Morphological and sedimentary signatures of tide-dominated coastlines, northern Adriatic Sea

The North Adriatic coastal area, between the Isonzo and Po rivers, mainly consists of lagoon-river delta systems fronted by barrier islands and sandbars and fed by tidal inlets (Fontolan et al., 2007). Despite the microtidal regime (mean spring range 1.1 m; mean neap range 0.3 m), the limited wave influence tends to produce tidal inlets of the tide-dominated type (Hubbard et al., 1979). The tidal inlets, particularly when not fixed by jetties, have a very high sand trapping capabilities, as a consequence of the strong interference generated by tidal currents on the littoral drift. In this paper a review of the main environmental features are presented and discussed, with a particular focus on the morpho-sedimentary signatures useful for the interpretation of the analogues in the geological record, as follow: 1) Large scale sedimentary traps (tidal deltas) 2) Medium to small scale bedforms due to tidal currents 3) Grain-size pattern