The Shoalhaven River in southern New South Wales (NSW) drains a catchment of ∼7,000 km², forming a barrier estuary at its mouth with a prograded strandplain to its north. Previous coring and dating across the floodplain and adjacent strandplain indicate progressive infill of the estuarine basin over the past 7,000 years. Over this time the system transitioned from a wave-dominated estuary to a wave-dominated delta. The Shoalhaven River appears to have initially discharged to the sea at Crookhaven Heads, until it adopted a more direct route through an intermittently open mouth at Shoalhaven Heads; construction of Berrys Canal in 1822 now permanently links the Shoalhaven River to the adjacent smaller Crookhaven River. Airborne LiDAR reveals details of topography of prominent levees and meander scroll bars that flank the lower reaches of the river and beach/foredune ridges to the north. Sedimentological and mineralogical characteristics of modern sediment samples collected from the river channel, the beach, and the barrier reveal that the Shoalhaven River is dominated by quartz sand along its predominantly straight course through the infilled estuarine plains. This is in contrast to the tripartite classification of sedimentary depositional environments, comprising sandy fluvial delta, central mud basin, and sandy marine barrier, that characterised the initial wave-dominated estuary 7000 years ago, and is typical of most barrier estuaries in NSW. Grain size decreases downstream and sands have a higher feldspar content, and angularity, than is typical of marine sand that has been reworked in the nearshore. This fluvially-derived component is delivered to the coast intermittently by floods that re-open Shoalhaven Heads, as shown by retrospective analysis of aerial photography and satellite imagery. Grain size decreases with distance alongshore from the river mouth indicating that these sands are transported north by longshore drift to augment a gradual onshore delivery of sand within this coastal compartment. Scanning electron microscopy of selected grains implies that this fluvial sand has been contributing to incremental formation of beach ridges for much of the past 3000 years since the estuarine basin has been largely infilled, with a slight detectable acceleration in the rate of progradation.

新南威尔士州南部（NSW）的Shoalhaven河排水流域约7,000 km ²，在其嘴部形成一个屏障河口，其北部则是一条渐进的平原。泛滥平原和邻近的平原地区先前的取心和测年表明在过去的7,000年中河口盆地逐渐充满。在这段时间内，系统从波浪为主的河口过渡到波浪为主的三角洲。Shoalhaven河似乎最初是从Crookhaven Heads排入大海的，直到它通过Shoalhaven Heads断断续续的开放河口采取了一条更直接的路线；现在，贝里斯运河（Berrys Canal）的修建于1822年永久性地将Shoalhaven河与相邻的较小的Crookhaven河连接起来。机载LiDAR揭示了突出的堤防和蜿蜒曲折的滚动条的地形细节，这些曲折的滚动条位于河的下游和北部的海滩/铁峰。从河道，海滩和围墙收集的现代沉积物样品的沉积学和矿物学特征表明，沙阿尔黑文河沿其主要是笔直的河道穿过充填的河口平原，主要是石英砂。这与沉积沉积环境的三方分类相反，沉积沉积环境包括砂质河流三角洲，中央泥盆和砂质海洋屏障，这是7000年前初始波浪为主的河口的特征，并且是新南威尔士州大多数屏障河口的典型特征。与在近岸进行重加工的海生沙相比，下游的晶粒尺寸减小，并且沙具有更高的长石含量和棱角。这种河流衍生的成分通过洪水将间断性地输送到海岸，从而使Shoalhaven Heads重新开放，如航空摄影和卫星图像的回顾性分析所示。粒度随着距河口沿岸距离的增加而减小，这表明这些沙粒是通过长岸漂流向北输送的，从而增强了该沿海隔室内陆上沙粒的逐渐陆上输送。选定谷物的扫描电子显微镜观察表明，自从河口盆地被大量填充以来，这种河床砂在过去3000年的大部分时间里一直在促进滩脊的逐渐形成，并且可察觉地加速了沉积速率。粒度随着距河口沿岸距离的增加而减小，这表明这些沙粒是通过长岸漂流向北输送的，从而增强了该沿海隔室内陆上沙粒的逐渐陆上输送。选定谷物的扫描电子显微镜观察表明，自从河口盆地被大量填充以来，这种河床砂在过去3000年的大部分时间里一直在促进滩脊的逐渐形成，并且可察觉地加速了沉积速率。粒度随着距河口沿岸距离的增加而减小，这表明这些沙粒是通过长岸漂流向北输送的，从而增强了该沿海隔室内陆上沙粒的逐渐陆上输送。选定谷物的扫描电子显微镜观察表明，自从河口盆地被大量填充以来，这种河床砂在过去3000年的大部分时间里一直在促进滩脊的逐渐形成，并且可察觉地加速了沉积速率。