Sediment Transport in European Estuarine Environments

Historically, estuaries have been the focal point of extensive industrial activity for maritime nations. Similarly, it is well established that such marginal marine environments are particularly sensitive to both long- and short-term external factors. In particular, estuaries are subject to diverse anthropogenic influences, such as: maritime transport (port construction, navigational dredging and dumping, maritime traffic congestion), industrial development (both onshore and offshore), mineral and aggregate extraction, changes in hinterland agricultural practices, residential development and increased water- and sediment-based pollution. In future, these areas will be placed under enhanced environmental pressure. All of the activities outlined will place this inherently unstable environment under excessive strain in terms of coastline evolution, intertidal saltmarsh development, and sediment contamination. In addition, superimposed upon these anthropogenic factors are the systems response to more globally-driven changes i.e. sea level rise. As the need for a coordinated and responsible approach to the effective management of these morphological systems becomes apparent, as seen by the development of national and international legislation for estuarine management plans, an improved understanding of the physical dynamics of these systems becomes imperative. Within this context, modern sediment processes require investigation whilst, at the same time, the development of the adjacent coastline should be established. Investigation of these data sets, representing different time-scales, will provide the essential scientific background to management decisions. The research described in this Special Issue address these problems, through the application of a wide range of approaches (sedimentological, geological, physical and engineering-based); these, in turn, lead to an overall interdisciplinary investigation of estuaries. The research undertaken has involved the deployment of instrumentation at a number of differing localities within various estuaries, measuring processes using both established and newly-developed (state-of-the-art) techniques. Such measurements have been extended, within an historical and recent geological time-scale, to develop a conceptual understanding of the evolution of the estuarine systems. At the same time, interpretation of the interdisciplinary data sets has been placed within the context of coastal engineering and management.