Estuarine Landforms of Puri Coast in Orissa, India

An estuary is a body of water formed where freshwater from rivers and streams flows into the ocean, mixing with the seawater. The processes operating in an estuary are a function of the characteristics of the catchment and of the receiving basin into which the river discharges. Although the relative balance of wave, tide and river processes shows the exert considerable control over morphology, estuaries are the product of longer-term evolution in time and space over which boundary conditions change. Estuarine circulation is generally a function of the interaction of the marine processes, particularly tide, with fluvial discharge and water already in the system. Present study shows the estuarine processes and associated landforms of the study area.