The North Sea: an overview
In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences. Royal Society: London. ISSN 0962-8436; e-ISSN 1471-2970, more
Related to:Eisma, D. (1986). The North Sea: an overview, in: Peet, G. (Ed.) The status of the North Sea environment: reasons for concern: proceedings of the 2nd North Sea Seminar 1986, Rotterdam, 1, 2, 3 October 1986: vol. 1. pp. 9-28, more
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| Keywords |
Earth sciences > Geology
Motion > Water motion > Circulation > Water circulation
Ocean floor
Topography
Transport > Sediment transport
ANE, North Sea [Marine Regions]
Marine/Coastal |
| Abstract |
Summarizing, our knowledge on the North Sea is reasonably good in some areas but lacking in others: There is a reasonably good idea of the general water circulation through the North Sea and of the composition and the topography of the seafloor, although more detailed knowledge is still inadequate. There is also a reasonably good idea of the general transport of sediment (bottom transport and in suspension) through the North Sea, but themechanisms involved are badly understood, the in situ particle characteristics are badly known and on the whole suspended matter transport is much less clear than water transport. Nutrients have been studied intensively, resulting in a reasonable insight into their origin, distribution and fate but for other microconstituents this knowledge is largely lacking, which is hardly surprising considering that the necessary analytical techniques were developed in the late sixties or even later. Fluxes of nutrients and other trace constituents in the benthic boundary layer need further investigation. The ecology of the North Sea remains largely obscure because of the complexity of biological relations and the fact that most studies have been limited to commercially important species.Apart from some self-evident or well studied effects, an assessment of the effects of pollution and other human activities in the North Sea is difficult to make. |
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