c5bc60cd-04ea-3862-e044-0003ba9b0d97 English dataset British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 +44 (0)131 668 4140 The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South Edinburgh EH14 4AP UK enquiries@bgs.ac.uk pointOfContact 2026-04-15 MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard Version 2.3.5 www.epsg.org 2005 revision urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326 OGP Wessex Archaeology (WSX) Geophysical Survey WESSEX4: (01/Jul/2003 to 28/Sep/2003) 2003-09-28 publication BGS_CMD_REF656 British Geological Survey Seabed Prehistory: Gauging the effects of Marine Dredging. Palaeo-Arun. Wessex Archaeology (WA) was commissioned, in April 2003, by the Mineral Industry Research Organisation (MIRO) to undertake the research project 'Seabed Prehistory - gauging the effects of marine aggregate dredging' under the financial support of the Sustainable Land Won and Marine Dredged Aggregate Minerals Programme (SAMP). The Survey Area for this study was chosen as a result of prospecting within the Owers Bank area following consultation with representatives from the marine aggregate industry. It is in the palaeo-Arun area approximately 10km south of Littlehampton, off the coast of West Sussex in the English Channel. Survey work took place between 1st and 18th July 2003 and 27th and 28th September 2003 on the Emu Surveyor and included single-beam echosounder, sub-bottom profiler, multibeam and collection of vibrocores. The geology and geophysics component of the data are archived at British Geological Survey (BGS) MEDIN Data Archive Centre (DAC) for Geology and Geophysics. Data were also provided to other archive centres as appropriate. British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 +44 (0)131 668 4140 The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South Edinburgh EH14 4AP UK enquiries@bgs.ac.uk custodian Wessex Archaeology offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk originator notPlanned NDGO0001 Geology GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication soil and sediment crust SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages (L131) 2010-05-18 revision Lithology Bathymetry and Elevation Two-dimensional seismic reflection SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary (P021) 2011-07-27 revision otherRestrictions otherRestrictions otherRestrictions The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused. unrestricted use, copyright acknowledgement - Available under the Open Government Licence subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced Wessex Archaeology materials "Contains Wessex Archaeology materials ©Wessex Archaeology [year]" grid 5 English geoscientificInformation BGS Gazetteer 2026-04-15 revision Wight Charting Progress 2: Regional Sea Boundaries 2009-06-18 creation Eastern Channel The SeaVoX Salt and Fresh Water Body Gazetteer: Sub-Ocean Category 1954-01-01 creation ENGLISH CHANNEL -0.7691 -0.3327 50.6071 50.7070 2003-07-01 2003-09-28 British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 +44 (0)131 668 4140 The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South Edinburgh EH14 4AP UK enquiries@bgs.ac.uk distributor http://mapapps2.bgs.ac.uk/geoindex_offshore/home.html?cruise=WESSEX4 WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link BGS Offshore Geoindex GeoIndex allows users to search for information about BGS data collections covering the UK and other areas world wide. Access is free, the interface is easy to use, and it has been developed to enable users to check coverage of different types of data and find out some background information about the data. More detailed information can be obtained by further enquiry through the website. search dataset INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of unknown theme 2011 publication See the referenced specification false Geophysical equipment types used included: Echo Sounder and Surface Tow Boomer. Sample equipment types used included: Corer: Vibrocorer. Emu Ltd was contracted to undertake the survey on behalf of Wessex Archaeology. Twenty vibrocores and 245km of seismic survey data were collected over a 3.5km by 1km area, but primarily in a central 1km² around a buried palaeo-channel feature. The geophysical dataset was acquired in three phases. Initially a series of prospection lines were acquired. The survey grid for the second phase had survey lines 3.5km long, orientated NE-SW, at a 50m line spacing. Cross lines were 1km long, orientated NW-SE and at a line spacing of 500m. The aim of this phase of the survey was to collect data in order to confirm the position and orientation of the palaeo-channel feature identified during the propection lines. Once this survey had been completed and the position of the palaeo-channel had been delineated the third phase of surveying was implemented. This involved surveying a 1km block that encompassed the palaeo-channel feature in this area. This 1km block had survey lines 1km long, orientated both NE-SW and NW-SE at a 10m line spacing in both directions. Based on the geophysics results a judgement-led sampling strategy was developed in order to investigate specific research questions. Locations were chosen through the initial interpretation of the sub-bottom profiling data in order to calibrate the geophysical data and confirm the presence of an infilled palaeochannel. On 27th and 28th September 2003, a 6m hydraulic vibrocorer was used to acquire the twenty vibrocores. This work was carried out by a sub-contractor to EMU Ltd. The geophysical survey was conducted aboard the Emu Surveyor between the 1-18 July 2003. The data acquisition was conducted by Emu Ltd under the supervision of WA staff. Single-beam echosounder and sub-bottom profiler data were acquired. Bathymetric data was recorded throughout all stages of the survey using a single beam echo sounder acquired using a Knudsen 320M dual-frequency echosounder. Sub-bottom profiler data were acquired using an Applied Acoustics AA200 surface-tow boomer system and the data were recorded on an Octopus 360 sub-bottom processor. The sub-bottom profiler were originally acquired in *.cod format and were then converted to .sgy format using Coda Utilities 2.6.0 software.