Publication Abstract

Open Shelf Valley System, Northern Palaeovalley, English Channel, UK

J.W.C. James, B. Pearce, R. Coggan*, A. Morando

The Northern Palaeovalley is an open shelf valley system in the English Channel. The valley is > 100 km long and varies in width from 8 to 20 km. Its floor lies at depths of 45–90 m, with margins up to 30 m high. Net sediment transport is west to east, with rock and coarse sediment in the valley floor in the west and a gradual eastward increase in sand cover and volume, culminating in two large linear sandbanks up to 28 km long along the northeast margin of the valley. The Palaeovalley supports a rich diversity of infaunal and epifaunal communities. Considerable overlap exists in the infaunal communities associated with the different geomorphic features, while the epifaunal communities exhibit far greater variability in response to the environmental gradients. Interstitial polychaetes dominate the macrobenthic communities across the area reflecting the dominance of mobile sediment deposits.

Reference

J.W.C. James, B. Pearce, R. Coggan*, A. Morando (2012) Open Shelf Valley System, Northern Palaeovalley, English Channel, UK. Chapter 41 in Seafloor Geomorphology as Benthic Habitat (editors P.T. Harris & E.K. Baker), Elsevier Insight series & E-book