European marine aggregates resources: Origins, usage, prospecting and dredging techniques

Abstract

Marine aggregates (sand and gravel) are important mineral resources and traded commodities 1 hen significance is bound to increase further due to increasing coastal,one development stricter environment regulation concerning land won aggregates and increasing demand for beach replenishment material Marine aggregate (MA) deposits can be differentiated into into and modern deposits 1 he former consist of sedimentary material deposited in the past and under different environmental sedimentary regimes than those existing presently (c g the gravel/sand deposits of the Pleistocene buried riser valleys of the northwestern european shelves) The latter are deposits which have been formed and corm oiled by the modern hydro and sediment dynamic conditions (e g the lineal sand banks of the southern North Sea) The present contribution reviews the current state of affairs in 9 representative European Member States concerning the prospecting and extraction (dredging) techniques as well as the levels of production and usage The review h is shown a mixed record as in some of the studied States marine aggregate production is an important and streamlined activity valet e us diet States base not yet des eloped efficient marine aggregate policies and industries It Is is also shown that although attempts hue been lately. made to coordinate the field the industry still faces problems which hinder Its sustainable development These include (amongst others) lack of standardisation of the idles ant information difficulties in the access to information non-coherent regulatory regimes and limited collaboration/coordination between the marine scientific research establishments and the marine aggregate industry These issues should be addressed as quickly as possible in older to exploit effectively this important mineral resource