Special Column:Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of IGSNRR, CAS

Exploration,exploitation and management of marine sand resources in Hong Kong of China

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  • Open Laboratory of Margin Sea Geology and Paleoenvironment, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS, Guangzhou 510301, China

Received date: 2003-02-13

  Revised date: 2003-04-21

  Online published: 2003-08-25

Abstract

Exploitation of marine sand ranks today as the world second most important marine mining activity after oil extraction.Since the1980s,the Hong Kong Government spent about HK$170million and carried out a series of exploration activities of marine sand resources for coastal reclamation fill material.About 740×106m3 of marine sand in22sites were revealed in1828km2 of Hong Kong waters,of which420×106m3 in9sites have been set aside by the Gov-ernment as their thick cover,seriously contaminated cover or environmentally too sensitive to dredge is suitable for exploration.From1990to the end of2002,about 270×106m3 of marine sand have been dredged from areas of seabed in Hong Kong to provide50%of the fill material for reclama tion,totaling2,100ha of new land.Based on data of marine geophysical investigation and marine drilling,Quaternary sequence stratigraphy and geological model of marine sand occur-rence in Hong Kong waters was established,acoustic turbidity on the seismic reflection profiles associated with Holocene marine sediments with gas was revealed and tested.The Hong Kong Government took the policy of unified exploration and unified management for marine sand re-sources,placed em phasis on environmental and ecological impact assessments for sand dredging,used exhausted marine sand borrow pits for disposal of uncontaminated mud and contaminated mud.All the above exploration achievements and management experience can be used for impor-tant reference of marine sand exploration and management in other places of China.

Cite this article

ZHANG Qiao-min . Exploration,exploitation and management of marine sand resources in Hong Kong of China[J]. JOURNAL OF NATURAL RESOURCES, 2003 , 18(4) : 385 -393 . DOI: 10.11849/zrzyxb.2003.04.001

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