Abstract
This article analyses the morphological history of the outer Thames seabed, covering over 3,000 km2 from Aldeburgh (Suffolk), to Southend-on-Sea (Essex) and Margate (Kent). The region has been depicted on bathymetric charts since the sixteenth century, and has been formally charted since the eighteenth century. Charts published since the early 1800s incorporate sufficient grid reference or ground control detail for georectification onto a common coordinate system (British National Grid). The morphological history of the outer seabed was thus reconstructed through the digitisation and interpolation of soundings onto a regular grid (3D surface). The evolution of seabed morphology was examined using transects, bathymetric change maps and spatial statistics. The results show considerable spatial variability in seabed behaviour. Within the central Thames, banks have experienced significant depth changes can be associated with lateral shifts in individual banks. Some of the outer banks in this region exhibit progressive elongation. Shifts in bank position across the Suffolk shoreface appear to be more subtle, and there is evidence here of both onshore and offshore migration. There is no clear evidence of any regionally coherent response to large-scale historical forcing such as sea-level rise.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the Crown Estate and the National Maritime Museum (Greenwich, UK) for ongoing support in this project. We are also very grateful to the interesting and helpful comments from the anonymous reviewers.
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Guest editors: R. J. Uncles & S. B. Mitchell / The Thames Estuary and Estuaries of South East England
An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0873-3
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Burningham, H., French, J. Seabed dynamics in a lage coastal embayment: 180 years of morphological change in the outer Thames estuary. Hydrobiologia 672, 105–119 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0760-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0760-y