Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Geomorphology and Internal Sedimentary Structure of a Landward Migrating Barrier Spit (Southern Sylt/German Bight): Insights from GPR Surveys

  • Chapter
Sand and Gravel Spits

Part of the book series: Coastal Research Library ((COASTALRL,volume 12))

Abstract

Barriers comprise approximately 15 % of the world’s coastlines and are formed due to the combined action of wind, waves, and longshore currents. In this study ground-penetrating radar data (GPR) of different antenna frequencies and sedimentological data were combined to reveal the sedimentary structure and architecture of the southern barrier island spit of the North-Frisian island of Sylt, to define different coastal environments and to set up a barrier island stratigraphy.

Based on these data, a sedimentological model has been generated for Southern Sylt which describes the interaction between extreme events, coastal processes and sedimentary development and elucidates the major episodes of barrier island evolution. The model is concerned with the spit add-on zone where the barrier spit is attached to the central island moraine core and shows a landward migration through barrier rollover involving an interplay of barrier retreat and washover associated with accumulation of sediment in a backbarrier environment as a result of storm surges. With the exception of the uppermost dune facies the spit add-on zone reveals a transgressive coarsening upward sequence starting with sandy mud flat deposits at the bottom which grade into coarser sandy tidal flat deposits toward the top. Sandy tidal flat deposits are overlain by washover sheet and washover fan deposits. Eroded sediment was transported along the west coast of Sylt by longshore drift and was added to the southern spit-end during fair weather conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ahrendt K (1994) Geologie und Küstenschutz am Beispiel Sylt. Berichte des Forschungs- und Technologiezentrum Westküste der Universität Kiel 4:1–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahrendt K (2007) Vergangenheit und Zukunft des nordfriesischen Wattenmeeres. Coastline Rep 9:45–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahrendt K, Thiede J (2002) Naturräumliche Entwicklung Sylts: Vergangenheit und Zukunft. In: Daschkeit A, Schottes P (eds) Klimafolgen für Mensch und Küste am Beispiel der Nordseeinsel Sylt. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg, pp 69–112

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Allen JRL (1982) Sedimentary structures: their character and physical basis, vol 1, Developments in sedimentology, vol 30 A. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 593 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Anthony D, Møller I (2002) The geological architecture and development of the Holmsland Barrier and Ringkøbing Fjord area, Danish North Sea Coast. Geografisk Tidsskrift 102(1):27–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Bantelmann A (1966) Die Landschaftsentwicklung an der schleswig-holsteinischen Westküste, dargestellt am Beispiel Nordfriesland: Eine Funktionschronik durch fünf Jahrtausende. Die Küste 14(2):5–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Behre K-E (2004) Coastal development, sea-level change and settlement history during the later Holocene in the Clay District of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), northern Germany. Quat Int 112(1):37–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blott SJ, Pye K (2001) Gradistat: a grain size distribution and statistics package for the analyses of unconsolidated sediments. Earth Surf Proc Land 26:1237–1248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Botha GA, Bristow CS, Porat N, Duller G, Armitage SJ, Roberts HM, Clarke BM, Kota MW, Schoeman P (2003) Evidence for dune reactivation from GPR profiles on the Maputaland coastal plain, South Africa. In: Bristow CS, Jol HM (eds) Ground penetrating radar in sediment, Geological Society, special publications 211. Geological Society, London, pp 29–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Bristow CS, Pugh J, Goodall T (1996) Internal structure of aeolian dunes in Abu Dhabi determined using ground-penetrating radar. Sedimentology 43(6):995–1003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bristow CS, Chroston PN, Bailey SD (2000a) The structure and development of foredunes on a locally prograding coast: insights from ground-penetrating radar surveys, Norfolk, UK. Sedimentology 47(5):923–944

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bristow CS, Bailey SD, Lancaster N (2000b) The sedimentary structure of linear sand dunes. Nature 406:56–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bristow CS, Augustinus P, Wallis IC, Jol HM, Rhodes EJ (2010a) Investigations of the age and migration of reversing dunes in Antarctica using GPR and OSL, with implications of GPR on Mars. Earth Planet Sci Lett 289:30–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bristow CS, Jol HM, Augustinus P, Wallis I (2010b) Slipfaceless whaleback dunes in a polar desert, Victoria Valley, Antarctica: insights from ground penetrating radar. Geomorphology 114:361–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buynevich IV, FitzGerald DM, van Heteren S (2004) Sedimentary records of intense storms in Holocene barrier sequences, Maine, USA. Mar Geol 210:135–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell CV (1967) Lamina, laminaset, bed and bedset. Sedimentology 8:7–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cassidy N (2009) Ground penetrating radar data processing, modelling and analysis. In: Jol HM (ed) Ground penetrating radar: theory and applications. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 141–176

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper JAG (2012) Mesoscale geomorphic change on low energy barrier islands in Chesapeake Bay, U.S.A. Geomorphology. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.06.019

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis RA (1992) Depositional systems: an introduction to sedimentology and stratigraphy. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 591 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis RA, FitzGerald DM (2004) Beaches and coasts. Blackwell, Oxford, 419 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietz C, Heck H-L (1952) Geologische Karte von Deutschland, Erläuterungen zu den Blättern Sylt-Nord und Sylt-Süd. Landesanstalt für Angewandte Geologie Kiel, 123 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans OF (1942) The origin of spits, bars and related features. In: Schwartz ML (ed) Spits and bars. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, pp 53–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Folk RL, Ward WC (1957) Brazos River bar (Texas): a study in the significance of grain size parameters. J Sediment Petrol 27:3–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Girardi JD, Davis DM (2010) Parabolic dune reactivation and migration at Napeague, NY, USA: insights from aerial and GPR imagery. Geomorphology 114:530–541

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harari Z (1996) Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) for imaging stratigraphic features and groundwater in sand dunes. J Appl Geophys 36(1):43–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes MO (1979) Barrier island morphology as a function of tidal and wave regime. In: Leatherman SP (ed) Barrier islands from Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. Academic, New York, pp 1–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinz H (1968) Die Burgwälle auf den Nordfriesischen Inseln. In: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz (ed) Führer zu vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Denkmälern 9, Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, Mainz, pp 108–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann D (1974a) Aufbau und Alter der Marsch im Kern der Insel Sylt. Sonderdruck aus: Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 55(2):358–378

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann D (1974b) Zum geologischen Aufbau der Hörnumer Halbinsel auf Sylt. Meyniana 23:63–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Hundt C (1957) Die Abbruchursachen an der Nordwestküste des Ellenbogens auf Sylt. Die Küste 6(2):5–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Jol HM, Bristow CS (2003) GPR in sediments: advice on data collection, basic processing and interpretation, a good practice guide. In: Bristow CS, Jol HM (eds) Ground penetrating radar in sediments, Geological Society, special publications, 211. Geological Society, London, pp 9–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelletat D (1992) Coastal erosion and protection measures at the German North Sea Coast. J Coast Res 8(3):699–711

    Google Scholar 

  • Kersten K (1967) Vorgeschichte der Insel Sylt. In: Hansen M, Hansen N (eds) Sylt: Geschichte und Gestalt einer Insel. Verlag Hansen & Hansen, Itzehoe, pp 11–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Leatherman SP, Zaremba RE (1987) Overwash and aeolian processes on a U.S. Northeast Coast Barrier. Sed Geol 52:183–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leatherman SP, Williams AT, Fisher JS (1977) Overwash sedimentation associated with a large Northeaster. Mar Geol 24:109–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindhorst S, Betzler C, Hass HC (2008) The sedimentary architecture of a Holocene barrier spit (Sylt, German Bight): Swash-bar accretion and storm erosion. Sed Geol 206:1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindhorst S, Fürstenau J, Hass HC, Betzler C (2010) Anatomy and sedimentary model of a hooked spit (Sylt, southern Northsea). Sedimentologija 57:935–955

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miall AD (1991) Hierarchies of architectural units in terrigenous clastic rocks, and their relationship to sedimentation rate. In: Miall AD, Tayler N (eds) The tree-dimensional facies architecture of terrigenous clastic sediments and its implications for hydrocarbon discovery and recovery, vol 3, Concepts in sedimentology and palaeontology. SEPM, Tulsa, pp 6–12

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchum RM, Vail PR, Sangree JB (1977) Stratigraphic interpretation of seismic reflection patterns in depositional sequences. In: Payton CE (ed) Seismic stratigraphy: applications to hydrocarbon exploration, AAPG Memoir 16, Payton, CE, Tulsa, Oklahoma, pp 117–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Neal A (2004) Ground-penetrating radar and its use in sedimentology: principles, problems and progress. Earth Sci Rev 66:261–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neal A, Richards J, Pye K (2003) Sedimentology of coarse-clastic beach-ridge deposits, Essex, southeast England. Sed Geol 162(3–4):167–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newig J (1995) Zur langfristigen Gestaltänderung der Insel Sylt. Kölner Geographische Arbeiten 66:121–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Newig J (2001) Rantum auf Sylt unter dem Einfluss von Küstenrückgang und Sandwanderung. Vechtaer Studien zur Angewandten Geographie und Regionalwissenschaft 22:17–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen LH, Johannessen PN, Surlyk F (1988) A Late Pleistocene coarse-grained spit-platform sequence in northern Jylland, Denmark. Sedimentology 35:915–937

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panten A (2000) Die schwersten Sturmfluten an der deutschen Nordseeküste. In: Newig J, Theede H (eds) Sturmflut: Gefährdetes Land an der Nordseeküste. Ellert & Richter Verlag, Hamburg, pp 56–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Pilkey OH, Cooper JAG, Lewis DA (2009) Global distribution and geomorphology of fetch-limited barrier islands. J Coast Res 25:818–837

    Google Scholar 

  • Prothero DR, Schwab F (1996) Sedimentary geology: an introduction to sedimentary rocks and stratigraphy. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 567 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Reichstein J (2005) Jahrtausendlange Bedrohung des Lebens auf Sylt: Ergebnisse archäologischer Siedlungsforschung. In: Jessel H (ed) Das große Sylt Buch. Ellert & Richter Verlag, Hamburg, pp 92–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz RK (1982) Bedform and stratification characteristics of some modern small-scale washover sand bodies. Sedimentology 29:835–849

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tillmann T, Wunderlich J (2011a) Facies and development of a holocene barrier spit (Southern Sylt/German North Sea). In: Proceedings of the 6th international workshop on advanced ground penetrating radar, IWAGPR 2011, 22–24 June 2011, Aachen, Germany, pp 188–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Tillmann T, Wunderlich J (2011b) Genese eines Strandhakens am Beispiel der Hörnum-Odde (Süd-Sylt): Untersuchungen des oberflächennahen Untergrundes durch die Kombination von geophysikalischen und sedimentologischen Methoden. Coastline Rep 17:177–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Tillmann T, Wunderlich J (2012) Ground-penetrating radar in coastal environments: examples from the islands Sylt and Amrum. In: Vött A, Venske J-F (eds) Bremer Beiträge zur Geographie und Raumplanung, 44, pp 60–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Tillmann T, Wunderlich J (2013) Barrier rollover and spit accretion due to the combined action of storm surge induced washover events and progradation: insights from ground-penetrating radar surveys and sedimentological data. J Coast Res Spec Issue 65:600–605 doi: 10.2112/SI65-102.1

  • Tillmann T, Ziehe D, Wunderlich J (2013) Holozäne Landschaftsentwicklung an der Westküste der Nordseeinsel Amrum. Quat Sci J 62(2):98–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Uda T (2005) Bars. In: Schwartz ML (ed) Encyclopedia of coastal science, Schwartz, ML, Springer, Dordrecht, pp 909–912

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Dam RL (2012) Landform characterization using geophysics – recent advances, applications, and emerging tools. Geomorphology 137(1):57–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Dam RL, Schlager W, Dekkers MJ, Huisman JA (2002) Iron oxides as a cause of GPR reflections. Geophysics 67(2):536–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Overmeeren RA (1998) Radar facies of unconsolidated sediments in The Netherlands: a radar stratigraphy interpretation method for hydrogeology. J Appl Geophys 40:1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang P, Horwitz MH (2007) Erosional and depositional characteristics of regional overwash deposits caused by multiple hurricanes. Sedimentology 54(3):545–564

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research (NIhK), Viktoriastr. 26/28, D-26382, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Tanja Tillmann

Authors
  1. Tanja Tillmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tanja Tillmann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Fisica e di Scienze della Terra, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Giovanni Randazzo

  2. Environmental Sciences Research Institute, University of Ulster, Coleraine, United Kingdom

    Derek W.T. Jackson

  3. Environmental Sciences Research Institute, University of Ulster, Coleraine, United Kingdom

    J. Andrew G. Cooper

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Tillmann, T. (2015). Geomorphology and Internal Sedimentary Structure of a Landward Migrating Barrier Spit (Southern Sylt/German Bight): Insights from GPR Surveys. In: Randazzo, G., Jackson, D., Cooper, J. (eds) Sand and Gravel Spits. Coastal Research Library, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13716-2_17

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation