Premium
Soils and ‘managed retreat’ in South East England
Author(s) -
Hazelden J.,
Boorman L.A.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-2743.2001.tb00021.x
Subject(s) - salt marsh , habitat , sediment , environmental science , sedimentation , marsh , soil water , hydrology (agriculture) , land reclamation , oceanography , wetland , ecology , geology , soil science , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , biology
. Much of the low‐lying farmland around the coastline of south‐east England was once inter‐tidal salt marsh, which was subsequently reclaimed from the sea and converted to farmland. It is becoming increasingly uneconomic to maintain the embankments which protect this land from the sea. ‘Managed retreat’ involves relocating the embankments further inland and recreating inter‐tidal habitat in front of them. Salt marsh not only provides a protective buffer for these sea walls by dissipating wave energy, but is also important as a habitat for birds and as a source of organic matter for fish and inter‐tidal fauna. When ‘managed retreat’ takes place, the creation of inter‐tidal habitat occurs on soils that have undergone physical and chemical changes, some of which are irreversible. However, the indications are that rapid sedimentation creates conditions in which salt marsh plants germinate and become established; soil salinity rises quickly to a level which restricts competition from terrestrial plants, and deposited sediment is relatively rich in available phosphorus. The physical properties of the old agricultural soil influence the subsequent development of creeks.