Ecohydrological conditions at Braunton Burrows : activities to date including work supported by BGS Opportunity Funds FY 2011/2012

Ongoing investigation of the ecohydrological conditions at four west coast dunefields (Ainsdale, Newborough Warren, Whiteford Burrows and Braunton Burrows) has recently been focused at Braunton in North Devon. BGS Opportunity Funds, coupled with the acquisition by CEH of a pneumatic portable auger, has enabled investigation and sampling from cores taken from ‘deep’ boreholes beneath the high dunes at Braunton along the existing Sandy Lane Shore Slack transect. Work has previously focused on the slack floors and the shallow water table beneath them. Analyses of chemistry, stable isotopes, SF6, as well as grain size and falling head permeability will, in due course, enable a better understanding of groundwater provenance in the dune fields and of the recharge processes away from the dune slack floors. Preliminary results are described. Further data are still awaited and will be incorporated in a future report. A way forward is described which will deliver peer reviewed papers on the deep drilling work at Braunton, a paper on work at Whiteford and detailed investigation funded largely by Natural England and CEH at four new sites. These sites are likely to include two acid coastal dunes on the North Sea Coast, which will contrast with the alkaline sites on the west coast, one in Cumbria and one elsewhere.