Dendroid tidal channel in King Sound

Dendroid tidal channel in King Sound

This article is about the Fraser River in north-west Australia, which flows into King Sound from the west (slightly north-west of the mouth of the Fitzroy River). Its mouth is a tidal mudflat formed by sediment carried by the river. The turbid waters of King Sound regularly flow in and out of the tidal mudflats, forming a remarkably beautiful fractal dendroid structure that resembles a growing tree.
Depending on the weather and the strength of the tides, the structure can look like a withered tree or as a blossoming tree full of leaves.
We provide two different images (Figures 1 and 2) of this low tide delta. In addition, an animation of this tidal flat area over a period of almost half a year of continuous cloudless observation is shown (Figure 3, animation), demonstrating how the appearance changes several times over this period.
Similar “trees” can be seen in the northern Gulf of California, on the Asian coast of the Arabian Sea and, of course, on the north coast of Australia.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

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