A photograph I took last week of the ripples in the Thames Estuary mudflats at Shoebury East beach. I do love how these gentle, smooth looking mounds form across the entire mudflats at low tide and forever change shape on each tide.
Did you know that these ripples are called Ripple Lithofacies and are caused by water flowing over loose sediment which creates bed forms by moving sediment with the flow. These forms are created by tidal flow speed and sediment size, and the ripples are characteristic of shallow water and care also caused by wind blowing over the surface.
Well thats your piece of useless information for the day…….
