figure 17)

The Caspian Sea lies below mean sea level and has experienced strong water level
fluctuations. After a prolonged period of emergence which converted large tracts of
former muddy shallow-water deposits into salt marshes and lagoons and landlocked
reed swamps (e.g. Leontiev 1985), the water level has risen by about 2.25 m since
1978, causing enormous problems along those coastal sections that were developed
during the extended lowstand period (e.g. Froehlich 1996).

~" , .50" '!"~X~""

i!i~" 55~
") ~.:,. ;.~ ,".,'..... ,
i'.:" "" :::~'.. " ...........
.; -. .
.-4"..- . . . ... . ~' ...~o.o.&~.~i
RUSSIA "-.~ ";:i:........ ~ -~
....-, .i~i:.!
.. ..-'-; :3~ "..
9 v oi_ "\ .... .'- ...:.-- ....

-, Delta

Delta ::::4
%9
~" .......... ." 4 5 O N -
/"" .9 ..
\ 9 "'"'..
:....."

KAZAKHSTAN
~176

CASPIAN SEA
... ~.
r

'%.

t . . . . QI

-._40~ r
%.
40 ~
Krasnovodsl z
k 9 " I,~ Bay
" ' - . & . J\.--" <) 21
.. (ura Spit I
o.
(ca. 26 m below sea level)

IRAN

t 300 km I

45" 50~ 55"

I I I

Figure 17 Muddy deposits along the coast of the Caspian Sea.

 139

Marshlands are in particular associated with the delta regions of the larger rivers
along the west and north coast of the Caspian Sea such as the Kura in Azerbaidjan,
the Sulak and Terek in Dagestan, the Volga in Russia, and the Ural in Kazakhstan.
Besides these delta regions, extensive marshlands a n d / o r tidal flats fringed by salt
marshes are found on the emerging coastal plains between the Terek and Volga,
between the Volga and the Ural, and in the large embayment to the east of the
Ural River. Due to the aridity of this region, the exposed muddy coastal plain has
given rise to the formation of clay dunes (lunettes) similar to those found in the rear
of Laguna Madre along the western Gulf of Mexico. Further south along the east
coast are the large embayments of Kara-Bogaz-Gol and Krasnovodsk Bay which are
bordered by wide tidal flats and thick salt flats.
The entire southern Iranian coast of the Caspian Sea, by comparison, is fronted by
a much narrower coastal plain which is crossed by a number of deltaic formations.
Many of these are coarse-grained. Others, such as the Sefid River delta, have muddy
lagoons and marshes. The coastal lowlands situated below sea-level are in general
characterized by silty-clayey deposits with a considerable salt content
(Andriesse 1960; Ehlers 1985).

2.17 The coasts of North-West and West Africa between the Straits of Gilbraltar
and the Bight of Biafra (Figure 18)

The west coast of Africa presents a classical case illustrating the latitudinal
transition of muddy coastal environments from temperate salt marshes, through arid
subtropical salt flats and pans (sebkhas), to tropical mangrove swamps (e.g. Guilcher
1954, 1979). The last remnants of typical temperate salt marshes (locally called merja)
occur in coast-parallel depressions in the rear of coastal dunes and aeolianites, e.g. in
the plains of Rabat and Sous, and in small tidal estuaries and lagoons as observed
between Sidi Moussa and Oualidia along the central section of the Moroccan coast
which is micro- to lower mesotidal in character (Weisrock 1985). Further south, in
Western Sahara (Saraoui), these give way to sebkha salt flats and pans, the Laasailia
Sebkha south of Cap Juby, Sebkha Amtal near Cap Barbas and the salt pans of the
Aguerguer region between Cap Barbas and Cap Blanc being good examples
(Mainguet 1985).
The Arabic term sebkha, sebkra or sabkha describes a flat, generally floodable area or
depression in which highly saline soils prevent the existence of plants.
Perthuisot (1975) distinguishes three forms:
a) paralic sebkhas associated with coastal marine environments, including ones
separated from the shore by low dune ridges such as the merja of Morocco;
b) translittoral sebkhas associated with former rias and coastal embayments which
have been filled with sediment, thereby raising the base level above mean high tide
level; and
c) limnic sebkhas associated with shallow, dessicated lakes in arid and semi-arid
regions.
140

As the nearshore shelf gets shallower and wider, as on the Arguin Bank to the
south of Cap Blanc off northern Mauritania, partly muddy intertidal flats begin to
appear. The largest ones are found in Levrier Bay, in the lee of Cap Blanc, and north
of Cape Timiris (e.g. St. Jean Bay). South of Cap Timiris the coast is characterized by
well-developed seif dunes, the interdune depressions being occupied by numerous
small and large sebkhas, e.g. Tenioubrar and Ndaghamcha Sebkra which towards the
Senegal delta become aligned parallel to the coast (Verrrleer 1985).
This coastal type continues up to Cap Vert in Senegal, being only interrupted by
the muddy swamps of the Senegal River delta. While the marsh vegetation mainly
comprises herbaceous plants, stunted mangroves (Avicennia and Rhizophora) begin to
make their appearance in larger pockets. In fact, the northernmost limit of
mangroves along the west African coast is Cap Timiris in Mauritania (ca. 19.4~
Guilcher and Nicholas 1954). In Senegal the coast-parallel interdune depressions,
which are flooded in the wet season to form swamps and shallow lakes and mud-
encrusted pans in the dry season, are known as niayes. The coast is still microtidal in
the north, but gradually increases to lower mesotidal conditions in Gambia.
To the south of Cap Vert the coastal character changes completely
(Guilcher 1985b). It marks the beginning of what has become known as the coast of
the Southern Rivers (Rivi~res du Sud) which continues past Guinea Bissau and
reaches into the Republic of Guinea and Sierra Leone. As implied by the name, the
number of rivers increases dramatically, the mouth regions now being dominated by
proliferating muddy mangrove swamps, in particular along the Sine-Saloum and
Casamance. The deposition of mud is also favoured by the relatively wide
cor,.:nental shelf which rapidly shoals to reach -10 m at a distance of 10 km from the
shore, thereby effectively reducing wave energy. Another phenomenon commonly
found in association with mangrove swamps are slightly elevated sandy mud or
muddy sand areas found along the landward margin or between neighbouring tidal
creeks of the swamps which are devoid of vegetation. These so-called tannes are only
occasionally flooded by seawater, repeated evaporation soon raising the salt content
of the soil above levels tolerated by plants. Some of these areas have been converted
into polders for the cultivation of rice.
As indicated above, the marshy and uniformly muddy shores of the Southern
Rivers also occupy the whole coast of Guinea Bissau, the Republic of Guinea, and
most of Sierra Leone (Anthony 1997). The shoreline is lower to upper mesotidal in
character, being dominated by mangrove swamps and intertidal mud flats. Anthony
(1989) distinguishes between subtidal muds, lower intertidal muds and sandy muds,
higher intertidal muds, and supratidal sandy muds. The mangroves comprise
Rhizophora racemosa, Rhizophora mangle, and Avicennia nitida or africana (Berthois
1958). On the other hand, bare tannes are less common than further north, whereas
higher-lying herbaceous tannes are more frequent. They are covered by a sparse
vegetation of halophytes. The entire coast is at present in a process of rapid evolution
(Diop 1985). Along the coast of Sierra Leone the tide is still semi-diurnal, the tidal
range gradually becoming smaller towards the east, the coast being essentially lower
mesotidal in character. The muddy mangrove swamps are extensively developed
 141

within individual estuaries and lagoons of rivers such as the Great and Little
Scarcies, the Rokel, Ribi, Shenge, Sherbro and Jong. The sediments comprise sand
bars, mud flats and gravelly channel beds (Tucker 1973). Of the mangroves R.
racemosa prefers the siltiest substrate near the low-water mark, whereas R. harrisonii
and R. mangle occur at slightly higher elevations. Avicennia nitida, by contrast, prefers
sandier soils. The individual river systems are separated by rocky or sandy
headlands and beach ridge complexes. Further north, large mangrove areas have
been cleared for rice cultivation (Scott 1985).

1 '" 9 " I ' / I ~i': . - . ~ I _~.~..,~

o" 2o'w ~0- ~ ~'.'""
....-. t o.o:'"
.... 5"~: "" i
o

L 600 km . .~... "Rabat ~l |"

.fy" MOROCCO s.,,.. ) ~,.

NORTH ATLANTIC ESous -. J'~ " -
C N ,Y t'--:L.-'-'""
, I ,~;~,
ISLANDS,
j O~o
, ' ~ ~ " "......:.. / ".,~. ALGERIA
ALGERIA

- 2 ~o /...."'~" .r- ........ ... <.

~ ~4 / r'-'~,.,, 2s,-
................ /. ".'::.~'~" ! I "~ Tro ic -- cer
Cap Barbas ~.-;? i#'- ! -'~', . . . . . . . . . . .
~.A-a.~!_._i i ".. ..
Cap Blanc ~Levrier Bay ! "\ ~"
-20" ,X: i" ""--.~ ."" ~u'-~--'l
Ca Timiri -'/ '
P t:~' Bay ! MALl LT'" "
9." t !

-15~ Vert~'._', SENEGAL ~ " ""-" . /' ....,.,.'~.l~_

...... " lr_,d

GAMB ~ : ~ , . . , ~ : . ~ r . ~ , . I ) . f'f'/ .~"~,,._ \ ~"x.~ /'- " %. . . . . % . . , ' q

GUINEA~;::,..~'- ]'4~"""ty~"~ f"/-y ~ \ _~.~/' /
-10 o BISS /
9 ::': "" "'~ % ~ -.-."" 10 ~

Sherbro I 9. ~ . ' "/'. LL,"~.

,"f IVORY COAST .// . '":-~~:!- ! ~ i muJ~ NIGERIA ~ I

-5"N "'~ ~~ /~-I

SOUTH ATLANTIC __ v('~,.%;'9Oo~~
% "e'9Oo;""~176176
~/~a" ~ ~ i
20" 15" 10~ 5" ""

Figure 18 Muddy shores along the west African coast between the Straits of
Gibraltar and the eastern Gulf of Guinea.
142

At Sherbro Island the coastal character changes once more as the shelf rapidly
narrows, now registering a depth of 100 m at 10 km distance from the shore. As a
result, the coast becomes strongly wave dominated, estuaries becoming ponded to
form sheltered lagoons in the rear of sand spits and barrier systems. Thus, whereas
the sheltered part of Sherbro Island is still dominated by mangrove swamps, the
open coast shore comprises multiple beach ridge systems (Worrell 1970). This beach
ridge or chenier system extends eastwards into Liberia, the last open coast mangrove
pocket occurring along the western shore of the Moa River some 15 km from the
border. The coastal zone of Liberia comprises sandy, wave-dominated barrier
beaches with numerous lagoons and estuaries in their shelter which are invariably
lined by muddy mangrove swamps (Stanley 1985). The mean tidal range does not
exceed 1.5 m, the coast being thus lower mesotidal in character. The largest tidal
lagoons are Lake Piso, the backwaters of the Du and Farmington Rivers, and the
lagoonal system formed by the Mechlin, St. John and Benson Rivers. Smaller lagoons
are associated with the Cestos, Sehnkwehn, Bafu, Butu, Sinoe, and Po Rivers. Several
other lagoons go unnamed (Stanley 1985).
An essentially similar situation is found along the Ivory Coast and western Ghana.
The shelf remains narrow, the wave climate severe (mostly swell), and the shoreline
steep and sandy. Lagoons such as those at the mouths of the Bandama River
(Tadio Lagoon), the Agneby/Como4 Rivers (Ebri~ Lagoon), and the Bia River
(Aby Lagoon) along the Ivory Coast are partly lined by vast muddy marshes which
are almost inaccessible to man (Hinschberger 1985). The west coast of Ghana between
the border with Ivory Coast up to Pepre Point near the town of Axim is entirely lined
by sand beaches. Landwards of these terraces are often pockets of muddy
marshlands or mangrove-lined lagoons, as the one near Newtown on the western
border, or west of Banyeri and near Esiama. East of Pepre Point the coast is mostly
rocky with sandy bays and estuary inlets interspersed, e.g. the Ochi River estuary
near Saltpond or Sakumo Lagoon near Tema. Up to three elevated sandy shoreline
terraces are recognizable along this section, the sediment containing as much as
30% of clays and silts, thus qualifying this coastal section as being "muddy" to some
extent (Dei 1972, 1985).
With the small delta of the Volta River along the east coast of Ghana the coastal
character changes once more. The delta has the typical arcuate shape produced by
strong wave action. As a result, the beaches are composed of sand, but in their rear
are extensive muddy marshlands and large sheltered lagoons, e.g. Songaw, Angaw,
Avu, Ogui, Nogui, and Keta Lagoon, to name the larger ones. Lagoons also line the
coast of Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Beginning in the west we find Lake Togo and
Anecho Lagoon in Togo, followed by the Grand Popo lagoonal system south of Lake
Ah~m~ (Guilcher 1959; Anthony et al. 1996) and Lake Nokou6 landward of Cotonou
in Benin. Extensive muddy marshes and mangrove swamps line the landward
margins of the lagoons and the leeward sides of the lakes (Guilcher 1985c). In Benin
large marsh areas have been converted into ponds for salt production (Paradis and
Adjanohoun 1974) and the associated demand for firewood has dramatically
 143

denuded the mangrove forests of this region, leaving bare marsh plains behind
which are not to be confused with the natural tannes of Guinea (Paradis 1980).
The coastal barrier-lagoon and mangrove swamp systems continue into
neighbouring Nigeria, Lake Nokou6 in Benin being connected to the Lagos and Lekki
Lagoons in Nigeria via an intricate backbarrier tidal channel system. It winds itself
through a series of parallel barrier sand ridges and extends to the western margin of
the Niger Delta at Mahin where a mud beach is found along the open coast (Ibe et al.
1989). In other places the swales between the ridges form muddy, elongated
mangrove swamps which also reach far up into the lower valleys of the Yewa, Ogun,
Oshun, and Shasha Rivers. The depositional environment of the Lagos Lagoon
region has been well described by Webb (1958) in his study of the benthic fauna.
Along the Nigerian coast the tides are diurnal with a mean range of 1 m at Lagos,
increasing to 3.0 m in the estuary of the Cross River at the eastern margin of the
Niger Delta (Usoro 1985). The Niger Delta, which has the same shape as the Volta
Delta, except on a very much larger scale, dominates the Nigerian coast by occupying
over 60% of the roughly 800 km long coastline. The entire lower delta plain is
occupied by muddy intertidal mangrove swamps (Allen 1965a). The mangroves are
of two types, the halophytic red mangrove (Rhizophora racemosa), which flanks the
estuaries and lagoons of the lower coastal plain, and Avicennia which occupies the
more distal swamps. Further landwards the mangroves are gradually replaced by
freshwater swamp vegetation. To the east of the delta the mangroves are restricted to
the margins of the Imo, Kwa, and Cross Rivers, the intervening coastal environment
being occupied by chenier strand plains, the muddy and swampy depressions
between individual beach ridges being vegetated by dense Raffia thickets
(Allen 1965b). While the coast on a whole is eroding, mangrove swamps can be seen
to expand rapidly within the delta plain.

2.18 The coasts of Central and Southern Africa between Cameroun and Somalia
(Figure 19)

In the eastern Gulf of Guinea the coastal orientation changes from an essentially
east-west alignment to a general north-south orientation. The mean tidal range in
the Bight of Biafra is around 3 m (upper mesotidal). From there it rapidly decreases
southwards to barely maintain lower mesotidal conditions (1.0-1.2 m) off Gabon.
The largest part of coastal Cameroun is lined by muddy mangrove swamps, the only
exception being the roughly 50 km section west of the capital Douala which consists
of rocky cliffs eroded into the marginal volcanic cone of Mt. Cameroun
(Schwartz1985f). The muddy mangrove-lined coast continues past Equatorial
Guinea (Rio Muni) into the northern part of Gabon up to the mouth of the Ogoou~
River and its southern lagoonal appendix (Ombou6). Thereafter the swampy
shoreline is interrupted by longer stretches of sandy beach barriers, leading to the
formation of backbarrier lagoons and lakes which are mostly associated with
extensive mangrove swamps and marshlands. Particularly good examples are
N'Dogo Lagoon, Massetche Lagoon, Mandji Lagoon and the Nyanga River estuary,
144

the swamps east of Mayumba and in the southern part of M'Banio Lagoon (Giresse
and Kouyoumontzakis 1985).
Crossing into the Congo Republic, the ponded and estuarine mangrove swamps
are associated with the Niambi River and Conkouati Lagoon in the north, followed
southwards by Noumbi River, the Kouilou-N'Tombo River and lagoon system, and
the Loeme River with Kayo Lagoon just north of the border with Cabinda (an
enclave belonging to Angola). In Cabinda there are two such systems, the lower
Cabinda River with Massembe Lagoon and the estuary of the Shiloango River. Large
and expanding m u d d y mangrove swamps are again found on both sides of the
Congo River which forms the boundary between Zaire and Angola (Eisma and
van Bennekom 1978). While the mangrove vegetation appears to be diminishing in
general along this coast, the estuaries of the Kouilou River in Gabon and especially
the Congo River in Zaire/Angola registered prolific expansion of mangrove forests
in the recent past (Moguedet 1980). Whether this trend has continued to the present
day is not known.

10" 3, 2'0. ',9 ' 4,~ ," 2o:'

% /-., o ETHIOPIA "~." SOMALIA
... ..
a~ ~., .~" -.., .... 9
,f/-"9 , .,,
~'~, ,.~.. '~

9- 4 { ? .''r '~ "-,, a'--

.-~"~ J .. ,
3" . KENYA } Equator

ZAIRE Bay
~ a z i Bay
I Pemba
Zanzibar
I Mafia Isl.

ANGOLA Cap
ZAMBIA

Baia dos Tigres,

:'" NAM'"'"
.j
'-~/
'~
:,~ ZIMBABWE
" ~.E:I " '"
~,
~..~rffarnbe$i
~ ~3,~'Z~git~
t: O, 3eira Man..qok
I~:,:.
V- " g ctj :~
. ~ ' ."I

. . . . . ,~gn-d~Tcl~r-r'~ ~.iil. . . . . ~". . . . . . . ~ , ............ .C~2r~

Conception ua' ' I t" ~1 agoa Pel
i .,','"'"
Meob Ba ' ~ii..''t }'tMan
9 k.g~ ~u~o Bay ~a Cap St. Marie
SOUTH ATLANTIC C"i .~-i st. Lucia Lag. INDIAN OCEAN
30- .~..... ~ ~o/~
Verlorevl~ v~i-" SOUTH AFRICA.:~.: L 1000 km
i
Langebaan Lag!~...:., .......:.~:...:.: " ~

Figure 19 M u d d y shores along the African coast between Cameroun in the north-
west, South Africa in the south, and Somalia in the north-east.
 145

The coastal character changes dramatically south of the Congo River which
coincides with a major climatic boundary. The coast of Angola is semi-arid to arid
and hence lacks coastal swamps, the last example being the estuary of the Congo
River. In addition, the coast is mostly rocky. Little is known about the estuaries of
rivers such as the Cuanza, Longa, Catumbela, and Cunene which probably harbour
muddy salt marsh pockets in their estuaries. Another phenomenon along the
Angolan coast is the occurrence of numerous north-facing sand spits. Some of these
are attached to the mouths of the rivers already mentioned, others are associated
with capes (Guilcher et al. 1974). Examples of the latter are Luanda Spit and
Palmeirinhas Spit near the capital Luanda, and the large spit forming Baia dos Tigres
(also called Tiger Bay or Great Fish Bay on some charts) in southern Angola. Again
there may be intertidal mud flats and supratidal salt marshes occurring along the
shores of the bays formed and protected by these spits, but little is known about
these environments. If they exist, their protection may be of high priority in order to
preserve them as stop-overs for migratory birds. Such sand spits and associated
muddy lagoonal deposits also occur along the coast of Namibia, where the mean
tidal range is barely 1 m. The major spits, spaced about 60 km apart from north to
south are situated at Walvis Bay, Sandwich Harbour, Conception Bay, and Meob Bay
(Bremner 1985). The first two still have active lagoons with intertidal flats in their lee,
whereas the lagoons of the latter two have silted up and have been converted into
muddy supratidal salt flats. In Walvis Bay, large "mud lump islands" can suddenly
appear off Pelican Point. As in the case of the Mississippi delta front, these are
formed by a process known as density-inversion, whereby high bulk-density sands
deposited above low bulk-density muds (through spit progradation in this case) sink
into the mud when the overburden becomes too great and the displaced mud
appears at the surface in the form of an ephemeral island. Such events are often
accompanied by massive releases of sulferated hydrogen, causing mass mortalities of
fish (Copenhagen 1953).
The climate along the west coast of South Africa is arid towards the north,
changing to Mediterranean towards the south-west and becoming humid subtropical
towards the north-east. The tidal range remains lower mesotidal (range 1-2 m)
throughout, the west coast experiencing temperate marine conditions due to the
upwelling regime of the cold Benguela Current (<10~ This contrasts with the
warm waters (>20~ of the east coast induced by the warm Agulhas Current.
The south coast is transitional between the two. South Africa boasts some
343 estuaries (Heydorn and Tinley 1980), most of which are small and insignificant in
the present context. Along the arid section of the west coast muddy deposits are
restricted to shallow, saline pans situated in the mouth depressions of ephemeral
rivers or intertidal salt marshes and supratidal reed swamps of estuaries associated
with perennial rivers such as the Olifants and Berg. At Elandsbay a rocky river
mouth bar has created a slightly elevated freshwater lake, Verlorevlei, which is lined
by muddy reed swamps. An important coastal wetland along the south-west coast,
characterized by extensive mud flats and salt marshes, is Langebaan Lagoon
(Day 1959; Flemming 1977). The lagoon supports a large variety of migratory birds
146

and has been proclaimed a national park. The south coast is lined by numerous
estuaries of varying size, some of which, e.g. the Bot River lagoon (Branch 1985), the
Breede River estuary (Carter 1984), Knysna Lagoon (Day 1967), the estuaries of the
Gamtoos and Sundays Rivers, as well as the Wilderness Lakes (e.g. Martin 1962), are
associated with intertidal mud flats, salt marshes or freshwater reed swamps. A
number of these are so-called "black-water" systems, i.e. estuaries discharging
freshwater enriched in humic acids and impoverished in suspended muds.
Nevertheless, even some of these, e.g. the Keurbooms River near Plettenberg Bay,
have appreciable mud flats and salt marshes in their estuarine sections. The east
coast of South Africa is subtropical (Heydorn and Flemming 1985), being lined by
numerous estuaries, lagoons and coastal lake systems (e.g. Orme 1973; Begg 1978).
Many of them are fringed by muddy salt marshes. North of 32~ the estuarine
vegetation is increasingly dominated by mangroves (e.g. Day 1981; Berjak et al.
1977). Mangrove forests are particularly extensive on the Zululand coastal plain
along the north-east coast of South Africa (MacNae 1963), e.g. the lower reaches of
rivers such as the Umkomasi, Umgeni, Tugela, Mhlatuzi, Mfolozi, and St. Lucia.
Some of the largest mangrove systems are associated with landlocked lagoons and
freshwater lakes, e.g. the upper reaches of Lake St. Lucia (Day et al. 1954),
Lake Sibaya, and Kosi Lake (e.g. Hill 1975).
The coastal plain conditions observed along the north-east coast of South Africa
continue into southern Mozambique up to 16~ just north of Antonio Enes. This
coastal sector is dominated by a number of large rivers such as the Maputo, Incomati,
Limpopo, Save, Gorongose, Buzi, Pungue and Zambezi, and landlocked lagoons or
lakes in the rear of coastal dune barriers, e.g. Lagoa Pelela (Hill et al. 1975). The rivers
carry heavy loads of suspended sediments and are thus associated with extensive
muddy mangrove swamps along their lower, estuarine reaches (e.g. Day 1974). The
tidal range increases from lower mesotidal (ca. 1.5 m) at the border with South Africa
to lower macrotidal (>5 m) at Beira. In this latter region extensive mud flats are
exposed at low tide (Tinley 1985). The coastal character changes considerably to the
north of Antonio Enes, becoming rocky with sandy embayments and mangrove-
lined estuaries. The tidal range becomes progressively smaller once more, reaching
upper mesotidal conditions at the Tanzanian border.
To the east of Mozambique we find the large island of Madagascar. There is a
sharp contrast in coastal character between the west and the east coast, the former
being generally drier, even semi-arid in the south-west (Battistini and Le Bourdiec
1985). On the other hand, the larger rivers are situated along the west coast. The tides
are lower macrotidal along the west coast, upper mesotidal along the north and
south coasts, and lower mesotidal along the east coast. The north-west coast between
Cap d'Ambre and Cap Saint Andr~ is rocky with numerous muddy, mangrove-lined
embayments into which local rivers drain (e.g. Baie de Narinda and Baie de la
Mahajambo), the northern Mahavavy, the Sambirano and the southern Mahavavy
forming swampy delta deposits (Salomon 1978). The central west coast between
Cap Saint Andr~ and the Mangoky delta is smoother, almost the entire coastline
being lined by mangroves thriving in the shelter of sandy barrier beaches, especially
 147

along the muddy delta lobes of the rivers Manambolo, Morondava, Tsiribihina, and
Mangoky. The remainder of the coast is bare of mangroves. The whole east coast of
Madagascar is lined by numerous elongate lagoons, situated in the shelter of sandy
barrier beaches and spits. Although little is known about these, muddy marsh
deposits can be expected to occur.
The coast of Tanzania is mostly rocky, comprising Quaternary beach ridges and
raised reefs. Exceptions are the estuaries and deltas of major rivers such as the
Rovuma, the Rufiji, the Ruvu, the Wami, and the Pagani. Muddy mangrove swamps
occur in the sheltered bays and estuaries of these rivers, but also along the open coast
north of the Pagani River. Similarly, most of the islands along the coast (e.g. Mafia,
Zanzibar, and Pemba) have flat, swampy valleys along their western shores
(Alexander 1985). The coast is upper mesotidal in the south, increasing to lower
macrotidal in its central reaches, before decreasing again in range towards the north.
The open coast mangrove swamps of northern Tanzania continue into southern
Kenya, where they extend intermittently up to Gazi Bay (Ojany 1985). This
embayment has received some attention for economic reasons, being a focal point for
the local lobster industry (e.g. Okechi and Polovina 1995). With the exception of
marshy lagoons and inlet systems such as the backwaters of Mombasa, Kilifi, and
Watamu, the coast then remains sandy up to Ras Ngomeni (3~ The mean tidal
range varies from 2.5-3.6 m, being essentially upper mesotidal in character. North of
Ras Ngomeni the open coast or the lowlands in the rear of barrier beaches remain
swampy up to Kiunga which is situated some 10 km south of the border with
Somalia. Of particular interest are the large swamps along Ungwana Bay, where the
mangrove vegetation near the shore gradually gives way to extensive Papyrus
swamps further inland. Further north the coast becomes very irregular with
numerous islands (e.g. Lamu, Manda, and Pate Island) and bays (e.g. Lamu, Manda,
and Ndau Bay) which are invariably fringed by mangrove swamps.
To the north of Kenya the coastal character changes once more as the climate
becomes increasingly more arid. Along the coast of Somalia the tidal range is lower
mesotidal to lower macrotidal. Between Ras Jumbo on the border with Kenya to the
Juba River mouth the coast is traversed by a number of seasonal streams which
commonly support pockets of mangrove vegetation in their estuaries. In many cases
the mangroves have severely suffered from woodcutting. North of the Juba River
mouth the coast is initially sandy, becoming rocky north of Ras Illigh. Small pockets
of mangroves can be found in the shelter of Ras Hafun on the north-east coast and at
Ras Alula, Boosaaso, Laas Qoray, Ras Khaanziir, and at Seylac near the border with
Djibouti on the north coast (Orme 1985b).

2.19 The coasts of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Western Arabian Sea and the
Arabian Gulf (Figure 20)

Little is known about the regional character of the coast bordering the Red Sea,
large parts being difficult to access from land. The coast is microtidal, the climate arid
and hot. It is very likely that salt flats (sabkhas) and small pockets of muddy shores,
148

sometimes associated with mangroves, m a y be found. Along the coast of southern

Arabia m e a n tidal ranges increase to create lower mesotidal conditions (Bird 1985c).
At Khawr a m Umayrah, between Cape Bab-el M a n d a b and Aden, a sand spit has
created a sheltered lagoon in which wide m u d flats are exposed at low tide. M u d d y
s w a m p s lined with mangroves are found in the m o u t h region of the Wadi Masilah,
whereas a broad sabkha fringes the H i k m a n Peninsula situated in the lee of
Masira Island. Small lagoons with m u d d y salt marshes occur along the shore of the
Batina coastal plain north-west of Muscat. On Socotra, m u d d y mangrove pockets are
found in a tidal lagoon near Ras Shoab on the western tip and in some small bays
along the north coast.

..,, i .~' "

.-;,~0~....
.~.IRAQ , \ Sur el R u d 55~
::." "~ ; ",. ,,. ~ \ .:...'...
\ i ,,"> "~ ",,.' E'unh,~Z~,-
uphrate t 500 km I

~:. ;i ~.~.:.9 -~ ""'~ " ." ..~11~ ."

" % . ~ ........~' ~ /.' Y , ~ , ' .~ " IRAN:
:"..~...
G'&'r@~t~: Ras Naband .. Bandar Abbas
"":. : Strait of
":. , -,,.~.:..Hormuz
:.'. SAUDI ARABIA :':: ~,~.'r~ ~_. :i.....:.::~
".". " Q A T A R
... 25" " ,..
;
EGYPT ' ~..,
"'"l
,.
. . . . . . . . .
.d.
.# ..,

, F ..... " Y :'~;'k i!. i :.j~!

," ):-
'~"
~..~::.:.."':"... i
i@ ~asira
-- 20" -"..:,, % "!!:.2. ..~" 2o,-
Port Sudan" "T'"'" O .. .:
o . ~ ~ ,,. o .,- ~ " ~
"':..:. ./ ', _..~
.s.
SUDAN (,o~" 0 ,-.... S ~. :J cO~,~

!
:~'.'..
,, ".....!.i " " ~" ...... ./" .'.~ ~,

.,
I
%
"'.'::....~
te
...,"'..:. ~." ::~
__ 15~ ~.g.,f.,.... :'(:. YEMEN 9: " ~ a s i l a h 15 --
9, ~ ~ ~ '~i ' .....
. . ....... .-:'~;"
9 "x ~ :-.. ~,~ .:: . . . . - . .
,,. ~.?" ~ ~- ,-,,.,,~,, Socotra
t" ~ "~ ab el o o ~ A , , , , ~ . . _ " "~'
i .. ~ a n O e ~
.i ETHIOPIA L~: ;~'-1:...~
~. "':'-'.'. . . . . . . R a s Hafun
I
- -1 0" / 35" 40"E ,. SOMALIA 5 55" 10-
i I i , ",-.,~ ~;?[ I

Figure 20 M u d d y shores along the coast of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the
Western Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.

Entering the Persian Gulf, conditions favourable for the formation of m u d d y

shores increase significantly. In a clock-wise direction the spring tidal range initially
decreases from 1.8 m at the M u s a n d a m Peninsula, which forms the southern shore of
 149

the Strait of Hormuz, to 0.9 m at Dubai, before increasing to 1.5 m at the Qatar
Peninsula (Drew 1985). From there the mean tidal range increases gradually to reach
3 m at the entrance to the Shatt el Arab and 4 m at the delta of the Zuhr eh Rud along
the Iranian coast at the head of the gulf. As far as m u d d y shores are concerned, the
depositional sequence observed at Abu Dhabi (Schneider 1985), partly based on the
geological and stratigraphic account of Evans et al. (1969) and Purser and Evans
(1973), may be regarded as typical for the entire south-west coast of the Arabian Gulf.
It includes lower intertidal flats composed of lime mud, faecal pellets and mangrove
swamps, upper intertidal flats with widespread occurrences of algal mats
(e.g. Kendall and Skipwith 1968), and dolomitic supratidal sabkhas (e.g. Bathurst
1971). Thus, between the Masandam Peninsula and Ras Granada a series of sand
spits, which have partly evolved into barrier islands as found near U m m al Qaiwah,
shelter lagoons dominated by carbonate muds. From Ras Granada to just east of the
Qatar Peninsula the coast is dominated by sabkhas. Besides sandy sabkhas,
argillaceous sabkhas are also common. The m u d is calcareous, being produced by
algae and other marine organisms. It forms a wet, soft, and sticky mass with a low
bearing strength.
The coast of Saudi Arabia is low-lying, exposing extensive sandy and m u d d y
intertidal flats at low tide. Equally large supratidal sabkhas are formed by
evaporating sea water driven far inland by storm-elevated water levels. This coastal
type continues into Kuwait and is subsequently displaced by the large deltaic
swamps and m u d d y marshes of the combined Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun Rivers.
The northern Gulf coast of Iran initially remains flat, being characterized by the
m u d d y swamps and marshes of the Zuhr eh Rud delta. Clay flats and marshy plains
also occur around the delta of the Hilleh Rud north of Bushire and at Ras Naband
further south. At the entrance to the Gulf of Oman, finally, m u d d y shores are
associated with numerous wadi mouths, where sand spits form sheltered lagoons in
the large embayment of Bandar Abbas (Sanlaville 1985).

2.20 The coasts of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh (Figure 21)

The coast of Pakistan is dominated by microtidal conditions in the west, the mean
tidal range increasing slightly towards the east, and lower mesotidal conditions
southeast of Karachi off the Indus Delta (Snead 1985a). Most of the coast has been
prograding for the past millennia, as documented by ancient seaports today situated
over 30 km inland (Dales 1962; Snead 1963). Near the Iranian border in the west the
mouth region of the Dasht River is formed by a m u d d y coastal-plain swamp. Further
east along the Makran Coastal Region a number of m u d d y coastal lagoons are
encountered, the largest one being Kalmat Khor some 50 km west of Ormara. Large
m u d d y tidal flats and mangrove swamps, comprising trees of Rhizophora conjugata
and Avicennia alba (Snead and Tasnif 1966), are found along the shores of Miani
Lagoon, situated between Ras Malan and Ras Muari. The Las Bela Coastal Plain in
Baluchistan is also renown for the occurrence of m u d volcanoes (Snead 1964). The
largest one of these, the Chandragup, forms an almost perfect cone 58 m high. These
150

cones are associated with strike-slip faulting of Tertiary rocks, occurring where
plastic clays overlain by heavier silts and clays extrude in the form of viscous muds.
At Karachi a 15 km long sand spit connected to the rocky headland (Manora)
shelters a shallow lagoon in which former muddy tidal flats have either been
transformed into salt ponds (salinas) or have been reclaimed for human settlement.
To the south-east of Karachi the Indus River has created a large delta. In the
northern, presently inactive delta section tidal channels and mud flats are situated in
the lee of sandy barrier bars, whereas open-coast mud flats characterize the active
delta further south. Towards the border with India, the delta merges with the Rann
of Kutch which forms a vast muddy salt-marsh swamp (e.g. Cori Creek) and which
harbours only a few small pockets of mangrove shrubs (Ahmad 1985).

i PAKISTAN , ~ / ~ . zi:)'r" "-" Sb; ",, 90"E

.J . /~.
9. . . . "
s" k. " "".
N ,.,_ , . L / ~ " ~
9 "~,

(..) t. "~. I ,,itr~

j o,=, ..-

\
', i

~(3tI Tropicof Cancer

Got~
e,~\',

20" INDIA
G ~ o~" 20"
Bombay
Ohi/ke

ARABIAN

SEA
BAY OF
::~PulicatLake BENGAL
Mangalore~.. ')i,ilMadras

=(
IO'N .z'".
0
rnb~r~d lO-

~'- 500 km

";.. G~' ~\~ v~.,o~LANKA~~..~g"

d."..:.
_
70" "":: ~; 8.0" 90;E

Figure 21 Muddy shores along the coasts of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh.
 151

The major part of the Rann of Kutch is situated on the Indian side of the border,
the marshy coastline extending into the inner parts of the Gulf of Kutch which forms
the northern margin of the Kathiawar Peninsula. The tidal range continues to
increase, reaching upper macrotidal amplitudes in the inner Gulf of Khambhat (or
Cambay) with 10.7 m at spring tide (Ahmad 1985). As a consequence, the coast is
lined by extensive mud flats that are backed by salt marshes and mangrove swamps.
South of the Gulf the coastline is characterized by sandy barrier beaches, the mean
tidal range progressively decreasing to reach lower macrotidal conditions at Bombay
(4.6 m at spring tide) and eventually microtidal conditions along the south-west coast
(e.g. 0.9 m at Cochin). This coastal section is backed by the Western Ghats mountain
range draining numerous short rivers which carry a high suspended sediment load
during the wet summer monsoon season. Some of this sediment is trapped in the
numerous estuaries and lagoonal backwaters (e.g. Vambanad Lake near Cochin)
which are often intricately interlinked behind the barrier beaches and spits
(e.g. Qasim and Gupta 1981; Sajan et al. 1992; Kunte 1995). Most of the suspended
sediment, however, is flushed into the adjacent sea, where it appears to form the
source for local mudbanks, a peculiar phenomenon observed along the south-west
coast of the subcontinent. A large volume of literature has emanated from studies
concerning themselves with these mudbanks (e.g. Bristow 1938; Nair et al. 1966;
Varma and Kurup 1969; Gopinathan and Qasim 1974; Kurup 1977; Murty et al. 1984;
Mallik et al. 1988; Ramachandran 1989; Mathew et al. 1995; Mathew and Baba 1995;
Faas 1995; Jiang and Mehta 1995, 1996; Li and Parchure 1998). The nearshore mud
deposits appear to be fluidized by waves and subsequently transported towards the
coast during the high wave-energy monsoon season to form localized shore-attached
mudbanks. During the subsequent low-energy season the mudbanks move offshore,
their own mass being the driving mechanism. The mudbanks along the south-west
coast of India resemble those observed off Guiana (north-eastern South America), the
main distinction being a different hydrodynamic regime.
Muddy shores also abound along the east coast of India. In contrast to the west
coast major rivers discharge into the Bay of Bengal, several of them, e.g. the Cauvery,
the Krishna, the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Brahmani, and the Ganges, forming
large river deltas (e.g. Sambasiva Rao and Vaidyanadhan 1979). The low coastal plain
between the deltas is characterized by numerous estuaries and coastal lagoons such
as Pulicat Lake north of Madras and Chilka Lake just south of the Mahandi delta.
The tidal range increases progressively northwards from microtidal at the southern
tip of India to lower macrotidal off Bangladesh, before declining to upper mesotidal
conditions off north-west Burma.
The coast of Bangladesh can be divided into four physiographic units:
the Sundarbans in the west, the cleared Sundarbans and the Meghna delta region in
the centre, and the Chittagong coast in the east (Snead 1985b). With the exception of
the southern portion of the Chittagong coast, the shores of Bangladesh consist of
muddy mangrove swamps or salt marshes. The Sundarbans comprise dense
mangrove and nipa palm swamps which extend from the Hooghly River in India
(a distributary channel of the Ganges) eastwards to the Tetulia River (a distributary
152

of the lower Ganges/Brahmaputra or Meghna River). The swamp covers an area of

about 6,000 km 2 and represents an abandoned Ganges river delta. The forests
originally extended much further inland beyond Khulna (Rainey 1891), but are now
confined to the southern parts of the district. The swamp vegetation mainly consists
of mangroves (Rhizophora), nipa palms (Phoenix paludosa), and sundri trees (Heritiera
littoralis) (Ahmad and Khan 1959). The coast is mostly accretionary due to the large
sediment supply, although rapid subsidence appears to compensate progradation,
thus creating a dynamic equilibrium as suggested by a comparison of the coastline
with the old charts of Rennell (1781). This, however, can not always have been the
case as documented by the existence of old beach ridge systems in the western
Sundarban region (Fergusson 1863). In the east, i.e. in the Barisal and Patuakhali
districts, the Sundarban forests have been cleared to make way for farmland (mainly
paddy rice). Mangroves are now restricted to a narrow coastal fringe. Still further
east we find the active delta, being fed by the main trunk of the combined Ganges,
Brahmaputra, and Meghan rivers. This part extends eastwards up to the Feni River
and mostly lacks higher vegetation, instead consisting of sandy and muddy tidal flats
and shoals undergoing rapid change. At the Feni River the shoreline swings
southwards into the Chittagong coast. Due to the relatively high tidal range the
northern part of this coastal sector comprises partly sand-covered intertidal mud
flats that continue some distance into local estuaries.
The entire coast of Sri Lanka, an island republic situated south-east of India, is
microtidal. Tidal flats, salt marshes and mangrove swamps (Arulchelvam 1968) occur
in sheltered lagoons and estuaries along the whole coast, being particularly
prominent along the wave-protected coasts of Palk Bay (e.g. Jaffna Lagoon) and the
Gulf of Mannar (e.g. Puttalam Lagoon situated in the lee of Kalpitiya Peninsula) in
the north-west of the island (Swan 1985). From the Kalpitiya peninsula to the capital
city of Colombo the coast is characterized by barrier beaches backed by muddy
lagoons and swamps. Ill-drained coastal lowlands and estuarine lagoons protected
by barrier beaches characterize most of the east coast of Sri Lanka. Many of the
lagoons are interconnected, e.g. the Batticaloa Lagoon system, Vandeloos Bay, and
Koddiyar Bay.

2.21 The coasts of South-East Asia, the Indonesian and Philippine Archipelagos,
and Papua New Guinea (Figure 22)

The north coast of Burma is characterized by upper mesotidal conditions with a

mean range of 2.5 m. The tidal range then progressively increases southwards to
reach lower macrotidal conditions (5.5 m) in the distributary channels of the
Irrawaddy Delta and upper macrotidal conditions (>6 m) in the inner Gulf of
Martaban, where the Sittang River forms a wide estuarine funnel. Extensive
mangrove swamps occur around river mouths, especially in the coastal sector
between the Kaladan River near Sittwe (Akyab) and the Sandoway River mouth
300 km further south. River discharge, enhanced by human-induced soil erosion, has
augmented the formation of substantial mangrove-fringed intertidal mud and sand
 153

flats in sheltered locations. Mud volcanoes forming temporary islands are common
in the offshore, good examples being found in Cheduba Strait (Bird 1985d).
The central coastal reach of Burma is dominated by the Irrawaddy Delta and the
Sittang River estuary. About 5,000 km 2 or 15% of the delta comprises intertidal mud
flats and mangrove swamps, the shoreline prograding by up to 60 m / y e a r
(Volker 1966). The organic content of the m u d d y sediments is locally amplified by
the incorporation of large mats of water weed. South of Moulmein the tidal range
decreases again to reach lower mesotidal conditions at the border with Thailand.
Along this coast numerous small estuaries harbour pockets of m u d d y mangrove
swamps. Siltation and subsequent expansion of the mangrove swamps and saline
marshes has probably been amplified by mining activities in the hinterland, but this
influence is at present not well documented.
The coastline of Thailand is divided between a west coast bordering the Andaman
Sea and an east coast bordering the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. About
one third (ca. 862 km) of the total length of the coast (ca. 2,557 km) is occupied by
mud flats and muddy mangrove swamps. Roughly 56% or 480 km of these m u d d y
shores are situated along the west coast facing the Andaman Sea. The remainder is
distributed along the east coast, i.e. about 12% or 104 km along the Eastern
Peninsula, 19.5% or 168 km along the head of the Gulf of Thailand, and 12.8% or
110 km along the north-east coast (Pitman 1985). In terms of area the mangrove
forests of Thailand occupy 1,620 km 2, of which 875 km 2 fringe the Andaman Sea coast
(Watson 1928). The mangroves and associated vegetation have been
comprehensively described by Banijbatana (1957). Here the tidal range varies from
1.9 m (lower mesotidal) in the north, through 2.7 m (upper mesotidal) in the centre,
to 1.9 m (lower mesotidal) at the border with Malaysia in the south. Sediment influx
from local rivers is low along the entire west coast, yet mud flats and mangrove
swamps occupy over half of the shoreline (e.g. Wattayakorn et al. 1990). The swamps
can extend up to 10 km inland along estuarine tidal channels which are flanked by
steep m u d embankments. They reach their maximum extent between Phuket and
Krabi along the central coastal sector. The swamp muds can be up to 5 m deep. As in
the case of Burma, the mangrove systems of western Thailand have not remained
unaffected by mining activities (Aksornkoae 1986).
Along the east coast of Thailand muddy shores and mangrove swamps are less
continuous (e.g. Poovachinaranon and Chansang 1982), being concentrated in the
delta of the Pattani River in the south, on the coastal plain between Songkhla and
Nakhon Si Thammarat which is characterized by a number of brakish-water lagoons,
along the Ao Ban Don embayment north of Surat Thani, along the coast between
Lang Suan and Chumpon, intermittently between Prachuap Khiri Khan and
Hua Hin, along the entire north coast of the Gulf of Thailand south of Bangkok, and
along the north-east coast between Klaeng and Trat. The active intertidal mud flats
and mangrove forests along the delta plain south of Bangkok cover an area of
990km 2, subtidal mud flats occupying another 3,700 km 2, the m u d being
predominantly composed of greyish-green clays. Large mangrove areas south of
Bangkok have been cleared and converted into salt pans and shrimp ponds.
154

In peninsular Malaysia the proportion of the coast occupied by muddy mangrove

swamps reaches 47% (Teh 1985). As in the case of Thailand, the coast is divided
between a west coast facing the Strait of Malacca and an east coast bordering in the
South China Sea. The tidal range is generally low, ranging from lower mesotidal
(1.9 m) along the north-west coast to microtidal (0.8 m) along the north-east coast.
Almost the entire west coast is occupied by m u d d y mangrove swamps
(e.g. Ong et al. 1980, 1991), whereas along the east coast the mangrove environment
is restricted to sheltered estuaries and the distributaries of the Kelantan River delta
(Koopmans 1964; Coleman et al. 1970). Along undisturbed and actively prograding
shorelines the mangrove succession commences with Avicennia marina along the
open coast, followed landwards by Bruguiera cylindrica and Rizophora mucronata.
Along estuaries the dominant species is Rizophora apiculata, whereas Avicennia alba
prefers the sandier soils of chenier ridges. Large areas along the landward margins of
mangrove forests have been cleared for agricultural use (e.g. Ong 1982) and
uncontrolled felling has locally initiated or accelerated coastal erosion which, in turn,
called for preventive measures to combat coastal erosion (e.g. Midun and Lee 1989).
Mud flats and mangroves also occur on both the west and the east coast of
Penang Island which is located along the north-west coast. Along the state coast of
Perak evidence has been found that early Holocene mangrove forests were drowned
by the rising sea, to be recolonized after sea-level stillstand in mid-Holocene times,
followed by a minor recession in the late Holocene (Foo et al. 1977). Since 1881 the
seaward advance has been estimated at 12.5 m / y e a r (Koopmans 1964).
I'-."-, \ N"' P-'' ." -' --. '- . . : '/~ /" q' , o i , 9
' -~" I
,,'o. c.,,,,, , ...S~?.~ i' " ~3o.E
I " I
,,,o-' '~ I
~ ,o~ ~0%.,.- F'- ""~;
i=lnen .. ':: PACIRC OCEAN "
Luzon I '.' Madana
I

~" ~.'. : i ~ " islands

aenaa~'(... ' ! "
Bay~ib PHILIPPINES ; . . . . i
t
' Andaman o**~-:. 1: 'nJ.~;
9 Sea t .'.'~
D

B R U N E ~ ; ] ~ .- ~ " ' ~ " ";'*" ! ". Caroline ~

,~-:!~ Calebes
Sea
= '.. '. .
..
Islands
~\
_~.pRNEE._.'~__f ~ _ _ _~T~_ _ _E~,_to,__ :"_-_-_..,=.. . . . X.. . . . . . . .

l 10"S
o.... ~alua Sea
, . i, NEw"
j ~. i 1
L i000 km J " " " ;v " "': ~\-' " "'"i

_ I , , !. I ; I
Figure 22 Muddy shores of South-East Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua
New Guinea.
 155

The southern tip of the Malaysian Peninsula breaks up into numerous islands, of
which a larger one and some fifty smaller ones form the Republic of Singapore and
the remainder belong to Indonesia. Mangroves once dominated this island coast
(Swan 1971), but they have with few exceptions been eliminated by the construction
of seawalls, bulkheads and revetments, especially over the last 25 years (Wong 1985).
The last remnants are found along the coast at Lim Chu Kang in the north-west and
the estuaries of the Sungei Seletar, Sungei Punggol, and Sungei Serangoon on the
north-east coast of the main island.
The coast of Kampuchea (formerly Cambodia) is not well known. With tidal
ranges well below 1 m the coast is microtidal in character. Muddy mangrove-lined
shores are essentially restricted to three major areas (e.g. Bird 1985h): a series of
estuaries south of the Klong Klun River near the Thai border, along the Bay of
Kompong Som in the central region, and to a number of estuaries located east of the
R6am peninsula. A little further east, across the border with Vietnam, the large delta
of the Mekong River is located. Together with a number of smaller estuaries
adjoining the delta to the north-east, this coastal section is extensively fringed by
mud flats and mangrove swamps (Eisma 1985). From the microtidal coast of
Kampuchea the tidal range increases at first to upper mesotidal conditions in
southern Vietnam, becoming lower mesotidal off the east coast, before increasing
again to reach lower macrotidal conditions along the north coast of the Gulf of
Tongking. The east coast of Vietnam is mostly rocky and steep, muddy shore
deposits being restricted to estuaries and coastal lagoons. The north-east coast, in
turn, is dominated by the actively prograding delta of the Song Hong river
(100 m/year). It is lined by wide intertidal mud flats backed by supratidal clay flats
which have been protected by low dikes since the 11th century. Mangroves are again
found in association with mud flats in sheltered locations north-east of the delta
towards the border with China.
Indonesia consists of some 13,700 islands and a total coastline of over 60,000 km
(Bird 1985e). With the exception of some detailed local studies, little or nothing is
known about this coast. This review concentrates on such local studies which are
generally restricted to the larger islands. The tides vary strongly on a geographic
scale, ranging from microtidal to lower macrotidal. Large coastal tracts are occupied
by muddy mangrove swamps, at least 50 mangrove species having been identified so
far. Preferential locations include the north-east shores of Sumatra and Java, the
estuaries of Kalimantan (Borneo), and the south-western shore of Irian Jaya (western
New Guinea). Along the densely populated north coast of Java the mangroves have
been largely cleared to make way for fish ponds (Bird 1985e).
On the island of Sumatra all major rivers drain to the north-east and the wide,
actively prograding coastal plain has been constructed by a number of large deltas
such as that of the Pusangan in the far north, the Indragari and Batanghari in the
central region, and the Musi in the south. Other rivers end in large tidal estuaries.
Very little is known about this coast, other than that vast m u d d y mangrove swamps
dominate the coast.
156

Java, by contrast, has received far more attention. It is also the most densely
populated island of Indonesia. Again the drainage of the numerous silt-laden rivers
is predominantly towards the north. Although the formerly continuous mangrove
fringe along the north coast has been largely destroyed, the composition of the
coastal plain sediments has (of course) remained muddy. The delta of the Citarum
River, which progrades into Djakarta Bay, is actually a composite delta system
constructed by the confluence of the Citarum, Cipunegara, Cimanuk, and a number
of smaller rivers (Hehanussa 1975). Similar studies were carried out on the smaller
deltas of the Bangkaderas, Bosok, Pemali, Comal, and Bodri rivers further east by
HollerwOger (1964), who recognized an acceleration of delta growth after 1920 due to
an increase in sediment yield caused by deforestation in the hinterland. Perhaps the
most detailed modern studies on the sedimentation and dynamics of local rivers
were carried out by Hoekstra (1988, 1989a, 1989b), Hoekstra and Tiktanata (1988),
and Hoekstra et al. (1988), who concentrated their efforts on the deltas of the Solo,
Porong, and Brantas rivers in East Java. All of these deltas are associated with
intertidal mud flats and muddy mangrove swamps. The south coast of Java is mostly
rocky, but an extensive muddy mangrove swamp, intersected by numerous tidal
channels and creeks, lines the shallow estuarine lagoon of Segara Anakan near
Cilacap. The large influx of silt supplied by the Citanduy River is gradually infilling
the lagoon and thus promotes the expansion of the mangrove forest.
On Kalimantan (Borneo) the sedimentary character of the coastline is largely
unknown. The only exception is the actively prograding delta of the Mahakam River
on the east coast of Kalimantan. The mean tidal range in this region is 1.2 m,
increasing to 3 m at spring tide. Attention focused on this delta because it was
thought to represent an excellent modern analogue for oil exploration (Magnier et al.
1975). The Mahakam delta is fronted by intertidal mud flats and its distributary
channels are extensively lined by muddy mangrove swamps, the total area of
wetlands amounting to approximately 2,000 km 2. Muds and clays are distributed
throughout the system in various depositional environments (Allen et al. 1977, 1979).
The incorporation of phytoclasts in the sedimentary sequences has been studied by
Gastaldo and Huc (1992), whereas the tidal influence on sedimentation has been
dealt with by Gastaldo et al. (1995). Muddy coastal mangrove swamps are also
associated with the deltas and estuaries of numerous rivers along the south-western
(e.g the Kapuas, Pembuang, Sampit, and Barito) and the north-eastern shoreline
(e.g. the Sembakung, Sesayap, and Kayan).
The coast of Sulawesi (Celebes) is mainly steep and rocky, muddy mangrove
swamps occurring where a narrow coastal plain has been able to develop. Similarly,
a broad, mangrove-fringed tidal embayment in the shelter of sand spits and barrier
islands is found near Sanur on the island of Bali. The same applies to the coast of
Irian Jaya (western New Guinea) and Papua New Guinea (Milliman 1995). While the
north coast is generally steep, local rivers have nevertheless been able to build deltas
and beach-ridge plains in some places. These are invariably lined by muddy
mangrove swamps as, for example, observed in the Memberamo Delta (Bird 1985e).
Almost the whole south coast of Irian Jaya is occupied by lowland swamps
 157

associated with muddy estuaries, e.g. along the lower courses of the Digul, Mapi,
and Pulau rivers. The mean tidal amplitudes range from microtidal (<1 m) along the
north-east coast to lower macrotidal along the south-east coast. The coastline of
Papua New Guinea is in many respects similar to that of neighbouring Irian Jaya.
The tidal amplitudes are mostly microtidal, reaching macrotidal conditions only in
the Fly River delta. In areas of Holocene progradation the coastal plain is composed
of silt and clay with extensive mangrove swamps. Along the north coast, a narrow
coastal plain with beach ridges is backed by swamps. Where the beach ridges are
breached, coastal lagoons fringed by mangrove swamps have developed, e.g. Sissano
Lagoon. Many of the small and sheltered rocky embayments are lined by muddy
mangrove swamps. Of the larger rivers only the Sepik, located along the north coast,
has constructed a large protruding delta. Along the Gulf of Papua on the south coast
the main rivers (e.g. the Fly, Wawoi, Turama, Kikori, Purari) open into estuarine
channels between which extensive mangrove swamps, backed by nipa palms, are
found (Irion 1983; Thom and Wright 1983; Pickup 1984; Wolanski et al. 1992;
Alongi 1991; Alongi et al. 1992; Harris et al. 1993; Baker et al. 1995; Wolanski and
Gibbs 1995).
Like Indonesia, the Philippine archipelago consists of thousands of islands, most
of them small and virtually unknown. The tidal range varies from lower mesotidal to
upper mesotidal amplitudes. Mangroves form extensive muddy forest swamps in
numerous sheltered locations. The mangroves used to occupy an area of well over
2,500 km 2. However, more than half of this area has been cleared for the construction
of fish ponds which today occupy some 1,760 km 2 (Juliano et al. 1982). Subsequent
soil erosion has accelerated siltation of estuaries and deltas in many places,
Manila Bay with its wide mud flats being a good example.

2.22 The coasts of Australia and the Island of Tasmania (Figure 23)

Numerous estuaries, barrier lagoons and swamps characterized by intertidal mud

flats, salt marshes, mangrove forests and other wetlands are found along the
Australian coast. The geomorphology and geographic distribution of Australian
coastal barriers and estuaries are summarized by Jennings and Bird (1967),
Bird (1967a, 1973), and Thorn et al. (1984), while ecological aspects were the subject of
a review by Bayly (1975). Furthermore, hydrological, geochemical and ecological
aspects of mangrove swamps have received substantial attention in Australia
(e.g. Wolanski et al. 1980; Wolanski and Gardiner 1981; Clough 1982; Hutchings and
Saenger 1987) and a concise inventory of marine and estuarine reserves has been
edited by Ivanovici (1984).
Beginning on the east coast of Victoria and proceeding in a clockwise direction,
the first muddy coastal environments are associated with a number of microtidal
estuaries such as those of the Cann, the Bemm, and the Snowy River (Bird 1985f).
Next in line are the Gippsland Lakes located in the rear of Ninety Mile Beach
(Bird 1965, 1967b, 1983; Thom 1984). Since 1889, when an artificial inlet was
constructed, these lakes were converted into brakish water lagoons, with former reed
158

swamps having been replaced by salt marsh vegetation. The first large estuarine
embayment of Victoria is Corner Inlet, situated on the eastern side of Wilsons
Promontory (Zhuang and Chappell 1991). Corner Inlet is a shallow marine basin
lined by mud flats, seagrass beds, salt marshes and mangrove swamps, Avicennia
marina being the only mangrove occurring so far south. In fact, Corner Inlet marks
the southernmost occurrence of mangroves anywhere in the world (precisely at
38~ The tidal range attains 2.7 m at spring tide. Some distance further west, in
the lee of Cape Patterson, the Tarwin River flows into Venus Bay through
Anderson's Inlet. The estuary is lined by muddy mangrove belts and salt marshes
which are today dominated by the recently introduced Spartina grass. The spring
tidal range is 2.1 m. The west of Venus Bay is Westernport Bay, the second large tidal
basin found along the coast of Victoria. The inner parts of this upper mesotidal
environment are lined by broad mud flats, salt marshes and mangroves. Finally,
Port Phillip Bay, at the head of which the city of Melbourne is situated, displays some
mud flats and salt marshes near the entrance and in particular on so-called
Mud Island which is located near the bay mouth.
I I
~ s~.p, ,3o- ,~,,~'~'0-~'~*'o" 1 40 ~ ~-r "~:'.',. ':-'~ 150 "$
Cape.,.....G).$=)York~~.'":...~%.
t~) ~.;q,.lO~
O*S
" " ~\~o~
GULF OF
CARPENTARIA ',~,. CORALSEA
INDIAN OCEAN
~ooktown
~..~
"-Z':" ~,'o . NORTHERN ! '":'":.- N '~ :9 .' ..--
)"'
:.." ~i TERRITORY .! "'~%" ~",ali,ax B'ay

) -_! Tropic of Capricorn L QUEENSLAND ':~

";e"
Bay
WESTERN 1~
AUSTRALIA .i....................................;............!
' SOUTH
! !.........
~'..'... AUSTRALIA
i
~ y e n a r d 9 t l
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NEW SO~
peel Port Macquarie
La~,e prq GREAT
AUSTRALIAN (Botany Bay)
BIGHT

TASMAN SEA
L 1000 km j ~o," ,e7 ~-~o~,,o,o,-~,
--A~~ Macquane PTASMANIA
Harbour ~/larion Bay
-~'~0 120 130~ 140~ 150, 160o

Figure 23 M u d d y shores a|ong the coast of Australia and Tasmania.

 159

Just across the border into South Australia muddy salt marsh swamps of limited
extent occur along the shores of a string of small coastal lagoons (Lake George, Lake
St. Clair, and Lake Eliza) located between two calcarenite ridges between Rivoli Bay
and Guichen Bay. In the Coorong barrier system narrow salt marsh belts are
associated with carbonate muds in an evaporitic environment (Von der Borch 1976;
Warren 1990). Similar environments are found in shallow, ephemeral saline lakes or
pans along the coast, e.g. Marion Lake at the tip of Yorke Peninsula (Bolton 1975;
Von der Borch et al. 1977; Warren 1982).
More extensive intertidal mud flats and supratidal swamps are found along the
shores of St. Vincent Gulf and Spencer Gulf which are separated by Yorke Peninsula.
In St. Vincent Gulf detailed investigations of the intertidal sedimentology have been
carried out in the vicinity of Port Wakefield and St. Kilda by Belperio (1984, 1985a,
1985b), at Port Gawler by Cann and Gostin (1985), and along the north-eastern Gulf
by Belperio et. al. (1986). The intertidal ecology and mangrove development of the
area has been dealt with by Womersley and Thomas (1976) and Burton (1982). In
Spencer Gulf detailed studies have been mainly concentrated on the northern Gulf
region, e.g. on temperate carbonate deposition (Burne and Colwell 1982), the delta of
the Broughton River (Murray-Wallace 1984), on coastal carbonate banks and
Quaternary sediments (Belperio et al. 1984a, 1984b), and the general sedimentary
framework (Gostin et al. 1984). Other west coast embayments such as Tourville Bay
and Stenhouse Bay have been studied by Lablack (1985), and Olliver and Warren
(1976). An excellent overview is presented in Belperio et al. (1988).
Western Australia has the longest shoreline of the Australian states, stetching from
the arid south to the tropical north (Woods et al. 1985). Along the south coast the
mean tidal range is >1 m (microtidal), but increases progressively to macrotidal
conditions along the north coast. Along the Eucla Coast in the south-east there are no
rivers to speak of and the occurrence of muddy sediments is restricted to a few salt
pans in the rear of coastal dune belts. The situation changes gradually westwards as
the frequency of typically short rivers increases. Many of these are associated with
estuarine lagoons lined with muddy salt marshes, especially west of King George
Sound (Spencer 1956; Woods et al. 1985).
The river with the largest discharge along the southwest coast is Blackwood River
which, together with the two lagoons near the estuary mouth, has received
considerable attention for environmental reasons (Hodgkin 1976, 1978). Substantial
muddy, organic-rich swamps occupy about 10% of the estuarine shoreline of the
Blackwood. Moving up the west coast towards Perth, the shoreline is dotted with a
number of large muddy coastal lakes and lagoons, e.g. Lake Preston and Peel Inlet at
Mandurah. Several rivers enter the sea between Perth and Shark Bay. None of these,
however, can boast any substantial estuary or muddy shore. The deposits along the
arid Shark Bay coast include algal mat sequences, muddy intertidal flats and
mangrove swamps, e.g. along Hutchinson Embayment (Logan and Cebulski 1970;
Hagan and Logan 1975) and Nilemah Embayment (Woods and Brown 1975).
The mangrove-lined coast continues northwards up to the delta of the Gascoyne
River (Woods et al. 1985), being backed by supratidal salt flats. Mangroves and mud
160

flats reappear in Exmouth Gulf and continue almost uninterrupted up to the delta of
the De Grey River and reappear beyond Eighty Mile Beach to occupy almost the
entire lower to upper macrotidal coast of the Kimberly district up to the boundary of
the Northern Territory. Major muddy tropical estuaries and river deltas in this
region include the Fitzroy and Meda Rivers in King Sound, the Charnley River in
Collier Bay, Brunswick Bay, York Sound, and the Cambridge Gulf-Ord river system
(Wright et al. 1972; Thorn et al. 1975).
The coast of the Northern Territory stretches from the Bonaparte Gulf in the west
to the centre line of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the east. Large stretches of the
shoreline are m u d d y and lined with mangroves or halophytes (Galloway 1985). The
mean spring tidal range is 5.0 m at the western boundary, 2.5-3.5 m in Van Diemen
Gulf, 3.5-4.5 m along the Arafura Sea coast, and 1.5-0.2 m in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Major rivers with extensive mangrove swamps and mud flats in their estuarine
reaches are - from west to e a s t - the Victoria, Daly, Mary, South Alligator,
East Alligator, Mann, Goyder, Roper, Limmen Bight, McArthur, Robinson, and
Calvert. The Victoria River estuary reaches 100 km inland and is characterized by
mud islands and muddy shorelines that are densely vegetated by mangroves
(Galloway 1982; Wells 1982). A particular feature of this coastline is the wide and
bare supratidal flats on the landward side of the mangrove belt, while the seaward
boundary is generally composed of extensive intertidal mud flats. The soil
characteristics in a typical north Australian mangrove system have been determined
by Boto and Wellington (1984) and the export of organic matter by Boto and Bunt
(1981). Other sedimentological studies include depositional models for
South Alligator River (Woodroffe et al. 1989), the Van Diemen Gulf shoreline
(Woodroffe et al. 1993), and the lower Daly River (Chappell 1993).
The coast of Queensland stretches from the Gulf of Carpentaria in the nort-west to
Sutherland Point in the south-east (some 100 km south of Brisbane). Tidal ranges
converge from lower mesotidal conditions (>2 m) at both the west and the south-east
to upper macrotidal conditions in Broad Sound which is located near the southern
limit of the Great Barrier Reef and where mean spring tides are >9 m (e.g. Cook and
Mayo 1977; Hopley 1985). Beginning in the north-west, the entire south and south-
east coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria is fringed by a wide and uninterrupted belt of
muddy mangrove swamps, salt marshes and salt pans reaching northwards up to
Cape Keer-Weer along the western shore of Cape York Peninsula. Based on figures
from Galloway (1981), the muddy environments along this coastal sector are
dominated by salt marshes (3,843 km 2 or 32.5%) and saline grasslands (2,028 km 2 or
17.1%), mangrove swamps contributing 1,629 km 2 (13.8%), and other swamps
1,512 km 2 (12.8%). Major rivers with extensive muddy estuarine and deltaic deposits
include the Gregory, Leichhardt, Flinders, Norman, Gilbert, Staaten, Mitchell-
Nassau, Coleman, and Olroyd. Of these, only the Gilbert River fan delta has been
studied in some detail (Jones et al. 1993).
From Cape Keer-Weer to Cape York (Torres Strait), the coast is dominated by
beach ridge systems (Rhodes 1982), mud flats and mangrove swamps once more
reappearing on the east coast of Queensland, but now in localized estuarine pockets
 161

and in the rear of coastal sand barriers and chenier ridge systems. They show a
variety of morphologies (e.g. Jennings and Bird 1967) mangrove swamps gradually
becoming the dominating coastal mud depository (MacNae 1967; Hopley 1985).
Thus, of the muddy coastal environments between Cape York and Cooktown,
mangrove swamps contribute 531 km 2 (13.2%), salt marshes 351 km 2 (8.7%), saline
grasslands 312 km 2 (7.7%), and other swamps 729 km 2 (18.1%). Between Cooktown
and Hinchinbrook Island, the equivalent proportions are 468 km 2 (24.2%) for
mangrove swamps, 36 km 2 (1.9%) for salt marshes, 6 km 2 (0.3 %) for saline grasslands,
and 111 km 2 (5.7%) for other coastal swamps. The equivalent sequence from
Hinchinbrook to Hervey Bay is 1,602 km 2 (18.3%) for mangrove swamps, 1,002 km 2
(11.5%) for salt marshes, 978 km 2 (11.2%) for saline grasslands, and 825 km 2 (9.5%) for
other coastal swamps. Similarly, the coastal sector between Hervey Bay and the
border with New South Wales is divided up with 150 km 2 (7.8%) for mangrove
swamps, 57 km 2 (3.0%) for salt marshes, 42 km 2 (2.2%) for saline grasslands, and
567 km 2 (10%) for other coastal swamps, other non-muddy environments (e.g. rocky
shores, beach ridge systems, coastal dunes) making up the remainder in each case.
The larger rivers of the region, e.g. the Burdekin at Townsville (Hopley and
Murtha 1975) and the Fitzroy at Rockhampton (Jennings and Bird 1967) have built
large deltas, the lower estuarine channel systems being lined by muddy salt marshes
and mangrove swamps. Other estuarine environments that have received some
attention are the Pioneer River estuary at Mackay, the Broad Sound embayment
(Cook and Mayo 1977), and a number of smaller estuaries and estuarine embayments
such as the Bucasia and Louisa barrier systems near Mackay (Lessa 1993; Masselink
and Lessa 1995).
Numerous muddy estuaries, tidal flats and lagoons are also a characteristic feature
of the coast of New South Wales (e.g. Jennings and Bird 1967; Roy 1984a, 1984b). The
mean tidal range varies from microtidal to lower mesotidal. Typical examples of
coastal environments associated with muddy swamps and marshes are the estuary of
the Clarence River, Lake Illawarra, Lake Coil, Turron estuary, the lagoons, bays and
lakes between Port Macquarie and Sydney (e.g. Wallis Lake, Myall Lake, Nelson Bay,
Lake Macquarie, Tuggerah Lake, Broken Bay, Port Jackson, and Botany Bay), the
Shoalhaven River delta and Wapengo Lagoon located on the south coast (Bird 1967b;
Roy and Peat 1975; Roy and Peat 1976; Thom 1985; Nicho11991).
Around Tasmania tidal amplitudes are mostly >1 m (microtidal), lower to upper
mesotidal conditions being restricted to the north coast along Bass Strait. Muddy
shore environments occur only very localized, e.g. in the Tamar Estuary, located on
the north coast, salt marshes did not occur until Spartina grass was successfully
introduced in the 1940s (Phillips 1975). Limited salt marshes also occur in the
Macquarie Harbour area along the west coast. Along the east coast the Marion Bay
barrier shelters well-developed salt marshes in Blackman Bay Lagoon, while similar
deposits occur in Moulting Lagoon located in the rear of the Nine Mile Beach barrier
(Davies 1985).
162

2.23 The coasts of N e w Zealand and other Pacific Islands (Figure 24)

Muddy shores along the coast of New Zealand are associated with the 300 or so
estuaries, large estuarine lagoons and a number of sheltered headland-bay beach
systems (Healy and Kirk 1982; McLean 1985). The tides around the two islands are
semi-diurnal and mostly upper mesotidal in amplitude. Mangroves are restricted to
sheltered locations of the northern shoreline of the North Island (Woodroffe 1985a,
1985b, 1985c), other estuaries and lagoons being fringed by intertidal flats with
temperate salt marsh plants, Spartina grass having been successfully introduced from
Europe. The substrate is usually a sandy mud rather than pure mud. Muddy
lagoonal swamp or salt marsh deposits associated with headland-bay coasts are
found in eastern Northland (e.g. Rangaunu Bay, Doubtless Bay, and Bay of Islands),
Auckland (e.g. Firth of Thames, cf. Woodroffe et al. 1983), Coromandel (e.g. Mercury
Bay), and the Gisborne and Nelson districts (e.g. Poverty Bay).
On the South Island there are Banks Peninsula (e.g. Akaroa Harbour), Otago
Peninsula (e.g. Otago Harbour), and the south coast of Southland (e.g. Bluff
Harbour). Amongst the large estuaries and estuarine lagoons are Hokianga Harbour,
Kaipara Harbour, Manukau Harbour, the Waikato mouth, Raglan and Kawhia
harbours along the west coast of the North Island, and Parangarenga Harbour,
Whangarei Harbour, Tauranga Harbour, and Ohiwa Harbour along the east coast of
the North Island. The South Island, by contrast is characterized by numerous fjords
along its northern and south-western shores. Many of these fjord heads are lined by
muddy salt marsh and other marsh deposits (e.g. Doubtful Sound, Dusky Sound,
Chalky Inlet, Preservation Inlet, and Paterson Inlet on Stewart Island).
Muddy shores are not a conspicuous feature on most Pacific islands. Nevertheless,
some islands and island groups feature muddy mangrove pockets, amongst them
New Caledonia, the Fiji Islands, and even Hawaii. On New Caledonia, for example,
muddy mangrove swamps and salt marshes are found in the Bay of St. Vincent, at
Mara and in association with the delta formations of the Dumbea, N6ra, Poya,
Iouanga, and Koumac rivers along the west coast and the Diahot River on the north
coast (e.g. Baltzer 1965, 1969; Dugas 1974; Bird and Iltis 1985).
On the Fiji Islands, numerous small muddy mangrove pockets line sheltered
embayments and river mouths (e.g. the Sambeto) on Viti Levu, the deltas of the
Navua, Singatoka, Nandi, Mba, and Rewa Rivers being particularly good examples
(Bird 1985g). Vanu Levu, by contrast, has steeper shorelines in general, but mangrove
swamps can be found in the delta regions of the Ndreketi, Waileuvu, Lambasa-
Nggawa, and Wainkoro rivers.
The islands of the central Pacific region are mostly free of mangroves, unless they
have been artificially introduced. Thus, some mud flats and mangrove swamps are
today found as far north as Hawaii, where numerous muddy mangrove pockets have
developed on various islands after the plant was introduced to the region in 1902 and
1922. A particularly notable occurrence is an 11 km coastal section on Molokai
(Campbell and Moberly 1985). An ecological study has been carried out on the
muddy mangrove swamp system of Heeia on Oahu (Walsh 1967).
 163

20 S ,,~0~" CORAL SEA 20r ~:'~ng ~ s ~a~/

~t..'X~_ NK~=_'6o~~ ..,~,~ ~,

Bale St-V~rtce*~ Kaipara Harb;q~ll]:'i~-"~ ~C~'~? c,o~i~),~I o~

I ZUUKm I ~ M a nuk a u H a rb~.:..'.Z:~:':!!!I " .~,o~"" o,,$

165 Waikato ~..% "~_::~ :,~,~,'u xK~,,,o
' ' R:~IhT: HH:rb'~'" k ~ ' " : ' ~ . ~ " ~ 38":

[ 200kin I NORTHISLAND
~ ) " ~ PovertyBay

TASMAN SEA ~ "

,-- 42" ' 42

~"k _...~avaiau SOUTH PACIFIC /

SOUTH ISLAND ,~.'.::" ~,~.-- k _:'.'f
""" ~ / ~ ~ C h d s t c h u r c h I
1 / ' ~ . ~.:::~Banks Peninsula /
44 .,..,~~~"-~'~karoa Harb. 176~ ,;8- /
- " ~. "o I ~. ,

ooo~t,o,~oun,~::~.. j ' 3 . K -~:7( I - ~~"Z.4," /

- . .-. ~ ' ~ O t a g o Harbour I ..-= = r " ~ ~ " ~ , , i
~us'<"~~176 I,'' ~ "--- ~ - I
46- ~ " ~L:-..~ - - I~ , FIJI ISLANDS /
.,, , , , ~ ~ . ; . z _
s ~6t'l \~ P,~u~~4a.. _
......:...7 ~" ~ "
r,, 9 ~//~5..~.:...-,..r~_
, ~ Koro S e a /t
?~,e= ~" ~P~terson Inlet F ~nd~r:Le:;~'~o " /
,4,P'Stewart / t.:-. _ "~ \'-:4 0 /
Island i'-' ~ .... : : ~ . ~ q 18~-i
166" 166" 170 172"E I~,0~0~.$~/V=?~.'~:~. 180OE

Figure 24 Muddy shores along the coasts of New Zealand, New Caledonia, and the
Fiji Islands.

2.24 The coasts of China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Pacific Russia (Figure 25)

The coast of China can be divided into two physiographically distinct sections, the
division line being Hangzhou Bay (Chen et al. 1985). The mean tidal range varies
between 0.4 m (microtidal) to >5 m (lower macrotidal). In the south, off the Leizhou
Peninsula, the tides barely manage to reach upper mesotidal amplitudes (2.2 m),
decreasing at first to 1.5 m off the Zhujiang River mouth at Hong Kong before
164

progressively increasing again to reach above 5 m in Hangzhou Bay. From there the
range decreases steadily to 0.7 m off Cape Chenshang north of Qingdao, having
briefly peaked once more with 3.4 m in Haizhou Bay. From Cape Chenshang the
tidal range at first increases to reach 2.5 m in the inner Bohai Bay, then decreases
once more to 0.8 m at the mouth of Liaodong Bay, before increasing again to 2.7 m at
the head of Liaodong Bay. After dropping slightly to 2.1 m at the head of Liaodong
Peninsula, the tides increase once more to reach 3.9 m at the border with
North Korea. Whereas mangroves dominate the southern shores, temperate salt
marsh plants replace the mangroves in the north, where the successful introduction
of Spartina anglica grass augments the upper mud flat environment (Song 1983).
Along the north coast of Hainan Island the Nandu River has constructed a sizable
delta and the surrounding shores are extensively covered by a variety of mangrove
species. Similarly, some limited muddy environments occur in small lagoons that
have developed in the shelter of sand spits (e.g. Wang and Schafer 1992). The
southern mainland coast of Guangxi Province is characterized by a number of
embayed muddy estuaries along the margins of which mangrove forests are found.
On Leizhou Peninsula intertidal mud flats grade into mangrove swamps in sheltered
bays. The entire shoreline between the Leizhou Peninsula and the Minjiang River is
mainly sandy, mud flats and mangrove swamps being restricted to areas influenced
by the large, actively prograding deltas of the Zhujiang and Han Rivers (Zeng 1957;
Zhao 1982), the former being actually composed of three smaller, overlapping deltas
formed by the Xijiang, Beijiang, and Dongjiang Rivers (Zhao 1982). Intertidal mud
flats and a dense mangrove cover are also found to the west of the Zhujiang River,
the muds being derived from the river. The same applies to Hong Kong which is
located east of the Zhujiang. Mud flats with mangroves occur in numerous small
embayments and especially in Deep Bay close to the Chinese border (So 1985). The
main mangrove species are Avicennia, Kandelia, Bruguiera, and Aegicera, the sequence
showing a distinct pattern related to mud flat evolution (Thrower and Cheng 1975).
The actual mud-dominated shores of China begin just north of the Minjiang River.
Up to Hangzhou Bay mud flats and associated mangrove swamps are still confined
to the numerous embayments characterizing this coast (Wang and Aubrey 1987;
Wang and Eisma 1988; Wang et al. 1997), but become ubiquitous from the southern
margin of Hangzhou Bay onwards, where the maximum tidal range reaches 8.93 m
at Ganpu. The muds in this and the Changjiang River (Yangtze River) delta region
are dominated by silty sediments. The Yangtze discharges some 470 x 106 tons of silt
annually, thus explaining the rapidly prograding delta which currently has an area
of 40,000 km 2 (Chen et al. 1959; Chen et al. 1979). From the Yangtze delta to Haizhou
Bay, the former mouth region of the Hwanghe River (Yellow River), the coast
remains muddy. Large coastal areas have been reclaimed in this region over the past
1000 years (e.g. Ren 1992) and salt marsh formation has been actively promoted by
the planting of Spartina anglica grass. North of Haizhou Bay the muddy shoreline
once more becomes embayed due to the irregularity of the coast. This coastal type
continues past Qingdao and along the entire Shandong Peninsula up to Laizhou Bay,
where the coastal physiography becomes controlled by the modern Hwanghe delta.
 165

In Laizhou Bay the intertidal mud flats reach a width of up to 7 km. The Hwanghe
used to discharge up to 1.2 x 1 0 9 tons of silt into the sea, 40% of which accumulated
in the form of elongate levees on either side of the river mouth, resulting in seaward
progradation at a rate of 2-3 km/year. By this process, a coastal lowland of 2,300 km 2
has been created in only 100 years (Pang and Si 1979). However, due to the recent
construction of several large dams, the discharge of the Hwanghe has literally
dropped to zero and large-scale erosion is now evident along the former delta front.
West of the Hwanghe delta, along the shore of Bohai Bay up to the Luan River, the
mud flats attain a width of up to 10 km (Zhao 1980). Mud deposition is so
overwhelming that access to local ports has been threatened, requiring large-scale
dredging activities in order to maintain navigable channels (Wang 1980). Further
north, the Luan River has constructed a largely sandy delta, but muddy sediments
can be found in lagoons and low-lying swamps in the rear of sandy beach ridges.
Coastal marshes and mud flats up to 2 km in width again appear at the head of
Liaodong Bay, the source of the mud being the Liao River. The west and south-east
coast of the Liaodong Peninsula is rocky or sandy, the coast becoming muddy once
more towards the north-east, where the fine-grained sediments are derived from the
Yalu River which forms the border with North Korea. The m u d d y shores of China
are summarized in greater detail by Wang (1980).
The coast of Taiwan is microtidal in the east and south of the island, but upper
mesotidal along the north-west. Muddy shores are found mainly along the west coast
of Taiwan, where large amounts of sediment are brought down by local rivers to
form wide intertidal sand and mud flats (Hsu 1965, 1985; Shih 1980).
Proceeding from the Yalu River delta eastwards into North Korea the coast is
initially dominated by wide intertidal mud flats. The tidal range is about 4 m in this
region. The m u d flats continue up to the mouth of the Taedong Gang from where
onwards the coast becomes sandier until intertidal flats again appear west of Ongjin
(North Korea). From here southwards the entire coast is fringed by mud flats of
varying width (Kwon 1974; Wells and Huh 1979; Eisma and Park 1985; Park 1987;
Alexander et al. 1990). At Inchon in South Korea, the tide reaches its maximum
amplitude with 9 m at spring tide.
The west and south coasts of South Korea are extremely irregular, being
characterized by numerous embayments formed by intricate headlands of
outcropping igneous rocks. Most of these embayments are entirely mud-filled, the
tidal flats growing upward and outward from the coast. Large areas have already
been reclaimed for settlement and agricultural use since 1900, mainly for the
cultivation of rice. It is planned to reclaim another 10,000 km 2 within the next ten
years or so. This corresponds to an area that is larger than the Wadden Sea along the
southern North Sea. Detailed studies have been carried out at Inchon (Frey et al.
1989), Kimje (Park 1969), and Namyang Bay (Park et al. 1995). The east coast of
Korea, by contrast, is microtidal and thus lacks open tidal flats. Mud deposits and
salt marshes are here restricted to the shores of estuaries, lagoons, and swampy
lowlands in the rear of barrier beaches. Good examples can be found at Pohang
(South Korea) and Songjon Man, Hungnam, and Odaejin Hang in North Korea.
166

The coast of Japan is practically devoid of muddy shores, the term mud, silt, or
clay not even being mentioned once in the coastal review of Koike (1985). Some
lagoons in the lee of barrier beaches and sand spits occur along the Sea of Okhotsk
shore in northern Hokkaido. It is not known, however, whether muddy salt marshes
or mud flats are associated with them. Furthermore, the only occurrence of
mangroves has been recorded on some small islands in the Ryukyu Island chain
south of Kyushu. Again it is not known whether any muddy deposits are associated
with the mangroves.

"'. ~ rsEA
EASTs~BEPJAN ~--"~-
-".:~ "l @
' ~ '
LAPTEV " " ... ~ . " ;i':" j " '
9 .:.. O~,- .......-_. U}'r~z..

," Penszhinsl~y8 . el& q~

, Bay ~ "~

,~_ .... ~,=., .)-.: ~, ~.

-.'-"" " "• qb. /
. 9

SEA OF OKHOTSK "|

RUSSIA
9 . ~
I

t'
HOK~

r,w"" SEA
MONGOLIA OF JAPAN HONSHU
/i Liaodong
,.Bay
!
Bo Hai'=~!!'.'.i
JAPAN

[ i
h'~ -3 )~ KYUSHU
SEA
,.Hangzhou "':
Bay o"
"'" --"
CHINA :"! EAST j'Ryuku Is O ~ - "~
i CHINA .iV
j SEA -~,or.co ~
.-"" .~(3o"

rAIWAN 1000 km
..-" t , I
ng Kong / "
~izhouPenins. ~PH
ainan SOUTH ILIPPINES
CHINA SEA ' "~3~
110,. . . . ~ .~ , ~E

Figure 25 Muddy shores along the coasts of China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and
Pacific Russia.
 167

Little is known about the occurrence of muddy shores along the coast of Pacific
Russia. Since numerous fjords, rias, and lagoons are known to exist along this coast
(e.g. Kaplin 1985), muddy shores in the form of intertidal mud flats and salt marshes
are almost certainly expected to exist. The tidal range is upper mesotidal to upper
macrotidal (12 m in Penzinskaya Bay). Mud flats and m u d d y salt marshes can be
expected in the bay Zaliv Terpenija, at Katangli, Neftegorsk, Moskalvo, and Pogibi
on the Island of Sakhalin, at Tugur and Cumikan along the shores of Udskaja Guba,
near Magadan, Jamsk, Giziga, and along the west coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula,
as well as along the shores of Anadyrsky Zaliv just west of the Bering Strait.

2.25 T h e coast of Arctic R u s s i a (Figure 26)

With few exceptions, the Arctic coast of Russia has not been well studied
(Zenkovich 1985b). Much of the coast is in the permafrost belt and coastal sediments
are thus exposed to thermal erosion. Along the southern shores of the White Sea,
where the rivers Onega and North Dvina have constructed typical bay deltas, and
along the macrotidal shores of the Mezen Gulf mud flats and salt marshes are known
to occur. Further east the tides become insignificant. The large delta of the Lena River
in the southern Laptev Sea is characterized by extensive m u d d y marshlands. The
same applies to the adjoining coastal plain stretching from the delta of the Lena River
to the mouth of the Kolyma River, the whole region being waterlogged in summer.
Similar conditions exist in the embayment of Chaunskaya Guba. Finally, almost the
whole coast bordering the Russian section of the Chukchi Sea is lined by barrier
islands and barrier spits stretching for hundreds of kilometers. It can be expected
that extensive mud flats and salt marshes occur in the shelter of these barriers,
although little is known about this area.

~i~i ~ 80" 470" _~.

~-':.~ . ,-. _ t 1000 k m I CU~',.G~t...-,.4...

9.:-j" Barems oea ~ 9 " ":"
:'u :',. .-.~"'" Se~ _ ~ .
!~, 9 ARCTIC OCEAN ~ ~ " ;~
- ~ White " coo F,k~-_/:~,,
Sea " ~ ~ / :::

- :-~: , : " "

~ _ .... ~. ~t'_ ~ ~:: ~_,L~

',,. -- :1:

v "v- ( .E ...... a___ ........ ooo- -- " "

,~." Sea

Figure 26 Muddy shores along the coast of Arctic Russia.

168

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