Environmental controls on coastal dune formation; Skallingen Spit, Denmark

Abstract

Many coastal dune systems in Western Europe were emplaced during the Little Ice Age (LIA). The formation of such dune fields has generally been ascribed to a combination of low sea level and strong winds during that time period, providing a supply of sand from the exposed shoreface and sufficient wind energy to transport this sand landward. However, little information exists on the processes that controlled sediment supply to the beach and why this onshore supply was initiated at all. In this contribution, we consider the origin and development of older dune fields on a barrier spit complex (Skallingen) located in the northern part of the Danish Wadden Sea. Maps and new data on dune litho- and chrono-stratigraphy, the latter based on OSL-dating, allow a precise estimate of the initiation and termination of dune emplacement. Dune formation at Skallingen started at a relatively late stage of the LIA and it can be temporally correlated with a phase of relative sea level rise in North Western Europe and with a high frequency of storm surges along the Danish west coast. These are the conditions during which nearshore bars currently migrate onshore across the shoreface off Skallingen. The bars eventually merge with the beach and constitute a source of sand for modern foredune accretion. It is probable that the onshore bar migration occurred under similar conditions in the past and the migration was triggered, or enhanced, by the sea level recovery from the mid-LIA low-stand and the associated frequent storm surge activity. Consequently, at Skallingen onshore sand supply was caused by marine, rather than aeolian, agents; this supply provided the basis for subsequent dune formation. Indications are, however, that the sediment supply to the beach/dunes was a factor of 2–3 larger in the past. Dune aggradation eventually ceased around 1900AD because of dyke construction. Hence, the association between dune formation and sea level/surge variation at Skallingen is somewhat contrary to other statements of coastal dune development during the LIA in North Western Europe.