One of the most important dynamic processes in the ocean is that of tidal movement. The tides obtain their energy from the earth's rotation. Most of this energy is received in the major ocean basins, and from there transmitted into shallow waters. It is in these shallow waters that tidal energy is dissipated, in part by eroding and transporting sediments, resulting in very active sedimentary processes in the shelf and coastal areas.
Research in clastic tidal deposits has accumulated large-amount of data on tidal processes and their products. In present-day tide-swept shelves large-scale tidal sandbodies with various bedforms has been a subject of extensive research, which mainly focussed on the southern bight of the North Sea (van Veen, 1935; Jones, Kain & Stride, 1965; Houbolt, 1968; Stride, 1970; Caston & Stride, 1970,1973; McCave, 197.1; Terwindt, 1971,1973; Cas-ton, 1972; Johnson et al., 1981; Kenyon et al., 1981; Langhorne, 1982; McCave & Lan-ghorne, 1982; Nio & Nelson, 1982; Stride, 1982; de Boer, van Gelder & Nio, 1988), the English Channel and the French Atlantic shelf (Berne et al., 1986; Berne et al., 1988; Turcq et al, 1986) and the North American Atlantic shelf (Swift et al., 1972,1979,1981; Milliman etal., 1972; Sheridan etal, 1974;Knebel&Folger, 1976,Knebel, 1981; Swift & Field, 1981).
In estuaries and other inshore tidal basins, genesis, geometry, distribution pattern, dynamic behaviour and internal sedimentary structures of tidal bedforms have been studied intensively in the Netherlands (Boersma, 1969; Terwindt, 1970,1981; de Raaf & Boersma, 1971; Boersma & Terwindt, 1981; Kohsiek & Terwindt, 1981; van den Berg, 1982, 1984, 1987; Terwindt & Brouwer, 1986; de Boer, van Gelder & Nio, 1988), U.K. (Langhorne, 1973; Allen & Friend, 1976; Elliott & Gardiner, 1981), France (Tastet et al, 1986), United States (Boothroyd & Hubbard, 1975; Bokuniewicz, et al, 1977), Canada (Swift et al, 1966; d'Anglejan, 1971; Dalrymple et al, 1975,1978; Dalrymple, 1984) and other countries. Most of the studies were concentrated in intertidal areas. The subtidal deposits received less attention due to the difficulties in field observations. Preservation potential of subtidal deposits, however, is much higher. As a consequence subtidal deposits will occur more often in the geological record. It is from the detailed study of the subtidal deposits in the construction pits of the Oosterschelde, SW Netherlands that distinct diagnostic criteria for recognizing tide-dominated deposits were developed (Visser, 1980; Siegenthaler, 1982; van den Berg, 1982; Nio et al., 1983; de Mowbray & Visser, 1984; Yang & Nio, 1985). <...>
