Preface
Sedimentation processes depend on a complex interaction of environmental factors and react to changes of these factors sensitively. Variations in climatic, oceanographic, but also in anthropogenically induced environmental variables are
reflected in the sedimentary record at varying scales. The understanding of
these processes gives way to the reconstruction of the past and is a key to the prediction of future trends.
During the past decades computerized modeling has become a powerful tool
to describe the complicated interrelations between measured data and the dynamics of sedimentary systems. Sedimentary modeling and quantitative dynamic stratigraphy have become widely known keywords of high acceptance.
Especially in cases where observations are limited and/or expensive, computer
simulations may substitute for the lack of data. State-of-the-art research work
requires a thorough knowledge of processes at the interfaces between atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere, and therefore an interdisciplinary approach to sedimentary systems by oceanographers, biologists, geoscientists, mathematicians and computer scientists.
In October 1996, about 100 scientists of these special fields from 20 different
countries met in Giistrow, Germany, for an international symposium to discuss
state-of-the-art approaches in the computerized modeling of sedimentary systems at the invitation of the Baltic Sea Research Institute Warnemiinde. Posters
and oral and software presentations were assigned to specific thematic foci reflecting the interdisciplinary character of the conference.
This book, a product of the conference, contains 23 chapters that are allocated
to three main topics. The first topic climatic, oceanographic and biological forcing of sedimentary systems, covers papers on theories and methods describing
particular processes of sediment accumulation. Wind- and current-driven
transport and deposition-forming sediment bodies of various scales are discussed here. Special emphasis is given to nearshore processes where the system
reacts very sensitively to the variation of the driving atmospheric and oceanographic forces. The biological component is discussed here, focusing on the influence of biological productivity of the ocean on sedimentation and the benthos
activity on the uppermost sediment layers. The modeling of global changes in
the environment forced by climate changes which are recorded from sedimentary sequences is used to reconstruct the past and to extrapolate trends for the fu-
Sedimentation processes depend on a complex interaction of environmental factors and react to changes of these factors sensitively. Variations in climatic, oceanographic, but also in anthropogenically induced environmental variables are
reflected in the sedimentary record at varying scales. The understanding of
these processes gives way to the reconstruction of the past and is a key to the prediction of future trends.
During the past decades computerized modeling has become a powerful tool
to describe the complicated interrelations between measured data and the dynamics of sedimentary systems. Sedimentary modeling and quantitative dynamic stratigraphy have become widely known keywords of high acceptance.
Especially in cases where observations are limited and/or expensive, computer
simulations may substitute for the lack of data. State-of-the-art research work
requires a thorough knowledge of processes at the interfaces between atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere, and therefore an interdisciplinary approach to sedimentary systems by oceanographers, biologists, geoscientists, mathematicians and computer scientists.
In October 1996, about 100 scientists of these special fields from 20 different
countries met in Giistrow, Germany, for an international symposium to discuss
state-of-the-art approaches in the computerized modeling of sedimentary systems at the invitation of the Baltic Sea Research Institute Warnemiinde. Posters
and oral and software presentations were assigned to specific thematic foci reflecting the interdisciplinary character of the conference.
This book, a product of the conference, contains 23 chapters that are allocated
to three main topics. The first topic climatic, oceanographic and biological forcing of sedimentary systems, covers papers on theories and methods describing
particular processes of sediment accumulation. Wind- and current-driven
transport and deposition-forming sediment bodies of various scales are discussed here. Special emphasis is given to nearshore processes where the system
reacts very sensitively to the variation of the driving atmospheric and oceanographic forces. The biological component is discussed here, focusing on the influence of biological productivity of the ocean on sedimentation and the benthos
activity on the uppermost sediment layers. The modeling of global changes in
the environment forced by climate changes which are recorded from sedimentary sequences is used to reconstruct the past and to extrapolate trends for the fu-