Wadden sea

Abstract

The Wadden Sea is a unique coastal landscape of the southeastern North Sea which has evolved during the late Holocene under rising sea-level conditions. Therefore, it is a very young system in terms of geomorphology and ecology. The Wadden Sea is characterized by a coherent system of extended tidal flats, barrier islands, and salt marshes which is one of the largest worldwide. The development of barrier island, which separates the intertidal sandy to muddy flats from the offshore shelf, is linked to two different processes: formation of dunes on supratidal shoals by eolian sediment transport and subsequent stabilization by vegetation (West and East Frisian Islands), and erosion of mainly Pleistocene headlands and/or early Holocene salt marshes (North Frisian Islands), respectively. Water exchange during semidiurnal tide between the tidal basins and the open North Sea is supported by the complex of tidal channels, tidal inlet, and ebb tidal delta.