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Macrobenthos of a Sublittoral Sandbank in the Southern Bight of the North Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

C. Vanosmael ,
K. A. Willems ,
D. Claeys ,
M. Vincx  and
C. Heip
C. Vanosmael
Affiliation:
Marine Biology Section, Zoology Institute, State University of Ghent, Belgium
K. A. Willems
Affiliation:
Marine Biology Section, Zoology Institute, State University of Ghent, Belgium
D. Claeys
Affiliation:
Marine Biology Section, Zoology Institute, State University of Ghent, Belgium
M. Vincx
Affiliation:
Marine Biology Section, Zoology Institute, State University of Ghent, Belgium
C. Heip
Affiliation:
Marine Biology Section, Zoology Institute, State University of Ghent, Belgium
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Extract

In the Southern Bight of the North Sea, off the Belgian coast, exists a series of parallel sublittoral sandbanks, the Flemish Banks, situated in a southwest-northeastern direction, 15–25 km long and 3–6 km wide. They are separated by channels, 4–6 km wide, and rise about 25 m above the surrounding sea-floor (Fig. 1). These sandbanks resulted from the accumulation of sandy deposits of glacial origin sedimented by the giant stream draining the waters from the present Rhine, Meuse, Scheldt and Thames before the Flandrian marine transgression about 12000 years ago. When from boreal times onwards the North Sea became slowly inundated, a connexion existed with the small English Channel which gradually enlarged, resulting in the very strong tidal currents which are responsible for the present geomorphology of the region.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , August 1982 , pp. 521 - 534
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1982

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