@article{3146056,
    title = "European marine aggregates resources: Origins, usage, prospecting and
dredging techniques",
    author = "Velegrakis, Adonis F. and Ballay, Arnaud and Poulos, Serafim and and Radzevicius, Rolandas and Bellec, Valerie and Manso, Faustino",
    journal = "Journal of Coastal Research",
    year = "2010",
    number = "51",
    pages = "1-14",
    publisher = "Coastal Education Research Foundation Inc",
    issn = "0749-0208, 1551-5036",
    doi = "10.2112/SI51-002.1",
    keywords = "Marine aggregates; dredging; offshore mineral resources; relict
sediments; buried palaeovalleys; mineral resource prospecting",
    abstract = "Marine aggregates (sand and gravel) are important mineral resources and
traded commodities 1 hen significance is bound to increase further due
to increasing coastal,one development stricter environment regulation
concerning land won aggregates and increasing demand for beach
replenishment material Marine aggregate (MA) deposits can be
differentiated into into and modern deposits 1 he former consist of
sedimentary material deposited in the past and under different
environmental sedimentary regimes than those existing presently (c g the
gravel/sand deposits of the Pleistocene buried riser valleys of the
northwestern european shelves) The latter are deposits which have been
formed and corm oiled by the modern hydro and sediment dynamic
conditions (e g the lineal sand banks of the southern North Sea) The
present contribution reviews the current state of affairs in 9
representative European Member States concerning the prospecting and
extraction (dredging) techniques as well as the levels of production and
usage The review h is shown a mixed record as in some of the studied
States marine aggregate production is an important and streamlined
activity valet e us diet States base not yet des eloped efficient marine
aggregate policies and industries It Is is also shown that although
attempts hue been lately. made to coordinate the field the industry
still faces problems which hinder Its sustainable development These
include (amongst others) lack of standardisation of the idles ant
information difficulties in the access to information non-coherent
regulatory regimes and limited collaboration/coordination between the
marine scientific research establishments and the marine aggregate
industry These issues should be addressed as quickly as possible in
older to exploit effectively this important mineral resource"
}