Fingerprinting sediments along the west coast of Jylland: interpreting provenance data

Abstract

The Danish North Sea coast is a dynamic sedimentary environment experiencing erosion, transport and re-deposition of sand along the coast. Because of the natural and economic value of the coastal zone expensive protection measures such as nourishment of the coast are undertaken. The present study utilises provenance analysis techniques developed at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) to characterise the coastal sand bodies by fingerprinting the heavy minerals in the sand. The aims of the study are to test these new methods in an active sedimentary environment and to develop an understanding of transport pathways along the coast. A total of c. 40 samples have been collected and analysed as part of the project. This paper gives an outline of the project and provides examples of the methods used based on six samples from the Husby profile on the west coast of Jylland (Fig. 1). The study is a collaboration project involving GEUS and the Department of Geography and Geology (DGG) at Copenhagen University; GEUS is responsible for the analyses and DGG for sample collection.