The mechanism and process of the fomation of tidal flat, settling properties of suspended sediments (SS) in shallow sea water have been investigated through laboratory experiments and field measurements. The results suggest that settling properties of SS were influenced by the type of sediment, SS concentration and salinity of sea water. Interpretation of the variation in both SS concentration-time and grain size distributiontime with depth yielded a good qualitative description of the settling and deposition processes. An attempt has been made to develop an expression for the interfacial settling velocity of SS from the theoretical considerations on the basis of the two-phase flow theorem of a fluid-sediment system. The experimental results agreed well with the theoretical values of the mean interfacial settling velocity of SS.
