Sediments

General Information

North Sea

Baltic Sea

Clyde Marine Region

Adriatic Sea

Eastern Mediterranean 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.

Return to environmental conditions.

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

The sediment layer retrieved from Emodnet shows the type of sediment found on the seafloor. Most categories or sediments will be based on the grain size of the sediment present, and whenever this cannot be retrieved, the category "sediment" is used. In addition, whenever a species or group of species covers the sediment, it will be categorised as a habitat. For instance, 'Mytilus edulis beds' is used when beds formed by Mytilys edulis are present; but when several species are present, the type used is more general as in 'mussel beds'. For more information, please refer to the types below.

Types

• Biogenic substrate
• Coarse substrate
• Fine mud
• Fine mud or Sandy mud or Muddy sand
• Limaria hians beds
• Mixed sediment
• Modiolus modiolus beds
• Muddy sand
• Mussel beds
• Mytilus edulis beds
• Ostrea edulis beds
• Rock or other hard substrata
• Sabellaria spinulosa reefs
• Sand
• Sandy mud
• Sea bed
• Sediment
• Worm reefs

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.

North Sea Digital Twin Edition

Description

In the North Sea Digitial Twin Edition, the sediments layer is retrieved from Emodnet. The name of the layer is 'Seabed Substrates 1:1M' and represent the different types of sediments to be found on the seabed.

The map is collated from data from Partners and generalized data at smaller scales. Where necessary, the existing substrate classifications (of individual maps) have been translated to a scheme that is supported by EUNIS. This EMODnet reclassification scheme consists of altogether five seabed substrate classes. Four substrate classes are defined on the basis of the modified Folk triangle (mud to sandy mud; sand; coarse sediment; and mixed sediment) and one additional substrate class (rock and boulders) was included by the project team.

The seabed substrate maps were produced March 2019. The sedimentation rates April 2021. The maps are updated automatically through an WMS connection with Emodnet.

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

Types

• Hard Bottom
• Mud and Clay
• Sand

Metadata

Data Source

DHI, EuSeaMap, BALANCE, retrieved from HELCOM on 2017-10-09.

Original Title

Seabed sediment polygon (BALANCE)

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.

Western Baltic Sea

The sediments layer in the Western Baltic Sea Edition remains consistent with that featured in the Baltic Sea edition.

Not applicable.

This layer is not available in the Clyde Marine Region Edition.

Not applicable.

This layer is not available in the Adriatic Sea Edition.

Not applicable.

This layer is not present in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.