Seabed sediments of Søre Sunnmøre, Norway

Abstract

An increasing number of activities compete for space in the Norwegian coastal zone, making access to detailed seabed information particularly valuable. We present a suite of thematic marine base maps of the near-shore areas of five municipalities in west Norway (567 km2; at 62°N/5°E). This set of full-coverage seabed maps includes sediment grain size, seabed terrain (shaded relief), slope, sediment accumulation basins, anchoring conditions, and diggability (trenching properties). The sediment grain size map is a geological interpretation of multibeam echosounder data supported by video observations and physical samples of seabed sediments. The other maps in the suite are derived from this sediment map, and/or directly from the bathymetry data. All maps are at a scale of 1:20,000 and are freely accessible for download or online viewing. Marine base maps are intended for all end-users with a need for knowledge of seabed conditions and may be especially valuable for marine spatial planning.

Keywords

• marine base maps
• seabed sediment
• coastal zone
• marine spatial planning
• multibeam echosounder
• norway
• seabed mapping