Lunar-solar rhythmpatterns: Towards the material cultures of tides

Jones, Owain

Abstract

The movements of the oceans, and the liminal margins of sea, land, and fresh water haveprofound implications for human/nonhuman life. Those movements and margins are rhythmicallyaffected by tides which are thus a key means by which the forceful materiality of water is animated.Where salt water meets land and river mouths, ceaseless, varying, daily, monthly, and seasonalrhythms of sea level rise and fall occur. Complex patterns and rhythms of intertidal areas, currents,mixing of salt and fresh water, erosion, transportation, and deposition, and many impacts on humansystems are created. Due to location, orientation, and sea/land topography, coastal areas around theworld are subject to microtides, mesotides, or macrotides (4 m and higher). Particularly in the caseof the last, the rhythms of the tides extend out into a range of intersecting ecosocial assemblages.This paper discusses tides and their rhythms, sets them in debates about temporality/nature, andintroduces the idea of rhythmpattern which is timespace animated. It also considers dissonanceand consonance within and between tidal rhythmpatterns and their overwriting by development. © 2011 Pion Ltd and its Licensors.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Nov 2, 2011
• Journal: Environment and Planning A
• Print ISSN: 0308-518X
• Electronic ISSN: 1472-3409
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 43
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 2285-2303
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1068/a4468
• Keywords: lunar-solar ryhthmpatterns, tides
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/969449
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a4468