Permeability and porosity of surface sediments in the German Bight (North Sea)

Reliable estimates of sediment permeability are therefore a constraint on the accurate implementation of benthic biogeochemical models. This is particularly true for the North Sea, as field data are scarce and available grain-size-based models fail to represent the full range of sediment types.

In this study, we combine measurements of sediment permeability and grain size analysis with a generic permeability model to establish a high-resolution permeability map of the sediment in the German Bight (North Sea). Our results show a good agreement between model-based prediction and measurements of permeability, even for a wide range of permeability values.