A tidal inlet is an opening in the shoreline through which water penetrates the land thereby providing a connection between the ocean and bays, lagoons, marsh, and tidal creek systems. Tidal currents maintain the main channel of a tidal inlet. The second half of this definition distinguishes tidal inlets from large, open embayments or passageways along rocky coasts. Tidal currents at inlets are responsible for the continual removal of sediment dumped into the main channel by wave action. Thus, according to this definition tidal inlets occur along sandy or sand and gravel barrier coastlines, although one side may abut a bedrock headland. Some tidal inlets coincide with the mouths of rivers (estuaries) but in these cases inlet dimensions and sediment transport trends are still governed, to a large extent, by the volume of water exchanged at the inlet mouth (tidal prism) and the reversing tidal currents, respectively.
Tidal inlets are found along barrier coastlines throughout the world....
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Sediment Transport by Tides Tidal Flats
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FitzGerald, D.M., Buynevich, I.V. (1978). Tidal inlets and deltas. In: Middleton, G.V., Church, M.J., Coniglio, M., Hardie, L.A., Longstaffe, F.J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3609-5_237
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