The evolution of the Dutch and Belgian coasts and the role of sand supply from the North Sea
In: Global and Planetary Change. Elsevier: Amsterdam; New York; Oxford; Tokyo. ISSN 0921-8181; e-ISSN 1872-6364, more
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sand transport; model; Sediment; coastal evolution; Holocene |
| Authors | | Top |
- van der Molen, J., more
- van Dijck, B.
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| Abstract |
During the Holocene, the Dutch and Belgian coasts evolved, controlled by post-glacial eustatic sea-level rise, spatially varying vertical subsurface motions (glacio-isostatic crustal rebound, compaction, tectonics) and spatially varying sediment supply (mainly marine sand). The marine sand supply changed as the tidal dynamics and the wave climate changed due to the changing geometry and depth of the North Sea during the Holocene transgression. These changes influenced the coastal evolution. This study compares the results of separate numerical model calculations of the large-scale Holocene tide- and wave-induced sand transport in the southern North Sea with existing geological data of the Dutch and Belgian large-scale coastal evolution, resulting in a qualitatively good correlation. The large-scale coastal evolution is interpreted in terms of the oceanographical forcing, and an integrated conceptual model of the Holocene evolution of the Dutch and Belgian coasts is proposed. The large-scale wave-driven bed-load transport was an order of magnitude smaller than the tidal transports. The modelled tidal transport direction changed from onshore before 6 ka BP to along shore at present for the Zeeland and Holland coasts; the influence that waves may have had on the tidal transport by suspending sand gradually decreased. This change in direction caused the modelled tidal sand supply to the coast to decrease for the Belgian, Zeeland and Holland coasts. While the offshore area of the Holland coast remained a zone of (small) deposition due to decreasing northward sand transports, the offshore area of the Zeeland coast became increasingly erosional after 6 ka BP due to the encroaching divergence of the tidal transports. Due to uncertainty in the magnitude of the modelled sand transports, but robustness in the transport patterns, the focus is on the qualitative rather than the quantitative model results. When compared with the trend of closure, expansion and later erosion and reopening of the coast, the above decrease in sand supply must have been slow enough compared with the decrease in sea-level rise to cause a temporary sand surplus which decayed to a slight deficit as the decrease in supply and the rise in sea level continued. The Wadden Sea coast exchanged little or no sand with the adjacent deeper North Sea throughout the Holocene. |
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