Recent sedimentation processes in the coastal zone of the Curonian Spit (Kaliningrad region, Baltic Sea) [Jüngste Ablagerungsprozesse im K*uuml;stengebiet der Kurischen Nehrung (Raum Kaliningrad, Ostsee).]

Author： Zhamoida Vladimir A. Ryabchuk Darya V. Kropatchev Yury P. Kurennoy Dmitry Boldyrev Vadim L. Sivkov Vadim V.

Publisher： E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung

ISSN： 1860-1804

Source： Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, Vol.160, Iss.2, 2009-06, pp. : 143-157

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Abstract

The Curonian Spit is a sandy depositional landform that encloses the Curonian Lagoon, the biggest lagoon of the Baltic Sea. A new interpretation of the sediment distribution and sedimentation processes in the coastal zone of the Russian part of the Curonian Spit was obtained on land and offshore (using side-scan sonar, echo sounding and surficial sediment sampling) by a joint expedition of VSEGEI (Karpinsky Russian Geological Research Institute) and ABIORAS (Atlantic Branch of the Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Science) in 2006 and 2007. The investigations found widespread coastal and seabed erosion at the attached part of the Curonian Spit and in the area adjacent to Lesnoy, providing evidence of highly active lithodynamic processes. The main reason for more intense erosion processes over recent decades is a sediment deficit in the coastal system between Cape Taran and Lesnoy. Further beach degradation and an increased possibility of spit breakthrough in storms are likely. Radiocarbon dating of the lagoon's Holocene muds outcropping on the seabed showed eastward spit migration of 0.4 to 0.5 m per year in the area near Lesnoy over the last 5000 to 6000 years.