Geology
Landforms of Kakadu Estuaries and Tidal Flats
Lower South Alligator River.
Kakadu's coast and the creeks and river systems under tidal influence (extending about 100 kilometres inland) make up this landform. The shape of the estuaries and tidal flats varies considerably from the dry season to the wet season. During the dry season tidal action deposits silt along the river beds and banks. During the wet season the river beds are eroded by the floodwaters and large quantities of fresh and saline water flow out across the tidal flats, where silt is deposited. Large silt loads are also carried out to sea, some of the silt being deposited as a nutrient-rich layer on the sea floor, contributing to the muddy waters that characterise Kakadu's coastline.
The estuaries and tidal flats are home to an array of plants and animals adapted to living in the oxygen-deficient saline mud. The dominant habitats are mangrove swamps and samphire flats. Where freshwater springs occur along the coasts and river banks, isolated pockets of coastal monsoon rainforests form, as at Manngarre.
Estuaries and tidal flats can be seen at West Alligator Head and in the lower sections of the South and East Alligator Rivers.
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