Hydro-ecological relations in the Delta Waters

XBE CHANGING TmAL LAMXiCAPE I N TEE DELTA ARM OF THE SOUlX-W'ST
N-DS
J.P.M.
Mulder
Implementation of the Delta Prpject has initiated a procesa of major
changw in the tidal landscape of the South-West Netherlands.
The win geomorphological developments are described in comparison &h
the historic evaluation of the Delta area and in eelation to changes of
the mjm natural driving force*.
Channels. sandy shoals, mudflats and salt marshe3 make Up the
characteristic elements of the landscape in ~e {formerly) tidal waters
of tbe South-West Netherlands. Over the last decades thls lmddcape hhs
became subject to dramatic chases. Main causes: implementation of the
Delta Project, aimed at securing the South-West Netherlan&s against
flooding, and in the Westerschelde, large scale dredgfng for the sake
of free shipping t9 the harbours of Bntwerp. Consequences: the coherent
geomorph~logicnl system of ebb tidal deltas, tidal. inlets and
estuaries, has beep divided into several were or less hiependent
subsystems. The tendencies towads a dywmic equilibrium between tbe
tiW landscape aad natural driving forces - tides, waves and fluvial
currents - have been dibtnKM.