Intertidal subsidence and collapse features on wave-exposed, drift-aligned sandy beaches subject to Amazon mud: Cayenne, French Guiana

Short-lived collapse features affecting the intertidal sandy profile were observed on mud-rich beaches in Cayenne. They were formed in packets of beach sand accumulating over thick (several metres) fluid to under-consolidated foreshore mud, which adjusts to this sand loading by seaward and longshore migration of fluid mud and subsequent in situ mud dewatering, thus generating subsidence and deformation of the overlying sand sheet. These sandy collapse features required active longshore sand transport and were washed out by wave processes at each rising tide. They finally disappeared permanently as adjustment of the underlying mud enabled stabilization of the beach profile. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.