Southport, Merseyside, UK 28th October, 2015. UK Weather. Silhouette man catching the sun as it sets over an area of wet slack on Ainsdale beach, still with the blue sky and beautiful reflections on the water. Sand Dunes form part of the National Nature Reserve which is a 508-hectare site on the Sefton Coast and comprises rare sand dune, beach and woodland habitats.
Most of the dune system is characterised by very dry conditions. In large dune systems such as the Sefton Coast, however, there are a number of dune slacks, wet and sometimes very large depressions in the dunes. They are formed in two ways. Primary dune slacks are formed on rapidly accreting coasts where the top of the beach is cut off from the sea by a dune ridge forming further out on the beach. This is occurring on the Sefton Coast at Birkdale, a feature known locally as the green beach. Primary dune slacks are long and narrow and parallel to the coast. Secondary dune slacks result from a blowout, where erosion down to the water table has occurred. If the erosion is extensive, a large flat area of wet sand is exposed. Most of the dune slacks on the Sefton Coast are secondary dune slacks and they are orientated at right angles to the coast, parallel to the prevailing wind direction. The dune water table fluctuates annually because of the differences in rainfall and evapo-transpiration between the summer and winter months. Because of this, many dune slacks are flooded during the winter period. The wet sand created by secondary dune slack formation is colonised by plants and a succession occurs. This succession on wet sand, however, is very different to that on the dry dunes.
Size: 3600px × 2400px
Location: Southport, Merseyside, UK
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: Yes
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