Tidal prism is the total amount of water flow into or out of an inlet with the rise and fall of the tide, excluding any freshwater discharges. Tidal prism for any tidal period is the product of the mean of the high- and low-water surface areas of the bays behind the inlet entrance and the tidal range in each segment. Allowance must be made for the time involved in propagation of the tidal wave through the inlet into the basin, since the rise and fall of the tide are not uniform over the entire bay.
Tidal prism has been related to inlet dimensions, particularly area (O'Brein, 1976), and to flow characteristics. The relationship of tidal prism to littoral drift (or wave power) determines inlet stability. Bruun and Gerritsen (1960)indicate that if the ratio of the tidal prism to the quantity of littoral drift delivered per year is in excess of 300, the inlet will have a high degree of stability, whereas ratios of less than 100 reflect a low degree of stability. Tidal prism is also...
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Bruun, P., and Gerritsen, F., 1960. Stability of Coastal Inlets. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 123p.
O'Brien, M. P., 1976. Notes on Tidal Inlets on Sandy Shores. Vicksburg, Va.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Waterways Experiment Station, GITI (General Investigation of Tidal Inlets) Rept. 5, 26p.
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© 1982 Hutchinson Ross Publishing Company
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Nordstrom, K.F. (1982). Tidal prism . In: Beaches and Coastal Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_466
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30843-1_466
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