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Exploration Zone
Evaluation of the mineral resource and palaeolandscape potential of the Exploration Zone (outer Belgian Continental Shelf)
The sustainable management of marine aggregates (sand and gravel) requires a comprehensive understanding of their distribution, composition and dynamics. Seismic data can significantly contribute to such knowledge by revealing subsurface patterns and the internal architecture of sandbanks, which allows to establish 3D models. Despite major advances based on metric-resolution sparker seismic data, model uncertainties for resources on the Belgian Continental Shelf (BCS) are still very high at locations where seismic data are scarce or poor. This is especially true for the new ‘Exploration Zone’ on the outer BCS, which (after the closure of the more proximal sand extraction zones) will become more prominent in the near future.
This project therefore aims to update and refine the geological knowledge of the Exploration Zone by acquiring new seismic data, including the latest ultra-high-resolution subbottom profiling techniques (most notably, deci- to centimetric-resolution parametric echosounder). Integrating these data with new (vibro)cores will furthermore enhance resource quality assessments. Importantly, these data will at the same time provide the opportunity to instigate Quaternary stratigraphic, palaeolandscape and geo-archaeological research on the outer BCS, which (due to the lack of data) has so far received little attention. Yet, this area forms an important transition zone connecting the palaeo-valley systems of the Inner-Middle BCS and the Axial Channel which dominates the Outer BCS and wider English Channel region.