Sediments

General Information

North Sea

Baltic Sea

Clyde Marine Region

Adriatic Sea

Sediments

File:Layer Sediments.png
Layer Info
Category	Management
Sub-category	Environmental conditions

Description

The sediments layer portrays the type of sea floor you can find in the sea area.

MSP Challenge

The sediments layer is a static layer, it can help in decision making to plan for wind farms or other structures fixed to the sea floor. It can also assist in identifying potentially important areas for protection.

In this tab you can see the information that applies concretely to the North Sea edition of the MSP Challenge.

Types

Biogenic substrate

coming soon

Coarse substrate

Coming soon

Fine mud

Coming soon

Fine mud or Sandy mud or Muddy sand

Coming soon

Limaria hians beds

Common name: Flame shells

"This habitat has a restricted distribution in the North East Atlantic Region, with current known records confined to the west coast of Scotland and one sea lough in Ireland. There are no long term (>50 year) data sets, but more recent studies show that several known beds in Scotland have declined in extent and density of L. hians individuals since first studied in the late 1970's. In Ireland, the dense L. hians beds in Mulroy Bay reported in 1995 are no longer present in the southern section. Because of the decline in quantity and quality of this habitat in recent years, together with its narrow geographical distribution and the continuing threats, this habitat has been assessed as Vulnerable."

"Flame shell beds are likely to be sensitive to substratum loss, smothering, increased wave action, changes in water flow, physical disturbance, synthetic contaminants, increased nutrients, decreased salinity, and extraction. Flame shell beds are highly vulnerable to seabed trawling and dredging, evidence of this is found in the destruction of the once large beds in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. Other threats include coastal developments and coastal defences, disturbance by mooring chains and anchors and contamination by Tributyl Tin (TBT) a component of antifouling paint."

Source: European Red List of Habitats - Marine Habitat Group. (2015). Retrieved from European Environment Information and Observation Network, accessed on 2021-11-10.

Mixed sediment

coming soon

Modiolus modiolus beds

Common name: Horse Mussel

"The horse mussel Modiolus modiolus forms dense beds, at depths up to 70 m (but may extend onto the lower shore), mostly in fully saline conditions and often in tide-swept areas. Although M.modiolus is a widespread and common species, horse mussel beds (with typically 30% cover or more) are more limited in their distribution. M.modiolus beds are found on a range of substrata, from cobbles through to muddy gravels and sands, where they tend to have a stabilising effect, due to the production of byssal threads." OSPAR Comission (2009).

"As M.modiolus is an Arctic-Boreal species, its distribution ranges from the seas around Scandinavia (including Skagerrak & Kattegat) and Iceland south to the Bay of Biscay." OSPAR Comission (2008).

"Nomination of M.modiolus beds to be placed on the OSPAR list cited sensitivity, ecological significance and decline with information also provided on threat. The nomination was for all OSPAR regions." OSPAR Comission (2008)

"The main threat to Modiolus beds is from fishing, particularly using trawls and dredges, which damage both the Modiolus and associated epibenthic species." OSPAR Comission (2008)

"Modiolus beds are also likely to be badly damaged by other physical impacts such as aggregate extraction, trenching and pipe/cable-laying, dumping of spoil/cuttings or use of jack-up drilling rigs." OSPAR Comission (2008)

Sources:

"Case Reports for the OSPAR List of Threatened and/or Declining Species and Habitats". OSPAR Commission (2008). Retrieved from https://www.ospar.org/site/assets/files/44271/horse_mussel_beds.pdf accessed on 2022-02-10.

"Background Document for Modiolus modiolus beds". OSPAR Commission (2009). Retrieved from https://www.ospar.org/documents?v=7193, accessed on 2022-02-10.

For more information please refer to the original document cited.

Muddy sand

coming soon

Mussel beds

coming soon

Mytilus edulis beds

coming soon

Ostrea edulis beds

"Natural stocks of flat oyster Ostrea edulis, and naturally occurring beds of O. edulis are known to have been more abundant and widespread in the 18th and 19th centuries with large offshore oyster grounds in the southern North Sea, the English Channel, the Irish Sea and off the southwest to north-west coasts of Ireland. OSPAR has listed O. edulis and O. edulis beds as threatened and/or declining in all regions where they occur. In the Wadden Sea, oyster beds are resently considered to be ‘critical’ (under immediate threat of extinction) and have therefore been added to a Red List of macrofaunal benthic invertebrates for the area. There is currently insufficient information, however, to determine the true distribution and extent of the habitat throughout the North East Atlantic region."

"During the 20th century, the occurrence of O. edulis beds in European waters has declined, largely due to excessive harvesting and disease outbreaks. O. edulis beds are also sensitive to a wide range of pressures, such as: substratum loss, smothering, decrease in temperature, increase in wave exposure, increased water flow, abrasion and physical disturbance, synthetic compound contamination, introduction of microbial pathogens/parasites, heavy metal contamination, changes in oxygenation, introduction of nonnative species and harvesting."

Source:

"European Red List of Habitats", Marine Habitat Group (2016). Retrieved from https://projects.eionet.europa.eu/european-red-list-habitats/library/marine-habitats/sample-level-5-assessments/north-east-atlantic-level-5, accessed on 2022-02-10.

For more information please refer to the original document cited..

Rock or other hard substrata

coming soon

Sabellaria spinulosa reefs

coming soon

Sand

coming soon

Sandy mud

coming soon

Sea bed

coming soon

Sediment

coming soon

Worm reefs

coming soon

Metadata

Data Source

EMODnet Seabed Habitats dataportal.

Original Title

EUSeaMap (2021) Broad-Scale Predictive Habitat Map - Substrate type (a habitat descriptor)

Description

“Classified seabed substrate types for European seas. Produced by EMODnet Seabed Habitats as an input layer for the 2021 EUSeaMap broad-scale habitat model, based on a combination of EMODnet Geology seabed substrate products and biological substrates extracted from individual habitat maps from surveys around European seas.”

“Biological substrates were included in the 2021 version of EUSeaMap to assist in the classification of biogenic habitats for the 2019 version of EUNIS. The Folk 5 classification of substrate is adopted because it is compatible with both the 2007-11 and 2019 versions of EUNIS, both of which have been applied in EUSeaMap 2021.”

Description retrieved from http://gis.ices.dk/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/dd52a1a4-842c-4306-9e03-c322c5028c2d, on 2021-11-11

Creation Date

2021-09-24

Methodology

The geometries within the North Sea areas were selected and values were attributed to each sediment type present in the area. Then the attributes values were used to rasterise  the data. The raster data layer was then reprojected to Lambert's Azimuthal Equal Area (EPSG:3035) projection.

Types

• Hard Bottom
• Mud and Clay
• Sand

Metadata

Data Source

Enter data source for Baltic Sea here.

Original Title

Enter name of the layer at the Baltic Sea source.

Description

"The dataset was created to be used in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Impact Index (BSII). It represents benthic biotope complexes in the Baltic Sea, based on a combination of geological sediment data and light availability data. The dataset contains the following six classes: 1 = Photic sand 2 = Non-photic sand 3 = Photic mud and clay 4 = Non-photic mud and clay 5 = Photic hard bottom 6 = Non-photic hard bottom The sediment data used in this dataset has been produced within the EU Interreg IIIB project BALANCE (www.balance-eu.org). The light availability data has been produced withing the EUSeaMap project (unpublished data) and was reported on request to HELCOM Secreteriat by DHI."

Description retrieved from HELCOM's metadata page for this resource (2021-07-19)

Creation Date

Not available. Revision date: 2010-10-01.Updated in 2017.

Methodology

This layer was adapted for MSP Challenge integration. The photic and non-photic zones were merged to obtain just the sediments' classes: sand, mud and clay , and hard bottom.

Types

Clyde Marine Region types here

Metadata

Data Source

Enter data source for Clyde Marine Region here.

Original Title

Enter name of the layer at the Clyde Marine Region source.

Description

Enter the description of the Clyde Marine Region dataset here.

Creation Date

yyyy-mm-dd Clyde Marine Region

Methodology

Enter here how the layer was prepared to be integrated into the MSP Challenge Clyde Marine Region Edition.

Types

Adriatic Sea types here

Metadata

Data Source

Enter data source for Adriatic Sea here.

Original Title

Enter name of the layer at the Adriatic Sea source.

Description

Enter the description of the Adriatic Sea dataset here.

Creation Date

yyyy-mm-dd Adriatic Sea

Methodology

Enter here how the layer was prepared to be integrated into the MSP Challenge Adriatic Sea Edition.