Journal ArticleDOI
Sources of sand and gravel on the Northern European Continental Shelf
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TLDR
In this paper, the authors outline the production of marine sand and gravel in northern Europe and describe the distribution, composition and Quaternary origins of the most important marine sand resources.Abstract:
The extraction of marine sand and gravel has taken place in a number of countries around the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and English Channel for several centuries, but large-scale dredging for aggregates only began in earnest in the 1960s. Today, marine sands and gravels have an increasing role to play in maintaining European supplies of concreting aggregates as well as material for beach nourishment and constructional fill. The distribution of sand and gravel resources offshore is uneven. They vary in their thickness, their composition and grading, and their proximity to the shore. Many deposits lie in places that are currently inaccessible to the dredging industry. This paper outlines the production of marine sand and gravel in northern Europe and describes the distribution, composition and Quaternary origins of the most important marine sand and gravel resources in northern Europe. Examples are given for the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark, and in summary form for France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Ireland and Germany. Most marine sand and gravel deposits are of fluvial or glacial origin and have been reworked to varying degrees by marine and coastal hydrodynamic processes. They represent a range of former depositional environments, including fluvial channel-fill or terrace deposits, glacial meltwater plain deposits, seabed lag gravels and degraded shingle beach or spit deposits, as well as modern marine tidal sandbanks and sandwave deposits.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Spatial patterns in gravel habitats and communities in the central and eastern English Channel
TL;DR: In this article, the distribution of sediment type and benthic communities in the central and eastern English Channel is shown to be polarised around a distinctive local hydrodynamic feature.
Journal ArticleDOI
The UK marine sand and gravel dredging industry: an application of Quaternary geology
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that some of the most substantial marine deposits originated in subaerial environments at similar times and by the same processes as their present-day terrestrial equivalents, having been deposited in Quaternary cold climate fluvial environments.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Sand waves in the North Sea off the coast of Holland
TL;DR: In this paper, four quarterly surveys were made of the sand-wave field in 1968-1969, and the data on trough to crest height of sand waves have been expressed as significant wave heights.
Journal ArticleDOI
The North Sea
TL;DR: Although a great deal of scientific research has been carried out in this region, the need for additional data is still a crucial precursor to management, and legislation is still developing to address threats to biological diversity, especially of coastal areas which are under pressure from numerous activities.
Journal ArticleDOI
Shape and size trends for sand waves in a depositional zone of the North Sea
Journal ArticleDOI
Extension of the British landmass: evidence from shelf sediment bodies in the English Channel
TL;DR: In this article, high-resolution seismic and vibrocore sample data from a submerged, infilled valley immediately east of the Owers Bank, at −20 m to −40 m chart datum (CD), eastern English Channel, indicate sediment body formation during multiple cut-and-fill events.
Book ChapterDOI
Some New Evidence on the Origin of the Zeeland Ridges
TL;DR: In this paper, the origin of the modern Zeeland ridges was investigated and it was shown that the ridge formation was essentially completed some time ago, before the deposition of up to 2000 years old, slightly clayey, lee-side deposits.