Browsing by Author "Vaittinen, Tiina"

Dredging of the seafloor is often a prerequisite for keeping seaways and harbours operational in the coastal area of Finland. This leads to a need to transport and dispose of the dredged material, which in turn creates environmental concerns. The influences of sea disposal can usually be clearly observed during the process. There has not been as much research on the long term effects, due to difficulties in observing material at the bottom of the sea and in separating the effects of sea disposal from background conditions and other changes that might have taken place in the area. The objective of this study is to gather research data to help in assessing the effects of sea disposal and defining the preconditions for environmentally sustainable disposal projects. The research focuses on two disposal sites for soft dredged material, located in Naantali and Hamina. The site in Naantali is very close to the mainland and a busy harbour, with heavy sea traffic. The site in Hamina is in a location with markedly calmer current conditions, within a scarce archipelago. The effects of the sea disposal were examined three years after the disposal operation. Special attention was paid to how well the disposed material had remained at the disposal sites. Surface sediment samples were taken from both study areas. Based on sedimentation signals observed in these samples, the study aims to determine how well the disposed material had remained in place. The movements of the material were also assessed by observing the topographical changes that had taken place at the sites over three years. The study additionally utilizes monitoring reports and previous research to assess the identified effects on the environment and the factors that influence them in the context of the Baltic Sea area. According to the results, the disposal site at Hamina is an exemplary one, because the disposed material has settled and become part of the existing seafloor. The material is also physically of a superior quality to the original surface sediment, which suffered from oxygen depletion. Sea disposal has managed to isolate the original, heavily oxygen consuming layer of sulphide mud from the bottom water. At the Naantali site, the disposed material appears to have stabilized rather well, but the result is not as obvious as at Hamina. This is largely due to the strong slipstreams in the area causing resuspension of the surface mud. Furthermore, characterization of the disposed material was relatively difficult at the Naantali site due to the strong physical resemblance between original and disposed sediment. Surface sediment samples and basic physical characterization proved to be a useful method in researching the settling of disposed material. When looking for possible signs of sedimentation, the topmost surface layer of samples is especially important. Depth data can also be used in monitoring disposal sites, although based on depth data alone it is difficult to draw conclusions on the reasons for changes in topography.