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Content archived on 2024-04-15

TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF MAJOR FLOODS AROUND NORTH SEA COASTS

Objective



THE FIRST PHASE WILL INVOLVE FIELD RESEARCH AND WILL LAST ABOUT FOUR MONTHS. DURING THIS TIME, VERY DETAILED STRATIGRAPHICAL STUDIES WILL BE CARRIED OUT AND ALL BOREHOLES AND SECTIONS WILL BE LEVELLED TO LOCAL DATUMS. FIELD MAPS AT SCALES OF 1:10 000 OR BETTER WILL BE MADE AT EACH LOCATION. CRITICAL STRATIGRAPHIES WILL BE SAMPLED USING CORES RETRIEVED FOR TRANSPORT BACK TO THE LABORATORY. AT INTERVALS DURING THIS PHASE SOME STUDY OF HISTORICAL RECORDS WILL BE UNDERTAKEN.

DURING THE SECOND PHASE, LABORATORY STUDY OF THE CORES RETRIEVED WILL BE UNDERTAKEN. VERY DETAILED POLLEN ANALYSES, INVOLVING SAMPLING AT CLOSE VERTICAL INTERVALS, WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO IDENTIFY CHANGES IN THE LOCAL VEGETATION PATTERN, NOTABLY PERIODS OF MARINE INFLUENCE. STUDIES OF DIATOMS WILL BE MADE, NOT ONLY TO DETERMINE PERIODS OF MARINE INFLUENCE, BUT ALSO TO IDENTIFY PERIODS OF STORMINESS. SOME STUDIES OF FORAMINIFERA AND OSTRACODA MAY BE UNDERTAKEN AT THIS TIME. IN ADDITION, STUDIES OF THE GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE MINEROGENIC SEDIMENTS IN THE CORES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO HELP DETERMINE THE SOURCES OF THE SEDIMENTS. AT THIS STAGE TOO, SAMPLES FOR RADIO-CARBON ASSAY WILL BE UNDERTAKEN FROM BIOGENIC HORIZONS IN THE CORES TO DETERMINE THE AGE OF THE SEDIMENTS CONTAINING STORM SURGE EVIDENCE. THESE SAMPLES WILL PROVIDE A TIME-STRATIGRAPHIC FRAMEWORK, WHICH WILL HELP DETERMINE THE FREQUENCY OF EVENTS AND THE AGE OF SOME INDIVIDUAL EVENTS. FURTHER SURVEY OF HISTORICAL DATA WILL CONTINUE DURING THIS PHASE.

THE THIRD PHASE OF THE WORK WILL INVOLVE FURTHER FIELD STUDY, IN WHICH ADDITIONAL SITES WILL BE INVESTIGATED AND FURTHER DETAIL ADDED FOR EXISTING SITES. FURTHER CORES WILL BE RETRIEVED FOR LABORATORY ANALYSIS. A FEATURE OF THIS PHASE WILL INCLUDE THE DETAILED DELIMITATION OF EVIDENCE FOR INDIVIDUAL EVENTS, SO THAT THE ANATOMY OF INDIVIDUAL EVENTS MAY BE STUDIED.

THE FOURTH PHASE WILL INVOLVE FURTHER LABORATORY ANALYSIS, NOTABLY INVOLVING PARTICLE SIZE STUDIES OF MINEROGENIC LAYERS, AND FURTHER POLLEN AND DIATOM WORK WHERE NECESSARY. AT THIS STAGE, THE PATTERN OF EVENTS WILL BE COMPARED TO TIDAL MODELS FOR DIFFERENT LEVELS IN THE NORTH SEA AND TO EXISTING CURVES FOR SEA LEVEL CHANGE IN THE AREA. FURTHER STUDY OF HISTORICAL RECORD WILL BE UNDERTAKEN AND STUDY OF METEOROLOGICAL RECORDS WILL ALSO BE MADE.

THE FINAL PHASE OF THE PROJECT WILL INVOLVE AN ASSESSMENT OF THE DATA OBTAINED IN THE LIGHT OF TIDAL MODELS AND SEA LEVEL CHANGE. THIS WILL ENABLE PREDICTIVE MODELS OF STORM SURGE ACTIVITY IN THE NORTH SEA BASIN TO BE ESTABLISHED.

Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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Coordinator

COVENTRY UNIVERSITY
EU contribution
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Address
Priory Street
CV1 5FB COVENTRY
United Kingdom

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Participants (3)