Sand Ridges on the Mid-Outer Valencia Continental Shelf

A sand ridge field with crests oriented NE–SW (52°) located between 55 and 85 m water depth on the Valencia continental shelf (Spain) was mapped with multibeam swath bathymetry and characterized with high-resolution seismic reflection profiling and sediment sampling. Boundary layer hydrodynamic and suspended sediment concentration measurements conducted over a sand ridge at 66 m depth showed evidence of wave and current sediment resuspension during a major storm event. It is argued that these sand ridges developed in a shallow environment and there is no evidence of present-day ridge migration or morphological degradation.