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Research - PhD'Past, present and future sea-level change: an integrated management approach to modelling the geomorphology and sediment dynamics of the north Sefton Coast'.
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council regularly surveys the area at fixed points on the marshes, and has done so for many years. This research will use the same points for data collection, to allow a comparison with historical data. Samples collected from the surface of the marsh will be analysed to provide evidence of the present day sediment. Monitoring sites will be established to investigate how much sediment is being deposited onto, or eroded away from, the marsh surface. Cores of sediment will also be analysed to investigate the historical nature of the sediments making up the marsh. The use of historical photographs (especially aerial photographs) will provide further evidence to determine precisely the nature of coastal changes in the area, and will provide indications and evidence for the causes of the changes. A major aim of this project is to provide a permanent record and database of the current and past status of the northern Sefton coast salt marshes. This will allow future changes to be assessed in comparison with this baseline information. Once all the data has been collected and analysed, it is hoped that it will be possible to evaluate and model likely future changes, so as to contribute to the strategic planning of coastal management.
Pedogenesis on the Sefton coastal dunes The British coastline is a vital national heritage. Therefore, it is very important to have an understanding of the complexity of the coastal system and subsequent responses to rapid environmental change, such as coastal erosion, rising sea levels and climatic change. The geomorphological processes active on this part of the coast, along with a sound knowledge on the local habitat environments and their location in relation to the coast, have previously been recognised. This project aims to bring together these two issues, which have generally been kept separate, to determine how the habitat environments will adjust and migrate in response to the changing coastal landforms and sea level rise. The soil system is an essential component of the coastal environment and is fundamental to the understanding of the complex range of environmental, ecological and hydrological processes and for contributing towards their efficient and effective environmental management. The nature and extent of soil development in the Sefton dune environments, ranging from open dune to slack areas, will be investigated in this project as a major determinant of the content and availability of nutrients and water available to plants, therefore determining the habitat environment of a specific area. In regard to future duneland ecological management, analyses and comparisons of the characteristics of both the modern soils and the now buried soils of the past will be carried out throughout the entire Sefton dune system, with an aim to model habitat migration patterns.
This soil study on the Sefton coastal dunes will meet a number of strategic objectives:
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