Abstract: Estuarine and coastal areas, located at the interface between the sea and land, are heavily impacted by human activities such as coastal engineering projects. Strategies for managing impacts are diverse, and depend on the geomorphology, evolution history and dominant processes shaping the system. Techniques such as observing the sedimentary stratigraphic characteristics and coastal numerical modelling have been used to better understand these formative processes. Here we review research findings linking hydrodynamic factors (e.g., river, tide, and wave) in estuarine and coastal regions to the sedimentary stratigraphic characteristics that are associated with different hydrodynamic processes. The mechanisms through which these forces shape the sedimentary stratigraphy are analyzed, along with episodic dynamic factors such as floods and storms, along with other influencing factors like biological disturbance, sea-level changes, and reclamation projects; all of these affect the formation and preservation of sedimentary stratigraphy. Additionally, the application and mechanistic understanding of numerical methods of interpreting the formation and destruction mechanisms of sedimentary layering are discussed. Finally, some future research directions are proposed, including e.g., the need of research at the spatiotemporal scales of estuarine and coastal sedimentary layering, and the development of multifactor coupled numerical models.