Large bedforms on the shoreface and upper shelf, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

Abstract

Large bedforms were studied along a 20 km transect from upper shoreface (12 m depth) to upper shelf (20 m depth), using current and wave climate, bed samples with various grain size analysis methods, lacquer profiles, multibeam and sonar. Three bedform classes were identified with wave lengths of the order of 1, 10 and 100 m, respectively. The smallest bedforms (dunes) are generated by tidal currents, while the larger bedforms (hummocks) are generated in sheet flow conditions in storms