Grain size analysis of the sediments of Spurn Head, East Yorkshire, England.

摘要

Grain size statistics can be used to characterize a sediment and may be used to derive some information concerning its origin and depositional processes. Data were collected over two field seasons at regular intervals along the seaward and estuary-facing beaches of a 3.5 km long spit in eastern England. The statistics derived from the sand samples were used to investigate the spatial variability and influence of sediment transport on grain size characteristics. Spurn Head in East Yorkshire was chosen for the study because it has a single identifiable sediment source (the glacial till cliffs of the Holderness Coastline). And has a clear transport direction (to the south). In cliff to spit system, very poorly sorted till is eroded from the cliffs and transported southward by long shore drift to form a mobile narrow sandy beach which terminates in a spit in the mouth of the Humber Estuary. Despite the complexity of the source sediment, and variability in transport mechanisms and energies both spatially and temporally, significant patterns were identified on the long shore direction, which were perpetuated over the two sampling seasons.