The impact of aeolian sediment transport on vegetation development in engineered coastal dunes and dune valleys

Spanjaards Duin is an engineered dune area which was created as a compensation measure for the expected increase in nitrogen deposition from the expansion of the Rotterdam harbour (Maasvlakte 2). Nature compensation is pursued in Spanjaards Duin by creating favourable abiotic conditions for natural vegetation development. The impact of aeolian sediment transport on the abiotic conditions is studied in this research. This was done with a data analysis focusing on monitored bed levels and simulations of aeolian sediment transport with numerical models on different scales. In engineered coastal dunes and dune valleys such as Spanjaards Duin it is concluded that two factors highly influence the abiotic conditions: marram grass as a bodyguard for reducing aeolian sediment transport and the shells in the nourished sand by highly influencing the bed level changes and sediment grain size distribution in the dune valley.