Do tidal sand waves always regenerate after dredging?
Krabbendam, J.M.; Roche, M.; Van Lancker, V.R.M.; Nnafie, A.; Terseleer, N.; Degrendele, K.; de Swart, H.E. (2022). Do tidal sand waves always regenerate after dredging? Mar. Geol. 451: 106866. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2022.106866
In: Marine Geology. Elsevier: Amsterdam. ISSN 0025-3227; e-ISSN 1872-6151, more
Tidal sand waves are rhythmic bedforms found on sandy continental shelves that pose a threat to offshore activities. While emphasis is placed on studying their natural morphodynamic evolution, little is known about if and how fast sand waves recover after dredging. This work presents an analysis of multibeam echosounder data collected at three former sand extraction sites on the Belgian continental shelf. At one of the sites, sand waves seemed to reappear approximately 5 years after dredging had stopped, which did not happen at the other two sites during the measurement period (5 and 9 years). The lack of recovery in those sites is likely the result of larger depths and smaller local sediment availability compared with the site where recovery occurred. Furthermore, these data reveal that in the latter site sand wave recovery was established mainly through local sediment redistribution.
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