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The Skallingen spit, Denmark: birth of a back-barrier saltmarsh

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Abstract

The formation and evolution of a modern saltmarsh platform on the barrier spit Skallingen in the northernmost part of the Wadden Sea was investigated through historical map records, 12 orthophotos covering the period from 1945 to 2012, sediment cores and cross-sectional creek profiles. The barrier spit, which constitutes the foundation of the saltmarsh platform, formed in about 50 years in the seventeenth century. After its formation the spit was left as a bare sandflat for about 200 years. Along with the development of foredunes, an increased availability of fine-grained sediment and establishment of vegetation in the beginning of the 1890s, the saltmarsh area formed in about 100 years, while the development of a large system of saltmarsh creeks took place in just ca. 50 years. The development of the drainage network, saltmarsh creek morphology and sedimentology during the saltmarsh formation are described in detail and analysed with special attention to the transformation rate from bare sandflat to a genuine vegetation-covered back-barrier saltmarsh.

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Acknowledgements

The funds on which the findings of this paper are based have through time been placed at disposal by different versions of the national Danish science foundation, these days abbreviated to “FNU”, and the Carlsberg Foundation. Lately the Carlsberg Foundation (grant nos. CF14–0173 and CF15–0254) has contributed, which is also the case for the National Science Foundation Geography and Regional Science Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (no. 0825753). Numerous students and technicians from the University of Copenhagen have through time contributed with field work including carrying the burden of hundreds of kilos of equipment in high vegetation over the saltmarsh. We thank everybody for their devoted help. Prof. Emeritus Peter Vestergaard and Prof. Søren Rosendahl are warmly thanked for placing their expertise in saltmarsh plants at our disposal. Also acknowledged are two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on an earlier version of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Jesper Bartholdy & Mikkel Fruergaard

  2. Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Via Giovanni Gradenigo 6, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Lara Brivio

  3. Espergærde Gymnasium & HF, Gymnasievej 2, 3060, Espergærde, Denmark

    Anders Bartholdy

  4. Biogeomorphology Research and Analysis Group, Department of Geography, Seoul National University, 08826, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Daehyun Kim

  5. Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Øster Voldgade 10, 1350, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Mikkel Fruergaard

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  1. Jesper Bartholdy
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Correspondence to Jesper Bartholdy.

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Bartholdy, J., Brivio, L., Bartholdy, A. et al. The Skallingen spit, Denmark: birth of a back-barrier saltmarsh. Geo-Mar Lett 38, 153–166 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-017-0523-5

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