How and why do barrier islands and tidal inlets move over time? ...

[itsmyluck]

How and why do barrier islands and tidal inlets move over time?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Which has a greater influence on Earth's ocean tides, the Sun or the Moon? Why?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[jaymee143]

Answer to Question 1

Barrier islands are long narrow ridges of land that form parallel to the mainland. Tidal inlets separate the islands and focus tide-produced currents between the lagoon and open ocean. The barrier islands and inlets shift in the direction of longshore currents that erode, transport, and deposit the barrier-island sediment. The longshore currents deposit sediment on the up-current side of an inlet and erode the down-current side of the inlet. New inlets may form where storms erode a breach through a barrier island and divide it into two or more islands.

Answer to Question 2

The Moon has a greater influence on Earth's tides. The gravitational force exerted by one body on another is a function of (a) the masses of the two bodies and (b) the distance between them. The Sun has a much larger mass than the Moon but it is farther away, at about 155 million kilometers from Earth. The Moon is smaller but it is only 400 thousand kilometers away from Earth. This means that the Moon exerts a stronger tidal force than does the Sun, even though the Sun has more mass.

[itsmyluck]

Thanks for the timely response, appreciate it

[mammy1697]

Gracias!