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Seabed sediment maps underpin a variety of marine research endeavours. Seabed mapping data are available for many regions, but these usually provide discrete classifications which obscure underlying continuous properties of the sediments. Other areas are poorly surveyed, e.g., polar regions which are inaccessible due to ice cover. Here, we focus on the inaccessible North East Greenland shelf for which there are almost no seabed sediment data. We trained a random forest model to predict sediment classes from an existing map of the well‐surveyed neighbouring Barents Sea, using data on bathymetry, currents and waves. We then used our model to predict the unknown sediment distributions off East Greenland. In the process, we generated some new spatial data on previously un‐mapped properties of the Barents Sea, such as mean grain size, organic carbon and nitrogen content, porosity and permeability. The maps of both regions are available to support future research activities in the Arctic, e.g., the parameterization of benthic biogeochemistry in ecosystem models, or mapping species distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a substantial number of seabed sediment samples and corresponding acoustic characteristic and physical property test data collected in the continental shelf area of the northwestern South China Sea, this study employed a sound speed ratio correction model to analyze the correlation between the sound speed ratio of seabed sediments and parameters such as porosity, density, mean grain size, and water content. This study resulted in the development of both single-parameter and double-parameter empirical formulas for the sound speed ratio of seabed sediments in this marine region. The determination coefficients (r2) for the single-parameter empirical formulas based on physical properties, excluding the mean grain size (r2 ≤ 0.75), were all above 0.78, indicating a strong correlation. Additionally, the fitting curve at 100 kHz was slightly greater than that at 50 kHz, consistent with the acoustic dispersion characteristics of sediments. To assess the applicability of the empirical formulas to different maritime areas, the formulas derived from the South Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea were compared with those of the study area. The results indicated that the empirical formulas for the sound speed ratio established in this study have general applicability, especially for sediments with low porosity, high density, and low mean grain size. In addition, the determination coefficient of the dual-parameter empirical formula for the sound speed ratio–porosity–mean grain size is superior to that of the single-parameter empirical formula for the sound speed ratio–mean grain size. Through comparative studies with other marine areas, it was found that there are certain differences in the relationships between porosity and mean grain size established in different marine areas. Therefore, based on the rough sphere model, this study transforms the GS model into a single-parameter model built on either porosity or mean grain size. The error analysis results indicate that the single-parameter GS model has a smaller error than the measured data. However, the GS model controlled by a single parameter performs poorly compared to the predicted curves of the sound speed ratio–porosity and the sound speed ratio–mean grain size fitted in this study. This discrepancy may be attributed to the fact that the input parameters of the GS model are reference values, emphasizing the need for further research to determine suitable input parameters for the GS model in this marine area. • The empirical equations for the sound speed ratio were developed in this study in different marine regions. • The established empirical equations for the study area were compared with those for the South Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and other marine regions. • This study compared the empirical equations with the grain shearing (GS) theoretical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many studies have been performed in the northern Gulf of Mexico, there have been a paucity of high-resolution sediment data collected from seabed. New multicores were collected repeatedly at 4 fixed stations in the inner Louisiana shelf on March 12, 2021, July 7, 2021, November 20, 2021, and March 5, 2022, respectively, to study detailed spatial and temporal variations of surficial sediment. Being a very high sediment accumulation zone, Raccoon Island dredge pit and its nearby shelf were selected as our study area and additional six vibracores were collected inside and outside the pit for comparison. This study area is about 140 km west of the modern Mississippi Delta and 70 km southeast of the Atchafalaya Delta. A total of 624 samples from both vibracores and multicores were analyzed for this study. Spatially, our results show that sediment near Ship Shoal was the coarsest and sediment deposited in the pit was the finest. The organic matter was highest inside the pit and lowest near Ship Shoal. The carbonate content was the lowest near Ship Shoal. Temporally, surficial sediments were generally coarser in July and November of 2021 and finer in March of 2021 and March of 2022. Although the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers supply a large amount of sediment during spring season, it takes time for the river-derived sediment to be delivered into the study area. Hurricanes Delta, Zeta and Ida passed this area and greatly impacted sediment transport in the years 2021 and 2022. The comparatively coarser sediment in July and November of 2021 were likely related to the resuspension of some coarse sediment by these hurricane events. Besides the river supply, Ship Shoal and barrier islands are nearby localized sandy sources and inner Louisiana shelf is a widespread mud source. This spatial heterogeneity of surficial sediment interplays with the timing of Mississippi and Atchafalaya River flood season and hurricanes and together dictates the sediment texture. This research on a filled-up dredge pit can benefit future evaluation of the safety of existing oil infrastructure and the feasibility of building new pipelines and platforms after dredging activities. Our results also shed light on the study of river- and hurricane-impacted sediment transport in muddy and mixed-texture passive continental margins around the world. • Pit sediment hasn't reached an equilibrium with ambient environment yet. • Surficial sediments were coarser in July and November and finer in March. • Sediment grain size spatial variations were categorized into four groups. • This research will benefit future coastal restoration and sediment management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Predicting seabed mobility is hampered by the limited accuracy of sediment transport models when the bed is composed of mixed sediments. The hiding-exposure (HE) effect modifies the threshold of motion of individual grain classes in sediment mixtures and its strength is dependent on the grain size distribution. However, an appropriate method of predicting this effect for bimodal sediment mixtures remains to be developed. The prototypical example of a bimodal mixture is that consisting of a well-sorted sand and gravel for the fine and coarse fractions respectively. Through a comprehensive series of laboratory experiments, the HE effect has been quantified for a full range of sand-gravel mixtures from pure sand to pure gravel, the choice of which has been underpinned by an integrated study of offshore geophysical and sedimentological data found in coastal and shelf seas. In the sand–gravel mixtures used in the present study the critical shear stress needed to mobilise the sand and gravel fractions increased by up to 75% and decreased by up to 64%, respectively, compared to that needed to mobilise well-sorted sediment of similar size. The HE effect was found to be dependent on the percentage of gravel (coarse mode) present in the bimodal mixture, whereby the effect for the mixture is the weighted sum of the HE effect for the fine and coarse modes. Highlights • Mobility of bimodal sediment is unpredictable due to Hiding-Exposure (HE) effects • HE effect increases the threshold of motion of sand fractions by up to 75% • HE effect decreases the threshold of motion of gravel fractions by up to 64% • Strength of HE effect can be predicted using the proportion of coarse sediment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inlet channel of the Tagus River estuary is located in the biggest urban area of Portugal and connects the river estuary basin to the Atlantic Ocean. Hence, it is a region with extreme economic importance, attested by the presence of the Lisbon port. For this reason, a large amount of resources is invested in acoustic surveys to update nautical charts and monitor the bottom modifications induced by the high hydrodynamics of this river. The use of acoustic remote characterization allows mapping the seafloor, including discrimination of different seafloor types. In this study, we used the Angular Range Analysis (ARA) technique to analyze the backscatter data from four distinct surveys acquired by different multibeam echo sounders systems to estimate the mean grain size of the bottom sediments. The correlation between the mean grain size provided by the ARA and laboratory results present in most cases a moderate to a strong linear relationship between them and the standard deviation of the residuals of the mean grain size between the ARA and the laboratory results varied between 0.52 and 1.01 ϕ. The higher residuals could be explained by regions with poor sediment sorting; changes in the seabed that occurred during the time interval between the hydrographic and sediment sampling surveys; solid input from tributary rivers; dumping of dredged material; positional inaccuracy of the samples; insufficient signal penetration of the multibeam echo sounders system to represent the vertical variation of the samples; and sediment mixing of vertical sedimentary structures during sampling. Therefore, we show that it is possible to apply acoustic remote characterization to highly hydrodynamic areas such as the Tagus River channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study confirms that the fine sand-sized detritus in the central-northern Yellow Sea is chiefly derived by the Yellow River and explains the Holocene Yellow River dispersal system and the preservation of transgressive deposits by heavy-mineral and grain-size analyses. Micas, which are sensitive to hydraulic sorting, offer an effective key for identifying the dispersal of Holocene Yellow River-derived fine-grained sediments. The heavy-mineral compositional changes are attributed to hydraulic sorting by different marine dynamics and various mixing with additional local transgressive deposits of miscellaneous provenance. The effects of hydraulic sorting are dominated by Holocene tidal currents and by foreshore waves during the rapid transgression, respectively. The former results in obvious enrichments of garnet and common stable species such as Ti oxides, tourmaline, and titanite, whereas the latter seems more remarkable for the compositional changes, with further depletion of epidote, actinolite/tremolite and zoisite/clinozoisite. The central Yellow Sea mud deposit and the alongshore muddy zone off the southern Liaodong Peninsula are opposite to each other as a pair of structurally symmetric coalesced terminal lobes far away from the high-energy strait between Cape Chengshan and Changsan-got. The Haiyang subaqueous clinoform as another terminal lobe is revealed by a heavy-mineral index, which represents an extremity of deposits accumulated by the modern Yellow River-derived sediments off the southwestern Shandong coast. A small mud patch is revealed, roughly corresponding to the central regime of the amphidromic system of principal M 2 constituent. The tidal current-dominated depositional pattern proposed here emphasizes the importance of time–velocity asymmetry of tidal currents. Such a dynamic mechanism is primarily responsible for the dispersal of the modern Yellow River-derived sediments when they are entrained from the Bohai Sea to the South Yellow Sea through the Bohai Strait and the strait between Cape Chengshan and Changsan-got. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need for fit-for-purpose maps for accurately depicting the types of seabed substrate and habitat and the properties of the seabed for the benefits of research, resource management, conservation and spatial planning. The aim of this study is to determine whether it is possible to predict substrate composition across a large area of seabed using legacy grain-size data and environmental predictors. The study area includes the North Sea up to approximately 58.44°N and the United Kingdom’s parts of the English Channel and the Celtic Seas. The analysis combines outputs from hydrodynamic models as well as optical remote sensing data from satellite platforms and bathymetric variables, which are mainly derived from acoustic remote sensing. We build a statistical regression model to make quantitative predictions of sediment composition (fractions of mud, sand and gravel) using the random forest algorithm. The compositional data is analysed on the additive log-ratio scale. An independent test set indicates that approximately 66% and 71% of the variability of the two log-ratio variables are explained by the predictive models. A EUNIS substrate model, derived from the predicted sediment composition, achieved an overall accuracy of 83% and a kappa coefficient of 0.60. We demonstrate that it is feasible to spatially predict the seabed sediment composition across a large area of continental shelf in a repeatable and validated way. We also highlight the potential for further improvements to the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements of thickness and grain size along flow-parallel transects across onshore deposits of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami revealed macroscopic horizontal variations and provided new insights into tsunami sedimentation. The tsunami caused severe erosion of beaches, river mouths, and the shallow seafloor along the coast of southwestern Thailand and supplied sufficient sediment to deposit a kilometer-wide blanket of sand on the land surface. The tsunami deposits generally fine landward with some fluctuations caused by local entrainment and settlement of sediments. Sediments of medium and fine sand are restricted to a few hundreds of meters inland from their source, whereas finer grained sediments were suspended longer and deposited 1 km or more inland. Although the thickness of the tsunami deposits is strongly influenced by local topography, they generally thin landward. In areas of low-relief topography, the rate of landward thinning is exponential and reflects the dominance of sediment supply to nearshore areas over that to areas farther inland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terrigenous fraction of seabed sediments recovered along the north-west African continental margin illustrates spatial variability in grain size attributed to different transport mechanisms. Three subpopulations are determined from the grain-size analyses (n = 78) of the carbonate-free silt fraction applying an end-member modelling algorithm (G. J. Weltje, 1997). The two coarsest end-members are interpreted as representing aeolian dust, and the fine-grained end-member is related to fluvial supply. The end-member model thus allows aeolian fallout to be distinguished from fluvial-sourced mud in this area. The relative contributions of the end-members show distinct regional variations that can be related to different transport processes and pathways. Understanding present-day sediment dispersal and mixing is important for a better understanding of older sedimentary records and palaeoclimate reconstructions in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Folk's textual classification scheme which is widely used for sediment study operates with the proportions of gravel, sand, silt and clay fractions conventionally. However, dealing with data from different sources usually needs to face missing values that may make the classification difficult. To solve this problem and discover other methods of analyzing the scheme, with samples of offshore seabed sediment, a two-stage model was established to predict a sample's class using the XGBoost algorithm as well as the grain size parameters as input features. The final model was evaluated with quantitative performance measures of recall, precision and F1 score, and by comparing sediment texture maps using the predicted and the actual data. The results show that the model performs well on extraction of sediment samples without gravel fraction, and prediction of classes that have independent characteristics of grain size parameters or samples not near the boundaries of classes in the ternary diagram. The predicted sediment texture is close to the actual and could be reliable due to errors with little impact on further applications. It is demonstrated that the model could be an auxiliary or alternative approach to offshore sediment texture mapping, as well as supplementary to the analysis of sedimentary environment. • Apply XGBoost Algorithm to study the Folk's textual classification scheme. • Evaluate the uncertainty of prediction using confusion matrix. • Boundaries between sediment classes on the diagram are where the errors occur. • Error regions may indicate to complicated areas of seabed transport. • Classes of sand, sandy silt, silty sand and silt predicted by the model are reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past major changes in sea level have had a significant influence on global- and shelf sea tidal dynamics. Some of these changes are preserved in sedimentary records from the shelf seas, and so appropriate proxy data have the potential to constrain tidal model outputs over the recent geological past. Tidal models which simulate the evolution of tide-dependent parameters over geological timescales are fundamental to understanding the response of the tides to sea-level rise and climate change. This study explores a potential new sedimentary proxy for validating past shelf sea tidal dynamics, interrogating the relationship between tidally-modulated bed shear stress and seabed sediment grain size at discrete sediment core locations over the northwest European shelf seas. Radiocarbon-dated sediment grain size profiles were generated for four British Geological Survey UK shelf sediment vibrocores, spanning a range of physical environments. Changes in observed sediment grain size through time were compared with simulated changes in tidal-induced bed shear through time, using temporal and spatial outputs from the most recently developed palaeotidal model of the Northwest European shelf seas. Although a positive correlation between observed grain size and simulated bed shear stress was observed at three of the four sediment cores sites, no robust relationship could be quantified. The palaeotidal model output failed to resolve the details of the actual sediment dynamics, since only tidal-induced bed shear stresses were considered. Wave processes were neglected, and the model was not sensitive enough to constrain simulated past tidal conditions at point locations; rather it is suitable for examining general trends. There remains a need to develop new proxies for past shelf sea hydrodynamic conditions which can be used to constrain numerical model output of tidal currents at regional scales. • We explore a new proxy for validating models of past shelf sea tidal dynamics. • Age-constrained seabed sediment data for 5 marine cores for NW Europe presented. • Evolutions of median grain size compared with simulated tidal-induced bed stress. • General trends in sediment grain size and simulated bed shear stress were observed. • The tidal model did not fully resolve the intricacies of observed sediment dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a fast and suitable method to derive the spatial distribution of seabed grain sizes on tidal flats. A successful validation was carried out in the Dithmarschen Bight, a meso-tidal area of the German North Sea coast. In particular, the study is built on statistical correlations between observations of sediment sizes from 197 seabed samples and the numerical model output of flow-wave variables under specific marine and atmospheric forcings. The correlation between orbital velocities and mean grain sizes (d 50) exhibited the best results, but it can be affected under low relative wave height ratios. The methodology was applied for the construction of a high-resolution map of grain sizes in the Dithmarschen Bight, which resulted in absolute and relative errors of 16 μm and 13%, respectively. The proposed relationship was also adopted to examine scenarios of field data scarcity. • A fast and suitable method to derive the seabed grain sizes on tidal flats • Strong correlation between grain sizes and orbital velocities was determined. • Grain size response adjusted well to a representative calm hydrodynamic forcing. • Wave instead of flow variations correlated well to grain sizes in a meso-tidal region • One bed sample every 25 km2 was enough to predict an accurate sediment map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Bottom sediments were collected on a muddy tidal flat in Willapa Bay (southwestern Washington State) and analyzed for grain size using a Coulter Multisizer. The disaggregated inorganic grain size (DIGS) distributions obtained from the sediment were then analyzed using conventional methods including median diameter, d50, the largest 25% of the grain size in the population, d75, skewness, and kurtosis. In addition, the inverse model of Curran et al. (2004) was used to provide process-based parameters for description of the size distributions. To examine small-scale spatial differences in grain size, the results of the analysis were plotted against seabed elevation, obtained from USGS LiDAR data. Results reveal a strong inverse correlation between the mass fraction deposited to the seabed as flocs, which is called the “floc fraction”, and elevation on the tidal flat but failed to show any correlation with conventional grain-size descriptors. The dependence of floc fraction on elevation arises mainly due to the differences in size distributions between secondary tidal channels and tidal flats. The extent of flocculation in sediments deposited in the channels of the Shoalwater tidal-flat system is seasonal. Greater precipitation in the winter months is associated with periods of increased suspended-sediment concentrations, which favours more extensive flocculation and the formation and maintenance of low-strength, high-water-content muds. During the summer dry season, lower suspended-sediment concentrations lead to reduced floc fractions in the channels, while the size distributions on the flats resemble those in winter. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]