On the morphodynamic evolution of tidal environments

Tidal environments are dynamic and delicate systems exposed to the effects of climate changes and often subject to increasing human pressure. In order to address issues of conservation of such environments, we have addressed a comprehensive theoretical framework suitable for large-scale, long-term modelling of their eco-morphodynamic evolution. A mathematical model of tidal network ontogeny, which represents the first step towards a complete model, has rationally been developed by a simplified representation of main physical processes governing tidal systems. The model, which describes tidal channel initiation and its progressive headward extension, through the carving of incised cross-sections, where values of a suitably defined local shear stress exceeds a predefined threshold value, is assumed to act on timescales considerably shorter than those of other landscape-forming eco-morphodynamical processes. Complex network structures meeting distinctive observed statistics of geomorphic relevance, as unchanneled-length and watershed-area probability distributions, are reproduced by the model.