The geomorphology and evolution of intermittently open and closed estuaries in large embayments in Victoria, Australia

Abstract

Intermittently open and closed estuaries (IOCE) are common landforms on open-ocean microtidal coasts. They are often viewed as evolutionary end members of open estuaries where all the accommodation space has been infilled by sediment. While IOCE are typically recognised to form in wave-dominated, microtidal environments, they can also form within embayments where the relative balance between waves and tides is highly spatially, and temporally, variable. This study examines the geomorphology and infill of two such embayed IOCE in Victoria, southern Australia, in order to assess how these systems compare to their open ocean counterparts in order to gain an understanding of the boundary conditi..