SURFICIAL GRAIN-SIZE STATISTICAL PARAMETERS OF A NORTH-SEA SHOREFACE-CONNECTED RIDGE - PATTERNS AND PROCESS IMPLICATION

No study on shoreface-connected ridges to date offers insight on surfi cial grain-size patterns in longitudinal and cross-shore sense. Result s from the southern North Sea indicate the cross-ridge mean size varia tion to be temporally the most consistent. Seaward flank sediments are the finest and best sorted, whereas the converse is revealed in the t roughs and on the landward flanks. Longitudinally, ridge crest and tro ugh sediments showed a marked distally (northwesterly) fining pattern, thus suggesting that the major storm and net tidal current flows in t he study area, which are easterly to southeasterly directed. are incon sequential to ridge genesis.