Definition
A river-dominated estuary is one where fluvial processes extend to the estuary mouth where only ephemeral marine deposits occur.
Description
River-dominated estuaries tend to be shallow and undergo a cycle of infill related to floods from the catchments in their hinterland. During a non-flood period, a barrier is present at the seaward edge of the estuary backed by small flood-tide deltas where cohesive muddy and relatively steep channel banks are found. During a flood, the channels erode and the flood-tide deltas and barrier are often removed (Cooper et al., 1990; Cooper, 1993; Cooper, 2001). River-dominated estuaries where the barrier is formed of gravel-size sediment are also known as hapua (Hart, 2007; Kirk and Lauder, 2000). River-dominated estuaries often occur on high-energy, wave-dominated coasts, so they are unlikely to develop into a delta (Cooper, 1993).
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Bibliography
Cooper, J. A. G., 1993. Sedimentation in a river-dominated estuary. Sedimentology, 40, 979–1017.
Cooper, J. A. G., 2001. Geomorphological variability among microtidal estuaries from the wave-dominated South African coast. Geomorphology, 40, 99–122.
Cooper, J. A. G., Mason, T. R., Reddering, J. S. V., and Illenberger, W. K., 1990. Geomorphological effects of catastrophic flooding on a small subtropical estuary. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 15, 25–41.
Hart, D. E., 2007. River-mouth lagoon dynamics on mixed sand and gravel barrier coasts. Journal of Coastal Research, SI 50, 927–931.
Kirk, R. M., and Lauder G. A., 2000. Significant coastal lagoon systems in the South Island, New Zealand. In Science for Conservation 146. Wellington: Department of Conservation, 47.
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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Kennedy, D.M. (2016). River-Dominated Estuary. In: Kennish, M.J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Estuaries. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4_345
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4_345
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