Land Reclamation Impacts on Tidal Landscape Evolution

Fertile and low-lying coastal landscapes are often densely populated due to food supply (agriculture, aquaculture, and fisheries) and easy navigability (shipping lanes). Much of the low-lying land that is regularly inundated by the sea has been converted to agricultural land or urban environments to meet the need for land. This reclamation of land influences the tidal dynamics of the coastal environment, which in turn modifies its morphology. Through various complex tide-topography interactions identified in this paper, we explore how the location and extent of land reclamation influences tides and bed levels in various tidal environments. We especially point to the key role of sediments herein, introducing feedback mechanisms that lead to large impacts on tidal landscapes, but also long adaptation times. This is especially the case for estuaries due to their confinement and the typically large availability of sediments.