From ice sheet cycles to urban regeneration : modelling the Quaternary geology under Scotland's biggest city
1
Citation
0
Reference
7
Related Paper
Citation Trend
Abstract:
The Glasgow conurbation is Scotland’s most densely populated area (approximately 1.2 million people). The city is built upon a complex succession of Quaternary sediments, which were deposited during multiple ice sheet cycles, periods of higher relative sea level, and more recently, through modern anthropogenic processes (arising from Glasgow’s industrial heritage).
In the Glasgow area, several large-scale and long-term projects aimed at regenerating post-industrial (brownfield) sites are underway. These projects need to anticipate ground conditions and potential groundwater and contaminant migration pathways within the underlying Quaternary sediments. To help planners at early stages in such activities the British Geological Survey (BGS) has undertaken a programme of attributed three-dimensional geological modelling of the Quaternary deposits, using the geomodelling software GSI3D and GOCAD, as part of the Clyde-Urban Super-Project (CUSP) and in partnership with Glasgow City Council and others. The modelling is based on a densely-spaced and extensive digital borehole dataset (>50,000 coded boreholes).
The geological models allow planners to have a three-dimensional preview of the properties of the subsurface, allowing critical decisions to be made before any expensive site investigation takes place, and potentially saving time and money. The models can also be used to aid recognition of major resources (such as water, thermal and sand and gravel) in a buried valley system under Glasgow (and elsewhere in central Scotland), and inform groundwater modelling studies.Keywords:
Brownfield
Conurbation
Geological survey
Cite
Carbon dioxide (CO2) separated from natural gas has been stored successfully below the seabed off Norway for almost two decades. Based on these experiences several demonstration projects supported by the EU and its member states are now setting out to store CO2 captured at power plants in offshore geological formations. The ECO2 project was triggered by these activities and funded by the EU to assess the environmental risks associated with the sub-seabed storage of CO2 and to provide guidance on environmental practices. ECO2 conducted a comprehensive offshore field programme at the Norwegian storage sites Sleipner and Snohvit and at several natural CO2 seepage sites in order to identify potential pathways for CO2 leakage through the overburden, monitor seep sites at the seabed, track and trace the spread of CO2 in ambient bottom waters, and study the response of benthic biota to CO2. ECO2 identified a rich variety of geological structures in the broader vicinity of the storage sites that may have served as conduits for gas release in the geological past and located a seabed fracture and several seeps and abandoned wells where natural gas and formation water are released into the marine environment. Even though leakage may occur if these structures are not avoided during site selection, observations at natural seeps, release experiments, and numerical modelling revealed that the footprint at the seabed where organisms would be impacted by CO2 is small for realistic leakage scenarios. ECO2 conducted additional studies to assess and evaluate the legal framework and the public perception of CO2 storage below the seabed. The following guidelines and recommendations for environmental practices are based on these experiences.
Seabed
Overburden
Petroleum seep
Cite
Citations (11)
Abstract Marine sands and gravels currently contribute 24% (over 20 million tonnes/year) of the total sand and gravel aggregate consumption of Great Britain. To maintain or increase this contribution into the future, the identification, assessment and licensing of additional sand and gravel resource areas is of fundamental importance. Research into the Quaternary history of the continental shelf surrounding the UK assists in the prediction of sand and gravel resource locations. Similarly, resource assessment is significantly improved through an understanding of the origin and formation of these Quaternary deposits. Geological considerations also feature strongly in the management of existing dredging licence areas and in the acquisition of future licences from the Crown Estate. Precise resource assessment, coupled with accurate dredger positioning and track recording systems, minimizes the extent of dredged sea bed, thereby limiting environmental impact and improving the consistency of dredged cargoes. Also important is the need to overcome marine aggregate prejudice which arises from the perception by some customers that marine dredged sands and gravels differ markedly from those obtained onshore. Central to this issue is the argument that some of the most substantial marine deposits originated in subaerial environments at similar times and by the same processes as their present-day terrestrial equivalents, having been deposited in Quaternary cold climate fluvial environments.
Dredging
Sand mining
Quaternary science
Cite
Citations (7)
Mineral resource classification
Cite
Citations (7)
The UK’s coastline holds a special place in the nations psyche, but in many places requires significant and ongoing engineering effort to maintain its integrity. A ‘soft’ coastline and strong hydrodynamic regime around the UK, combined with the effects of climate change, contributes to high levels of erosion and sediment transport. Accordingly high volumes of sand and gravel are required for coastal defences, beach recharge and land reclamation every year.
The British Geological Survey (BGS), in a project commissioned by The Crown Estate, has been identifying offshore resources which can be used for these applications with the aim of understanding the UK’s capacity for supplying major coastal defence projects. Research has been undertaken using industry and legacy sample data in association with modern high resolution bathymetry. This has allowed the volume of material in significant seabed features, such as sandbanks, to quickly be calculated and their properties defined. Results from this research will help to ensure that materials are sourced from the most cost-effective areas and that supply is not restricted.
Understanding the volumes and properties of offshore sea bed features opens up the possibility of new types of coastal management, linking defence with amenity. Large scale coastal engineering schemes, such as the ‘Sand Engine’ on the Dutch coast, shows how these types of projects can both protect the coastline and promote public amenity if the large volumes of suitable material required can be economically and environmentally sourced.
Coastal erosion
Amenity
Coastal Management
Dredging
Cite
Citations (0)
PROTECT (Prediction Of The Erosion of Cliffed Terrains), is a European 5th Framework part
funded research programme undertaken by the national geological surveys of Denmark and
Greenland (GEUS), France (BRGM) and the U.K. (BGS) and the University of Brighton, supported
by the French Geotechnical Laboratories at Nancy (INERIS). BGS are the co-ordinating partner.
Rocky, coastal cliffs of North West Europe are continually subjected to changes in stress caused by
marine erosion and climatic factors. This leads to fresh geological features and materials becoming
an active part of the cliff instability regime. To investigate the possibility of providing better ways
of predicting when, where and how cliff instability would occur, chalk cliffs were chosen by the
PROTECT team. Chalk cliffs form extensive coastlines on the Baltic coast of Denmark and along
the English Channel coasts of northern France and southern and eastern England. These are in areas
where, either communities are built on the cliffs (Mensil-Val, Criel, northern France) or the cliffs
are open to public use (Beachy Head, U.K. with >200,000 visitors a year; Mons Klint, Denmark
with similar number of visitors) under and on top of the cliffs. A further advantage of choosing
chalk cliffs is the level of previous research carried out under other European funded programmes
such as ROCC (Risk Of Cliff Collapse) which made selection of the PROTECT sites easier. The
PROTECT programme set out to investigate new ways of (i) determining the temporal aspects of
movements in the cliffs leading to collapse (ii) identifying the failure mechanisms. This required
integrating the detailed engineering geology with the results from the geophysical techniques and
the rock mechanics testing.
The PROTECT results indicate that each geophysical technique is suited to a particular type of
geology, but not to all the geological situations investigated. Hence, the detailed engineering
geology is an essential prerequisite to the interpretation of results and the application of the
techniques.
Cliff
West coast
Coastal erosion
Cite
Citations (1)