Gat (landform)

A gat is an inshore channel or strait that connects coastal waters to the open sea, or that separates two landmasses such as two islands or an island and a peninsula; the term is used mainly along North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts. Gats are usually narrow but deep, kept that way by tidal currents flowing back and forth that erode the channel more than the surrounding seabed. When the tide reverses and water rushes back out through the gat into open water, it spreads out and slows, dropping the sand and mud it carries and building an ebb delta of shallower water and sandbars between the landmasses on either side.