Currents, in Long Island Sound

Le Lecheur, E. A., and Sammons, J. C. (1932). Tides and currents in Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound. U. S. Coast Geodetic Surv.. Spec. Publ. 174. 

Since a layer of unbound particles is almost always present on the muddy bottom of the Sound, and the formation of the permanent sediment (i.e., the sediment not subject to excitation by water movements) occurs below this layer, it follows that the detailed mechanics and local patterns of mud transport by currents in Long Island Sound have no direct bearing on the sedimentation process. In dealing with sediment formation it suffices to know that mud-size minerals are everywhere supplied faster than they can be incorporated into the permanent bottom sediment. 

The net westward sand flux has been attributed to the superposition of an estuarine circulation on the strong tidal currents. The way in which this situation results in the net, one-way transport of sand may be made more clear with the aid of a simple representation of the transporting currents and the resulting sediment flux. The currents in Long Island Sound may be decomposed into three components, the long-term mean flow component, the periodic, tidal component, and random variations in the flow. Over short times the bottom currents may be approximated well as a one-dimensional flow in the east-west direction with the tidal component represented by a simple sinusoid so that... 

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