Geochemical recognition of spilled sediments used in numerical model validation

A fixed link (tunnel and bridge,in total 16 km) was constructed between Sweden and Denmark during 1995-2000.As part of the work,approximately 16 million tonnes of seabed materials (limestone and clay till) were dredged,and about 0.6 million tonnes of these were spilled in the water.Modelling of the spreading and sedimentation of the spilled sediments took place as part of the environmental monitoring of the construction activities.In order to verify the results of the numerical modelling of sediment spreading and sedimentation,a new method with the purpose of distinguishing between the spilled sediments and the naturally occurring sediments was developed.Because the spilled sediments tend to accumulate at the seabed in areas with natural sediments of the same size,it is difficult to separate these based purely on the physical properties.The new method is based on the geo-chemical differences between the natural sediment in the area and the spill.The basic properties used are the higher content of calcium carbonate material in the spill as compared to the natural sediments and the higher Ca/Sr ratio in the spill compared to shell fragments dominating the natural calcium carbonate deposition in the area.The reason for these differences is that carbonate derived from recent shell debris can be discriminated from Danien limestone,which is the material in which the majority of the dredging took place,on the basis of the Ca/Sr ratio being 488 in Danien Limestone and 237 in shell debris.The geochemical recognition of the origin of the sediments proved useful in separating the spilled from the naturally occurring sediments.Without this separation,validation of the modelling of accumulation of spilled sediments would not have been possible.The method has general validity and can be used in many situations where the origin ora given sediment is sought.