Giant and Mega Ripples in the German Bight and Studies of Their Migration in a Testing Area

Abstract

In a lot of regions the bottom of the North Sea is covered with large ripple fields, especially in the estuaries and in the tidal channels. A great number of echo sounding profiles (29.500 n.m.) were evaluated to determine the boundaries of these areas and to describe the dimension of patterns. Special investigations of the hydrographic situation, the distribution of deposits and the migration of ripples under the influence of tidal currents only, were carried out in a testing area in the Lister Tief on 11 cruises since 1971.

Sand-wave movement on Little Georges Bank

“…Despite other studies which show that sand-wave asymmetry reflects the direction of net sand transport (Jones and others, 1965;Salsman and others, 1966;Ludwick, 1972;Langhorne, 1973;Pasenau and Ulrich, 1974), this study shows that sand waves move both forward and backward relative to the direction that their steep sides face (figs. 9, 10, 11, table 1).…”