The Tide-Dominated Han River Delta, Korea

Book excerpt: The Tide-Dominated Han River Delta provides a thorough analysis of a river delta in which tidal currents have reworked the river-borne sediment, generating characteristic geomorphological and sedimentological signatures in the process. Such "tide-dominated" deltas are common in the modern ocean, forming the substrate upon which entire populations are built. Furthermore, ancient examples contain enormous volumes of hydrocarbon. Despite this, tide-dominated deltas remain less well understood than their wave- and river-dominated counterparts, largely because processes within them are inherently more complex and fewer modern examples have been investigated in detail. This multi-year study by a team of experts in coastal geoscience represents the most complete documentation of a tide-dominated delta to date. Results help advance, and are applicable to, a broad range of fields within sedimentary geology, including clastic sedimentology, seismic and sequence stratigraphy, and coastal geomorphology, in addition to petroleum geology and reservoir engineering. - Offers new access to results of a multi-year hydrocarbon-reservoir analogue study not available elsewhere - Features 75 full-color figures and illustrations to emphasize critical aspects of the delta's sedimentology, geomorphology, and stratigraphy - Provides basic data that better define what tide-dominated deltas are, how these complex systems behave over time, and why this is so - Aids petroleum geologists and reservoir engineers in predicting the distribution of baffles and barriers in tide-dominated sediment bodies, helping in the successful development of reservoirs