Scientific challenge. Adjacent tidal basins are often treated as separate entities, because the tidal water volume covering the tidal basin mainly enters and exits through one tidal inlet. This macro-scale relation is
quantified in simple empirical equilibrium relations between tidal volume and the cross-sectional area of the tidal inlet. Likewise, at the meso-scale and micro-scale, channel dimensions and intertidal area are linked, showing
that small basins are nested at several scales in the entire tidal basin. The presence of tidal divides between basins and subbasins raises the question to what degree sediment fluxes are also divided.