Sedimentology (2005) 52, 235252

doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3091.2004.00692.x

Sedimentation on a wave-dominated, open-coast tidal flat, southwestern Korea: summer tidal flat winter shoreface
B. C. YANG*, R. W. DALRYMPLE* and S. S. CHUN

*Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario
K7L 3N6, Canada

Faculty of Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Chonnam National University, Kwangju 500757, Korea (E-mail: sschun@jnu.ac.kr)
ABSTRACT

Sedimentation on the open-coast tidal flats of south-western Korea is controlled

by seasonal variation in the intensity of onshore-directed winds and waves. As a
result, an environmental oscillation takes place between tide-dominated
conditions in summer and wave-dominated conditions in winter. In summer,
thick muddy deposits, including sporadic storm deposits, accumulate in
response to low wave energy, weak currents, and intense solar insolation that
promotes consolidation of the mud at low tide. Bioturbation is minimal because
of rapid sedimentation and soft substrate. During the autumn, the summer mud
deposits experience erosion due to increasingly strong onshore winds and
waves, until only small mud patches and mud pebbles remain. The
concentration of ebb runoff between the mud patches produces small,
ephemeral tidal creeks. In winter, storm waves occur frequently (ca 10 days
a month) and dominate sedimentation in the intertidal zone, producing
extensive wave-generated parallel lamination and short-wavelength (032 m)
hummocky cross-stratification. The prevalence of strong onshore winds
decreases in spring, allowing longer and more frequent intervals of calm
weather, during which time muddy sediments are deposited by tidal processes.
Over the long term, winter storm waves dominate sedimentation and the
preserved deposits consist of amalgamated storm beds that resemble those
generally associated with shorefaces. This raises the question of how many
ancient shorefaces are, in fact, open-coast tidal flats.
Keywords Hummocky cross-stratification, open-coast tidal flat, seasonal
variation, south-western Korea, storm deposits, tidal-flat sedimentation.
INTRODUCTION
Although the coastal classification schemes of
Hayes (1979) and Boyd et al. (1992) indicate that
a gradation exists between wave- and tide-dominated coastal environments (Fig. 1), most research has focused on the two end-member
settings, namely sheltered tidal flats and exposed
beaches and shorefaces. In contrast, non-barred,
open-coast tidal flats have received little attention, despite their widespread occurrence, especially in South-east Asia (Reineck & Cheng, 1978;
Mukherjee et al., 1987; Chun et al., 2000; Li et al.,
2000; Yang & Chun, 2001). According to standard
definitions, tidal flats are tide-dominated

2005 International Association of Sedimentologists

environments with a gentle slope, negligible wave

influence and well-developed tidal creeks (Klein,
1985; Dalrymple, 1992), whereas beaches and
shorefaces have relatively steep slopes and
experience strong wave action (Davis, 1985;
Walker & Plint, 1992). As a result, these two
environments are considered to be distinct:
muddy heterolithic facies, including flaser, wavy,
and lenticular bedding, characterize tidal-flat
deposits, whereas wave and storm-generated
deposits, including hummocky cross-stratification (HCS), are typical of beach and shoreface
deposits. Indeed, these two environments are
almost invariably considered in separate chapters
in textbooks (e.g. Davis, 1985; Reading, 1996).
235

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B. C. Yang, R. W. Dalrymple and S. S. Chun

Fig. 1. Classification of clastic

coastal environments, modified
from Boyd et al. (1992). Open-coast
tidal flats are subjected to the influence of both waves and tides and,
hence, fall in the transition between
wave-dominated shorefaces and
sheltered, tide-dominated tidal flats.
Tidal beaches (Masselink & Short,
1993), which are probably somewhat more strongly wave-influenced
than open-coast tidal flats, are also
part of the spectrum of transitional
environments.

Recent studies along the Chinese and South

Korean coasts reveal that wave processes are an
important agent of sedimentation on open-coast
tidal flats (Li et al., 2000; Yang & Chun, 2001; Fan
& Li, 2002). The macrotidal flats at Baeksu (mean
tidal range 39 m; maximum range 68 m), southwestern South Korea, are typical of large parts of
the Korean west coast (Fig. 2). Like the Chinese
tidal flats described by Li et al. (2000) and Fan &
Li (2002), they are non-barred. However, they
differ from the Chinese examples by being much
more sandy, and in being subjected to a more
intense monsoon wind regime because of their
exposed location. Because of this later factor,
sedimentation on the Baeksu tidal flat alternates
between tide-dominated in summer and wavedominated in winter, and the resulting deposits
more closely resemble those of shorefaces than
they do those of typical (i.e. sheltered) tidal flats.
The purposes of this paper are to describe the
seasonal pattern of sedimentation on the Baeksu
tidal flat, and to discuss those features that may
help to distinguish sandy, open-coast tidal flats
from shorefaces in the rock record.

over the study period. At each station, samples

were collected from the sediment surface (ca
1 cm deep) using a spatula, and elevation data
were obtained using a Sokkia B21 level at 2
3 month intervals over a 2 year period, in order
to characterize the seasonal variation in tidalflat characteristics. In addition, a Van Veen grab
sampler was used to collect a more regional grid
of samples from the intertidal and shallow
subtidal zones during the summer and winter
seasons (Fig. 2). Grain-size analyses were carried out after organic matter and calcium
carbonate were removed. The dried sand fraction was analysed using a sieve interval of 05,
while the mud fraction was analysed by the
pipette method. Cancores (30 cm deep 18 cm
wide 8 cm thick) were collected along both
survey lines (Fig. 2) on a seasonal basis, and
epoxy relief peels were obtained from them in
order to document the sedimentary structures.
Most peels are oriented in the shore-normal
direction, but some were collected with a shoreparallel orientation to determine the 3D geometry of the structures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

DESCRIPTION OF STUDY AREA

Two shore-normal sampling transects were

established across the Baeksu tidal flat (Fig. 2),
along which metal stakes were installed at
100 m intervals to permit consistent sampling

Geomorphology
The Baeksu tidal flat is 46 km wide and 810 km
long (Figs 2 and 3). It faces north-west directly

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Sedimentation on open-coast tidal flats

237

Fig. 2. Map of the Baeksu tidal flat and map of the Yellow Sea (inset) showing location of the study area. Note that
the tidal flat faces directly onto the Yellow Sea without any protective barrier. Field surveys were carried out along
two, coast-perpendicular transect lines (BA and YS) where surface-sediment samples, sedimentation-rate measurements and cancores have been collected seasonally over a 2 year period (19971998). Dots indicate positions of
regional grab samples. Ticks on survey lines give locations of surface-sediment samples (100 m spacing); numbers
indicate distance from coast (100 m). Bathymetric contours based on the Approaches to Anma Kundo and Wido
Nautical Chart No. 344 (National Oceanographic Research Institute, 1983); datum is mean high low-water level. SRM,
sedimentation rate measurement; IMF, inner mud flat.

onto the Yellow Sea without a barrier. Two coastoblique sand ridges border the seaward margin of
the tidal flat, near the low-water line. Beyond
this, the shallow inner shelf is broken by small
bedrock islands. The tidal flat is bordered on its
landward side by rocky coastal cliffs in the north
(Figs 2 and 3A) and by artificial dykes in the
south (Fig. 3B) that have reclaimed a former
estuary.
Topographic surveys along the two survey lines
(Fig. 4) show that the tidal flat has a very gentle
seaward slope, which averages 007 in the north
(Line BA) and 006 in the south (Line YS). Such
gentle gradients are very similar to those of
sheltered Korean tidal flats (Frey et al., 1989;
Wells et al., 1990; Kim et al., 1999). There is,
however, an overall concave-up morphology,
with the slope decreasing seaward, from 01 in
the inner part to 005 on the outer part (Fig. 4).
The landward end of Line BA shows a flattening
of the profile that is not evident on Line YS. This

area corresponds to the inner mud flat (IMF)

(Fig. 2) that occupies the most sheltered part of
the coast. The remainder of the tidal flat is
dominantly sandy. On both lines, the tidal flats
pass gradually into the subtidal zone without a
prominent break in slope (Fig. 3C).
Both topographic profiles show gentle undulations with a wavelength of 100300 m (Fig. 4
see especially Line YS). They are typically about
03 m high, but become larger in a landward
direction, reaching 051 m in height at the coast.
Measurements over a 5 year period (19972001)
show that these features, which we interpret as
being wave-generated swash bars (King, 1972;
McCave & Geiser, 1978), migrate landward at a
rate of ca 75 m year)1, with most of the movement
occurring during the winter. At the landward end
of Line YS, the swash bars weld onto the coast to
form a small, incipient strand plain that is ca
150 m in length parallel to the coast, with a steep
seaward slope of 05 (Fig. 4). In the area where

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B. C. Yang, R. W. Dalrymple and S. S. Chun

Fig. 4. Topographic profiles and the thickness of mud

deposits along the two survey lines in summer. Surface
undulations marked by SB represent intertidal swash
bars (Fig. 3B). Note that thickness of the summer mud
generally decreases landward, and is thicker in the
troughs of the swash bars and thinner over their crests.
AF indicate positions of cancores shown in Figs 9 and
1113. MSL, mean sea-level.

Physical processes

Fig. 3. General morphological features of the Baeksu

tidal flat. (A) View landward on northern survey line
BA (Fig. 2), showing inner mud flat (to right) and Cretaceous bedrock outcrops. (B) Small, isolated chenier
(swash bar composed of sand and shells) on the inner
mud flat, near the inner end of survey line YS. (C)
General view of the featureless outer sand flat in the
fall, showing erosional remnant of summer mud layer.

the IMF is present, the swash bars stall on the

outer part of the mud flat, forming isolated ridges
termed cheniers (Lee et al., 1994; Figs 2 and 3B)
that are 50100 m long, 510 m wide and 051 m
high, composed of fine to medium sand and
shells.

Tides on the Baeksu tidal flat are semi-diurnal

(diurnal inequality about 1 m) with a mean tidal
range of 39 m. Because of the limited cross-shore
tidal prism, the maximum current velocity is only
ca 40 cm sec)1 during spring tide and ca
25 cm sec)1 during neap tide (Kim, 2003). The
strongest currents flow obliquely across the flats
in a NWSE direction, but current speed and
direction are influenced strongly by winds (Chun
et al., 2000).
The wind regime shows a pronounced seasonality associated with the Asian monsoon (Figs 5
and 6A). During the winter, winds blow mainly
onshore from the NW to NNE, with a mean speed
of ca 10 m sec)1. In summer, by contrast, winds
blow mainly from the south, in an obliquely
offshore direction, with a mean speed of only 2
3 m sec)1 (Korea Meteorological Administration,
1997, 1998). The frequency of storms, defined
as times with wind speeds > 139 m sec)1, is
also strongly seasonal, ranging from less than
23 days a month during summer to more
than 10 days a month during winter (Table 1;

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239

Fig. 5. Summary of wind data over

a 5 year period (19941998), measured 15 m above mean sea-level at a
station located 15 km north of the
study area (source: Korea Meteorological Administration). Note that
rose diagrams denote the direction
from which the winds blew. Spring:
MarchMay; Summer: JuneAugust;
Fall: SeptemberNovember; Winter:
DecemberFebruary. A pronounced
seasonality is evident. Dashed and
solid arrows indicate the coastline
orientation and offshore direction
respectively.

Fig. 6A). Typhoons occur mainly during the

summer, with one to three occurring each year
(Table 1).
No systematic wave data exist for the Baeksu
area. However, the pronounced seasonal variation
in wind speed (Fig. 6A) should produce a comparable variation in wave size. Although typhoons can sometimes produce waves up to 5 m
high, the summer season is generally characterized by waves with significant heights of only
0510 m (Korea Meteorological Administration,
1997, 1998; National Fisheries Research and
Development Institute, 1997, 1998). In winter,
by contrast, the strong, onshore-directed winds
generate significant wave heights of 23 m (Kim,
2003).
Satellite images indicate that the nearshore
zone along the entire south-west coast of Korea
is highly turbid, but no general suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) data exist. Near-bed
data collected over a single tidal cycle on the
Baeksu tidal flat during winter show that SSC
values range from 1 to 7 g l)1 as a function of the
wind speed and direction (Chun et al., 2000). The
suspended sediments are composed mostly of silt

grains (8095%), with subordinate amounts of

clay (515%) and sand (25%).
Sea water temperatures, measured at a water
depth of 5 m near Kunsan, 60 km north of the
study area, vary from ca 5 C in the winter to
27 C in the summer (Fig. 6B; National Fisheries
Research and Development Institute, 1997, 1998).
Sea water temperature never falls below the
freezing point and ice has never been observed
on the tidal flats.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SURFACE
SEDIMENTS

General zonation
Most of the area does not show the standard
facies zonation expected of tidal flats (Klein,
1985; Amos, 1995). Mudflats and salt marshes,
which normally occur near the high-water level,
are of limited extent, occurring only in the most
sheltered area in the central part of the study
area (Fig. 2); the absence of these facies is
mainly a result of extensive reclamation. Where

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B. C. Yang, R. W. Dalrymple and S. S. Chun

Fig. 6. Seasonal variation of wind velocity (A; source: Korea Meteorological Administration), and water and air
temperatures obtained near Kunsan, 60 km north of the study area (B; National Fisheries Research and Development
Institute, 1998). All values are daily averages. The irregular dashed line in (A) is the running average, calculated
using a 25 day interval. Values above the horizontal dashed line in (A) are classified as storms. The highest temperatures and lowest wind velocity occur during summer, resulting in deposition of muddy sediments.
Table 1. Summary of storm frequency for the study area.
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul.
Occurrence of
05
typhoons (19511998)
Effective typhoons

(19041999)
Occurrence of storm
10
wind (19971998)

02

05

07

09

18

001

40

Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total per year

50

41

018 088 12

078

008

57

26

13

273
313
63

Storms and typhoons are defined as periods with wind speeds 13917 and > 17 m sec)1 respectively. The top row
indicates the average number of typhoons each month that approach the Korean peninsula. Effective typhoons are
those that strike the west coast of Korea. Although typhoons, which occur primarily in summer and early fall, have
higher wind speeds than winter storms, only 17% of typhoons directly impact the west coast of Korea (Korea
Meteorological Administration, 1997, 1998). As a result, the more frequent but less intense winter storms cause
higher sustained wave energy.

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Sedimentation on open-coast tidal flats

present, this IMF consists primarily of muddy
deposits that are extensively bioturbated
(Fig. 7). Small tidal channels extend seaward
from points of land drainage, but die out
rapidly in a seaward direction. The sand flats
are featureless, other than the subtle swash bars
mentioned above. These flats display a pronounced seasonality of sediment type: sands
predominate in winter, whereas muddy deposits
are widely developed in summer. This seasonal
pattern becomes less pronounced in a landward
direction.

Seasonal sedimentation cycle

Summer
In summer, the surficial deposits on the tidal flats
consist chiefly of mud with minor amounts of
sand (Fig. 8A). Sand occurs mainly in a coastparallel belt just seaward of the IMF, with only
localized patches of sand in more seaward areas.
Cancore peels (Figs 7A and 9) show that the
surficial layer of soft mud rests either gradationally or abruptly on sand. Measurements show that
this layer is thickest in the middle to outer part of
the flats (Fig. 4A), where it locally exceeds 40 cm
thick, and gradually decreases in thickness
towards the landward margin of the sand flats. It
is thicker again on the IMF (Fig. 4A). Mean
sediment sizes are in the medium- and coarsesilt range (455), while the finest sediments

241

(finer than 55) occur in both the shallow

subtidal zone and the IMF. Thus, the mean
sediment size shows a seaward-fining trend, with
the exception of the IMF. The muddy deposits
range from moderately to poorly sorted (Fig. 8C),
in part because of the inclusion of more than a
single lamina or thin bed in each sample. The
sands are moderately sorted.
The cancore peels (Figs 7A and 9) show that the
mud layer consists of thinly interbedded to
interlaminated sand and mud. Overall, it typically displays a pronounced, upward decrease in
sand content (Fig. 10), which results from a
combined upward decrease in the thickness and
number of sand layers and a corresponding
increase in mud-layer thickness. In many instances, the upward-fining trend is punctuated by
two or three, sharp-based sandier intervals, each
of which is followed by a renewed upward
decrease in sand content over a thickness of 3
10 cm (Figs 9C and E, and 10).
Sand-layer thickness ranges from 2 to 5 cm
near the base of the summer mud layer, or at
the base of the smaller-scale upward-fining
successions, to less than a millimetre at the
top of these successions. Mud layers are thickest both near the base and at the top of these
small-scale successions. The thickest sands are
generally laterally continuous and contain
gently undulatory lamination and ripple crosslamination that gives them a pinch-and-swell

Fig. 7. Cancore peels from the landward end of Line BA showing deposits of the inner mud flat. Cores collected
seasonally: (A) summer; (B) fall; (C) winter; and (D) spring. Thin units of ripple cross-laminated sand are formed
during winter and early spring (C and D) by storm waves. Biological activity during summer and fall (A and B)
destroys the winter sand layer partially to completely. Inferred season of deposition of older deposits shown at right
of each peel: W, winter; Sr, spring; S, summer; and F, fall. Landward is to the left in all peels.

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B. C. Yang, R. W. Dalrymple and S. S. Chun

Fig. 8. Spatial variation of surface-sediment texture during the summer of 1998 (A and C) and the winter of 1999
(B and D). See Fig. 2 for sample locations.

geometry. Some of the thicker sands are broken

by one to three erosional discordances that
imply amalgamation. Slightly thinner sand
layers higher in these successions are lenticular
because of the presence of starved-ripple formsets. Most of the cross-lamination dips towards
the land, but bipolar dips do occur. Some
laminae drape continuously over the adjacent
ripple crest, in the offshoot geometry described
by De Raaf et al. (1977). Chevron-upbuilding of
ripple crests is also present, but is not common.
At the top of each succession, the sand laminae
are 051 mm thick and occur in flat lenses 5
10 cm long encased in mud (Figs 9C and 10).
Bioturbation is present only near the top of
these successions, generally occurring as isolated burrows (e.g. Fig. 9B). Pervasive bioturbation occurs only in the IMF (Fig. 7).

begin as large, angular clasts, but become smaller

and more rounded with time. These mud balls are
typically 15 cm long, but they may reach up to
15 cm in length.
As might be expected, cancores collected during
the fall show significant spatial and temporal
variability. Cores through remnant mud patches
(Fig. 11BF) show features similar to those described above, although the structures are generally
less distinct because of a greater degree of bioturbation (Fig. 11E). In some cases, the upper part of
the mud layer has been truncated leaving only the
basal portion of the summer deposit (Fig. 11D).
Cores from areas where the mud layer has been
removed entirely consist exclusively of sand
(Fig. 11A). In the later stages of erosion, remnant
mud patches are commonly buried by rippled sand
derived from the surrounding areas (Fig. 3C).

Fall
Field observations show that the summer mud
layer is gradually eroded during the fall, exposing
the underlying sand (Fig. 3C). Erosion starts at
discrete points and slowly expands until only
isolated patches of mud, a few metres in diameter, remain. Mud pebbles are abundant. They

Winter
Except for the IMF, the tidal flats in winter are
characterized by sandy sediment (Fig. 8B) that
generally becomes finer in a seaward direction.
Sediment coarser than 3 is present primarily at
the shoreline in the southern part of the study
area, and in isolated patches associated with

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243

Fig. 9. Cancore peels from the sand flats (see Fig. 4 for locations) collected in the summer. Note that a surficial mud
layer is widespread, overlying sand. Tidal bedding, heterolithic facies and structureless mud are the dominant
structures in this mud layer. Bioturbation is present, but rarely obliterates the bedding. The vertical burrow in B was
produced by the brachiopod Lingula, which is common on the middle and upper tidal flats. The underlying sands
represent the deposits of previous winters and/or springs. Sd, storm deposit; Fd, fair-weather deposit. See text for
discussion. Landward is to the left in all peels.

swash-bar crests. Sediment with a mean size of 3

35 occurs in a coast-parallel band immediately
seaward of the IMF, whereas the middle and
outer flats consist of sediment with mean sizes of
354. Sediment sorting is better during winter
than in the summer (Fig. 8C and D). More than
70% of the area is moderately to well sorted,
whereas poorly sorted sediment dominates in the
southern part of the study area and in the IMF
(Fig. 8D). The poorly sorted sediment in the south
may be caused by the local supply of mud by a
small stream that drains the reclaimed estuary.
Cancores show that, during winter, the IMF is
mantled by a layer of sand, typically < 5 cm thick,
which overlies the bioturbated muddy deposits of
the summer and fall (Fig. 7C). Small mud balls
and shell fragments are locally present at the base

of this sand layer. The sand layer contains ripple

cross-lamination and, rarely, gently undulating
lamination. Cross-lamination commonly shows
both landward and seaward dips, but landwarddirected dips predominate. Migratory chevron
upbuilding (i.e. the crestal overlap point is
displaced laterally through time) is observed
rarely. Offshoot lamination is also present. Discrete vertical burrows are present, but are not as
abundant as in the summer.
The deposits of the inner part of the sand flats
are dominated by ripple cross-lamination
(Fig. 12A) and gently inclined lamination
(Fig. 12D), with lesser amounts of parallel lamination. The inclined lamination shows both seaward and landward dips; the latter predominate
on the landward (lee) side of swash bars and dip

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B. C. Yang, R. W. Dalrymple and S. S. Chun

Fig. 10. Schematic representations of lamina successions seen in summer mud deposits: (A) and (B) two superimposed, small-scale upward-fining successions, each 310 cm thick; (C) one thicker upward-fining succession.
Ripple formsets produce lenticular bedding in (A). The smaller upward-fining successions are interpreted as being
formed during the waning stage of storms and during the immediate post-storm period, whereas the mud at the top of
each succession was deposited during the intervening fair-weather period. Each of the sand laminae within the
successions represents an individual tide, while the thick mud layers near the base of each succession may have been
deposited from high-concentration suspensions produced by intense wave action (Kim, 2003). M, mud; S, sand.

more steeply (510) than the seaward-dipping

lamination (25) that is most abundant on the
seaward (stoss) side of the swash bars. Alternating parallel lamination and ripple cross-lamination are present beneath the crests of swash bars.
The degree of bioturbation ranges from rare to
moderate.
In the middle and outer parts of the sand flat,
the sedimentary structures are dominated by
parallel lamination and gently inclined to curved
lamination, with lesser amounts of ripple crosslamination (Fig. 12B,C,E and F). The gently
inclined to undulatory lamination is continuous
(Fig. 12BF), although more discontinuous lamination does occur in some cores (Fig. 12F, below
second dashed line). Dips rarely exceed 5.
Curved, tangential downlap onto the set base is
present (Fig. 12F), but the laminae commonly
drape over undulatory erosional surfaces
(Fig. 12C). The internal laminae generally show
subtle lateral variations in thickness. Locally, the
thickest laminae occur on the convex-up crests,
but more commonly the laminae are thickest in
the depressions so that the synoptic relief decreases upward (Fig. 12C). Although it is difficult to
measure the wavelength of the undulations
exactly because of the small width of the cancores, it is estimated that wavelengths vary from
30 to 200 cm in the outer part of the flat and from
30 to 100 cm in the middle flat. Because similar
features are present in cancores oriented both
parallel and perpendicular to the coast, this

undulatory lamination is interpreted as HCS (Dott

& Bourgeois, 1982; Harms et al., 1982).
The ripple cross-lamination typically occurs in
sets 13 cm thick, in units only one set thick in
some cores, but more commonly in cosets of three
to five sets. Steeply climbing ripples are moderately common (Fig. 12E). The ripple migration
directions are highly variable, but onshore migration predominates. The presence of bidirectional
ripples in a single coset (Fig. 12B) might be taken
to suggest that these ripples were formed by tidal
currents, but the presence of symmetrical crests
and offshoot lamination (De Raaf et al., 1977;
Meene et al., 1996) indicate, instead, that they
were generated by waves and/or combined flow.
Bioturbation is rarely present and consists only of
vertical burrows.
Individual beds are defined by a regular succession of structures. Each bed begins with a
planar to undulating erosion surface that is
locally overlain by mud pebbles (Fig. 12B and
C) and/or shell fragments. The bulk of the bed
consists of one or more sets of HCS, the dip of
which generally decreases upward. Ripple crosslamination and/or a discontinuous, thin mud
drape are present at the top of some beds. Bed
thickness is most commonly 1015 cm, but the
potential for amalgamation is high in cases where
several sets of HCS are stacked on each other
(Fig. 12C). These beds are interpreted as representing deposition during the waning stages of
winter storms.

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245

Fig. 11. Cancore peels from the sand flats (see Fig. 4 for locations) collected in the fall. Although the frequency and
intensity of storms has increased, the summer mud deposit is still widespread. The thick (typically > 1 cm), homogeneous but unburrowed mud layer at the surface in some cores (e.g. C and E) may be a fluid-mud deposit formed
following storms and/or typhoons that occurred in later summer or early fall. Landward is to the left in all peels.

Spring
The sedimentary structures observed in cancores
taken in the spring (Fig. 13) are similar to those
seen in the winter, except for a greater abundance
of small-scale cross-lamination on the surface.
The degree of bioturbation is somewhat higher
than in winter cores. Three types of small-scale
cross-lamination are recognized: (1) trough crosslamination, produced mainly by the migration of
current ripples (Fig. 13C); (2) climbing-ripple
cross-lamination (Fig. 13F), similar to that seen
in the winter deposits; and (3) offshoot and gently
undulating lamination that suggests deposition
by wave action (Fig. 13C). The climbing-ripple
cross-lamination shows both stoss-erosional and
stoss-depositional varieties; the angle of climb
typically ranges from 10 to 15. Most ripple

cross-lamination shows landward-directed migration. Later in spring, during the increasingly

lengthy periods of minimal wave action, slackwater mud drapes begin to be preserved, initiating the transition to the summer mud layer.
Accumulation of the mud typically begins in the
outer intertidal zone and gradually expands in a
landward direction.

DEPOSITIONAL PROCESSES
Sedimentation during summer is characterized by
weak winds with a prevalent offshore direction
(Figs 5B and 6A); as a result, the waves reaching
the tidal flats are small, except during the
infrequent typhoons. The long intervals of

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B. C. Yang, R. W. Dalrymple and S. S. Chun

Fig. 12. Cancore peels from the sand flats (see Fig. 4 for locations) collected in the winter. Hummocky crosslamination and parallel lamination are the main structures. The vertical burrow in B was produced by a polychaete
worm that is common on the middle and outer tidal flats. In general, however, bioturbation is extremely rare. Sp,
parallel-laminated sand; Scr, cross-laminated sand; HCS, hummocky cross-lamination. Small circles indicate mud
pebbles. Landward is to the left in all peels.

relative calm allow mud to be deposited. The

intense solar insolation and high temperatures
that occur at this time (Fig. 6B) promote the
consolidation of the mud drapes during exposure
(Anderson & Howell, 1984), enhancing their
preservation potential. The high water temperatures (ca 27 C; Fig. 6B) may also promote the
settling of the coarser silt-sized particles, because
of the lowered viscosity (Krogel & Flemming,
1998), although these low viscosities may inhibit
the deposition of the clay fraction because
flocculation is reduced (Lau, 1990).
The upward decrease in sand content in the
basal part of the summer mud layer (Figs 9 and 10)
reflects the more or less gradual change of wind
direction from winter to summer (Fig. 5), and the

accompanying decrease in wind strength (Fig. 6A)

and wave energy. The upward decrease in sand
content is also promoted by the landward expansion of the mud layer and the progressive reduction in the source area for sand. As the soft mud
layer grows in thickness, it probably also tends to
attenuate the wave energy (Wells, 1983), further
decreasing the ability to transport sand.
Sand occurs within the summer mud as discrete layers, which may in turn be grouped into
sharp-based successions wherein the thickness of
each individual sand layer decreases upward
(Figs 9 and 10). The prevalence of ripples also
decreases upward through each succession.
These features suggest that the successions reflect
deposition during periods of waning energy.

2005 International Association of Sedimentologists, Sedimentology, 52, 235252

Sedimentation on open-coast tidal flats

247

Fig. 13. Cancore peels from the sand flats (see Fig. 4 for locations) collected in the spring. Landward-migrating
climbing ripples are particularly well developed at the top of core F. Landward is to the left in all peels.

These successions superficially resemble tidalrhythmite successions described by various

authors (Nio & Yang, 1991; Lanier & Tessier,
1998; Dalrymple et al., 2003). In such an interpretation, each sandmud couple would represent a single tidal cycle, while the larger
succession would represent the passage from
spring to neap tide. This explanation is not
favoured, however, for several reasons: there are
generally only two to three such successions in
the summer mud layer, while there are six to
eight neap-spring cycles during the 34 month
period in which the summer mud layer accumulates; upward thickening successions of sand
layers would be expected to form during the
passage from neap to spring tide, but they are
absent; and the relatively low speed of the tidal
currents (almost never > 40 cm sec)1) makes it

unlikely that the sand comprising each layer

could be transported hundreds of metres or more
from an exposed sand source, across the mudcovered intertidal zone, during a single tide.
Some of these objections are overcome if the sand
layers represent spring tides and the intervening
mud layers are neap-tide deposits; however, the
regularity of the upward-fining trend seen in each
succession (Fig. 10) cannot be explained by this
process.
Instead, it is proposed here that the lamina
successions represent deposition during and in
the immediate aftermath of typhoons and/or
summer storms (Figs 6A and 10). Most of the
ripples in the sand layers show gently undulating
lamination, chevron up-building, and a paucity of
angle-of-repose lamination, attributes which indicate that they are of wave or combined-flow origin

2005 International Association of Sedimentologists, Sedimentology, 52, 235252

248

B. C. Yang, R. W. Dalrymple and S. S. Chun

(De Raaf et al., 1977; Meene et al., 1996). The

abrupt start to the successions reflects non-deposition or erosion as the storm intensifies, whereas
the upward decrease in the prevalence of ripples
in each succession suggests that deposition
occurred rapidly as the storm waned. It is
suspected here that each sandmud couple represents a single tidal cycle, with the sand derived
from local areas where the mud layer was removed
during the storm. The thick, homogeneous mud
layers in the lower part of these successions
(Fig. 10) may represent fluid-mud deposits
(Dalrymple et al., 2003). The scarcity of bioturbation in these laminated successions is also consistent with rapid accumulation following storms.
The only deposits that represent inter-storm periods are the nearly homogenous mud at the top of
each upward-fining succession, which are moderately to intensely bioturbated and contain isolated
silty to sandy laminae (Fig. 9C,E and F).
The increasingly frequent occurrence of storms
and onshore winds through the fall and into the
winter (Figs 5 and 6A) leads to the erosion of the
summer mud layer. Erosion starts at local defects
(e.g. burrow openings and stakes associated with
fishing activities) and other weak areas (e.g.
slightly lower, wetter places where desiccation

was less effective at consolidating the mud).

Cooler water temperatures (Fig. 6B) and windand wave-induced turbulence hamper the settling
of mud. Whenever mud drapes do form, they are
re-eroded almost immediately because desiccation-produced consolidation is negligible and
wave action is nearly constant. As a result, mud
deposition is restricted to the inner part of the
IMF where the influence of waves is negligible.
The outer part of the IMF is frequently influenced
by storm waves that produce wave and combinedflow ripples (Fig. 7A and D).
Unlike typical tidal flats that show a landwardfining trend, the sandy tidal flats coarsen landward, with the coarsest sand occurring just
seaward of the IMF (Fig. 8B). In this, they are
more similar to shorefaces and beaches (Davis,
1985). Indeed, the coarsest sand generally occurs
where the convex-up topographic profile is steepest near the high-tide elevation (Fig. 4): presumably wave energy is greatest at this location
because of reduced attenuation by bottom friction
when water depths are greatest (Kim, 2003), and
because water levels change slowly leading to the
concentration of wave energy. At any given time,
however, wave attenuation causes wave energy to
decrease landward (Fig. 14). As a result, the

Fig. 14. Schematic depositional model for a sandy, open-coast tidal flat like that at Baeksu. The frictional attenuation of storm waves as they propagate across the gently sloping tidal flat leads to a systematic change in the nature of
the deposits: the wavelength of the HCS decreases landward because of the decrease in wave size; and the abundance
of wave ripples and bioturbation increase landward because of the decreasing wave energy. Summer mud deposits
are only preserved in the innermost part of the tidal flat, landward of the place where swash bars weld to the
shoreline, leading to the development of an incipient-strand plain/beach face. Further seaward, erosion of the
summer mud by winter storms generates mud-pebble lags at the base of storm beds.

2005 International Association of Sedimentologists, Sedimentology, 52, 235252

Sedimentation on open-coast tidal flats

sedimentary structures produced during the winter change across the tidal flats, from ripple crosslamination and gently inclined lamination on the
inner sand flats (Fig. 12A and D), to parallel
lamination and HCS with minor ripples on the
outer flats (Figs 12B,C,E and F, and 14).
The HCS present in the sand flats appears
qualitatively to decrease in wavelength towards
land, and even the longest wavelengths (ca 2 m)
are shorter than the values commonly reported
for shelf deposits (typically > 2 m; Dott &
Bourgeois, 1982; Harms et al., 1982; Walker &
Plint, 1992; Cheel & Leckie, 1993). This indicates
that the wavelength of the HCS is correlated in
some way with the wavelength of the waves that
produced the structures. During storms, the wave
spectrum on the tidal flats is likely to be saturated, meaning that the waves are continuously
breaking and thus are at their depth-limited size
across the entire tidal flat (Wright & Short, 1984;
Le Hir et al., 2000; Kim, 2003). Consequently, the
wave height and spacing decrease landward as a
result of energy dissipation, causing the HCS to
become smaller also. The presence of weak tidal
currents throughout the period of submergence
during storms (Kim, 2003) indicates that the HCS
forms under combined-flow conditions.
The predominance of landward-directed ripple
cross-lamination, much of it climbing at moderately steep angles (Figs 12E and 13F), cannot be
attributed to tidal currents, because the flood and
ebb currents are nearly equal in speed and
duration (Kim, 2003). Instead, these structures
are attributed to wave action. As the waves
approach the waters edge on these gently sloping
tidal flats, each one generates a solitary bore.
Wave oscillatory motion in such circumstances is
highly asymmetric, with stronger landward-directed currents (Clifton et al., 1971), especially during the flooding tide. Such motion, when
combined with the intense turbulence generated
by the breaking waves, is believed to be responsible for the landward-directed climbing ripples.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The Baeksu tidal flat is transitional between
sheltered (i.e. true) tidal flats and beaches/
shorefaces (Fig. 1; Hayes, 1979; Short, 1991; Boyd
et al., 1992). In the summer, when wave action is
minimal, it behaves much like a typical tidal flat:
sedimentation is tide dominated and heterolithic
stratification (Fig. 9), including deposits that
resemble tidal, wavy and lenticular bedding.

249

However, even during this period, storms play

an important role in the development of rhythmite-like successions of interbedded sand and
mud (Figs 9 and 10). During the winter, by
contrast, the tidal flats behave more like a shoreface. Sedimentation is dominated by breaking
waves that form graded storm beds and HCS
(Figs 12 and 13), deposits that strongly resemble
those considered diagnostic of shorefaces (Walker
& Plint, 1992). The concave-upward topographic
profile (Fig. 4) and onshore increase in sand
grain size (Fig. 8B) are also similar to features
seen in shorefaces, although the presence of the
IMF in sheltered areas (Fig. 2) is more characteristic of tidal flats. The general scarcity of muddy
deposits in the deeper parts of the cancores from
the outer flats (Figs 9 and 1113), regardless of
the season, indicates that the summer mud is
rarely preserved and that, in the longer term, the
environment is wave dominated.
Mixed-energy coastal environments that lie
between the end members of sheltered tidal flats
and beaches/shorefaces are probably much more
common than the available literature would
suggest. Sandy open-coast tidal flats such as
described here (see also Reineck & Cheng, 1978;
Mukherjee et al., 1987) and tidal beaches
(Short, 1991; Masselink & Short, 1993) that form
in meso- to macrotidal settings where wave
energy is high represent variants within this
transition. All of these settings display a concave-up profile. The tidal beaches described by
Short (1991) and Masselink & Short (1993) have
a relatively steep beach face with slopes that
range between ca 05 and 3; the open-coast
tidal flats of north-eastern India have a slope of
ca 015 (Mukherjee et al., 1987); whereas the
Baeksu tidal flat has an average slope of 006
007. In general, swash bars become more
prominent as the slope increases, whereas the
presence of an IMF is more common on lowgradient coasts. This spectrum of environments
presumably reflects a gradient of wave energy,
with the steeper slopes occurring where the
wave energy is higher (Wright & Short, 1984).
However, sediment grain size also influences the
coastal gradient, coarser grain sizes promoting
steeper slopes than finer grain size (Davis, 1985;
Short, 1991). Thus, open-coast tidal flats and
tidal beaches may well form under broadly the
same wave-tide regime.
As already discussed, the preserved deposits of
the Baeksu tidal flat show significant similarities
with those typical of shorefaces. However, there
are a number of features that should permit the

2005 International Association of Sedimentologists, Sedimentology, 52, 235252

250

B. C. Yang, R. W. Dalrymple and S. S. Chun

distinction between open-coast tidal flats and

shorefaces in ancient deposits:
1. The muddy deposits that form during periods of low wave energy may have relatively low
preservation potential; nevertheless, they do occur, either in the form of in situ remnants or, more
commonly, as mud pebbles concentrated at the
bases of storm beds. The erosional remnants are
particularly important for making an environmental distinction, because they may contain tidal rhythmites, thereby attesting to the influence
of tidal processes.
2. Other indicators of tidal action, such as herringbone cross-lamination, are present in small
amounts in open-coast tidal flats.
3. Landward-directed climbing ripples are
moderately abundant in open-coast tidal flats.
Their origin is ascribed to the formation of landward-propagating wave bores (Le Hir et al., 2000).
Such bores are of less importance on steeper
slopes and should not be as prevalent in beach/
shoreface settings (Komar, 1998). Indeed, landward-directed climbing ripples have not been
reported from more wave-dominated environments (e.g. Clifton et al., 1971; Walker & Plint,
1992). However, the prevalence of such climbing
ripples may be grain-size dependent, becoming
more abundant in finer sand that is more easily
suspended.
4. The HCS that occurs in open-coast tidal
flats has shorter wavelengths than are considered typical of shoreface to shelf deposits:
< 2 m on open-coast tidal flats (Figs 9 and 11
13; see also Mukherjee et al., 1987) versus
> 2 m on marine shorefaces and shelves (e.g.
Dott & Bourgeois, 1982; Cheel & Leckie, 1993;
Amos et al., 1996). The smaller size is attributed to the reduction in wave size that occurs
as they propagate into the intertidal zone (Clifton et al., 1971). Therefore, progradation of a
coastline like that at Baeksu should produce a
succession with an upward decrease in the size
of the HSC. The presence of small-wavelength
HCS by itself should not be taken as indicative
of an intertidal origin, because Allen (1981) and
Greenwood & Sherman (1986) have reported the
occurrence of small-wavelength HCS from lacustrine shorefaces, presumably because the
incoming waves are small as a result of the
limited fetch.
5. Gently inclined parallel lamination, such as
occurs on beaches, is not common in open-coast
tidal flats. The steeper gradient of beaches and
shorefaces leads to less frictional retardation of

the waves and promotes swash and backwash

processes (Masselink & Short, 1993). As a result,
parallel lamination is favoured instead of wave
ripples (Clifton et al., 1971).
6. Beaches and shorefaces should not pass upward gradationally into muddy tidal-flat deposits,
whereas open-coast tidal flats may do so.
In summary, the sandy open-coast tidal flats at
Baeksu, South Korea, experience a pronounced
seasonal variation in sedimentary conditions,
oscillating between tidal-flat sedimentation in
summer and shoreface-like conditions in winter,
because of the monsoonal control on the wind and
wave climate. In the longer term, wave-dominated
deposits predominate. These deposits are similar
to, but subtly different from those of true shorefaces. Such an open-coast tidal-flat setting has
rarely been recognized in the rock record; have
they been misidentified as shorefaces?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was supported by grants from the
Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (no.
F01-2001-000-10010; SSC) and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (no. 7553-01; RWD). We thank C. D. Jung,
C. S. Shon, Y. S. Baek, J. K. Kim and K. S. Jang
(Chonnam National University) for their assistance in the field and laboratory. We appreciate
the constructive review comments by Paul Carling and Carl L. Amos.

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Manuscript received 2 October 2003;

revision accepted 2 October 2004

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