THE APPLICATION OF CLAY MINERALOGY IN THE PROVENANCE OF NORTH SEA MUDS IN THE BELGIAN COASTAL AREA

摘要

In the North Sea considerable amounts of mud are being transported. In the Belgian coastal area - mainly between Zeebrugge and Ostend - this material forms a sizeable mudplate. These muds are important for a number of economic and environmental issues : they continuously have to be dredged to maintain shipping lanes leading to the harbours of Antwerp and Zeebrugge, they obstruct marine engineering projects and influence the water quality. Despite their importance, the transport and sedimentation of the muds are still poorly understood and their origin remains unknown. To solve these problems, the Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models (MUMM) initiated a large interdisciplinary project. A recent addition in tracing the provenance of the muds is the use of a detailed qualitative and quantitative examination of their mineralogy, which is dominated by clays.