MODELING OF CYCLIC TIDAL RHYTHMITES BASED ON A RANGE OF DIURNAL TO SEMIDIURNAL TIDAL-STATION DATA

Where individual tides deposit appreciable accumulations of sediment, cyclic tidal rhythmites can form that exhibit semimonthly tidal cyclicities. A number of modern analogs and ancient counterparts indicate the importance of such features for paleoenvirommental analyses. In this study, predicted, high-low, tidal-station data are used to simulate current speeds, which in turn are used to simulate sedimentation of tidal rhythmites. This modeling has been done to depict the patterns encoded in cyclic tidal rhythmites. In order to delineate the spectrum of different tidal regimes, the simulations are based upon a series of macrotidal, diurnal to semidiurnal tidal systems. Depending upon thresholds of relative tidal-current speed, only portions of semimonthly tidal cycles will be preserved within cyclic tidal rhythmites.