Between the 25th of June and the 5th of July Group 11 has had the chance to study the Fal estuary in Cornwall. The Fal is one of the UK’s largest natural harbours; due to this the area has been an important port since the Middle Ages. Using a range of sampling techniques and equipment, we hope to build a picture of the biological, chemical and physical characteristics of the estuary and the surrounding shelf seas. Splitting our research into different sections we look at the following;
-
-
-
Falmouth is situated in the south coast of Cornwall (Figure 1). The estuary is the third largest in the UK, and extends for 18km inland to Touro. The Fal estuary is a ria formed at the end of the last ice age and shaped when the sea level rose. This means that the estuary has a low freshwater input and a large diversity of marine habitats. These factors provided the conditions that make it necessary for the Fal estuary to be a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) such as mudflats, sandflats and maerl beds. The maerl beds support a wide variety of species including the rare goby Gobius couchi.
The local area is rich in heavy metal ores and subsequently contains many disused mines as well as some active ones. In 1992 flooding of the nearby Wheal Jane mine caused major pollution in Falmouth bay which resulted in many dead fish, many contaminated wildfoul and an extensively contaminated environment. Today there is a signature of the local mining activity in restronguet creek and the Fal, seen in the form elevated heavy metal concentrations, such as copper.
Falmouth 2013
Group 11
Peter Reeves. Mark Fuller. Tom James. Doug Warden. Joe Ribeiro. Harriet Dale. Liane Brodie. Ben Pearce. Alex Cattrell. Gareth King.
This site does not represent the views of the National Oceanography Centre nor the University of Southampton.
Last Edited -
Figure 1 -