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Falmouth 2014

The Falmouth field course is a 12 day scientific survey completed by 2nd year marine biologists and oceanographers from the University of Southampton. The aim of the trip was to look at the physical, chemical and biological processes occurring within the Fal estuary and the surrounding open water body.

Data was collected during offshore, estuary and geophysics boat trips as well as stationary sampling from the King Harry pontoon and was collated to produce graphical representation and this website, which contains the initial findings of the trip. An overview of some of the stations sampled and their locations with respect to one another is shown below, in figure 1.0.1.

Background

Falmouth, Cornwall is home to the Fal Estuary; a drowned river system, protected under European Union Law as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) since 2006, primarily due to the benthic environment. It comprises both Maerl beds and Zostera meadows, which are both ecologically and socio-economically important.

Drowned rivers (Rias) are caused by falls in coastal level and/or a rise in sea level- as seen in the Fal estuary at the end of the last ice age. Rias have characteristically large mouths and high salinities at long distances upriver due to the initial overwhelming amount of saline input at the time of formation and low freshwater input. For descriptive purposes the Fal estuary can be split into two sections, upper and lower estuary. The lower estuary known as Carrick Roads and is very large and deep, as you would expect of a drowned river valley. The upper estuary is dwindling and meandering, with freshwater inputs from tributaries such as the Truro River and River Fal.

The Team

Figure 1.0.1