[pp.71-80]

Study on Natural Environmental Characteristics of the Sone Tidal Flat and its Surrounding Sea in the Suo Sea, Japan

Yoshinori HARA , Haruyuki KOJIMA and Shuguang YAN （Sanyo Consultant, Co. Ltd./ Kyushu Kyoritsu University）

Abstract:
The Sone tidal flat, located in Kitakyushu city, is one of the largest tidal flats left in the northern Kyushu region in Japan. It serves as a feeding ground for migratory birds like Saunders's gulls and an important habitat for horseshoe crabs as well as all kinds of benthos. Like other tidal wetlands in Japan, the flat has been facing constant pressures of seaport developments and other reclamations taking place in its surroundings. Besides these developments, an artificial island for the Kitakyushu airport has been constructed about 3km offshore of the flat. An extensive collection of existing data, field studies and wave field computation have been carried out to detect any changes in natural environments of the tidal flat and ambient sea. A drastic reduction in wave intensity due to the construction of the large-scale landfills has been confirmed. The natural environments of the flat and its neighboring sea, such as water and sediment qualities, however, have not significantly changed at the present time. Also, basic environmental characteristics of the Horseshoe crab larva’s habitat were identified through comparing the spatial distribution of the larva population with that of each of the environmental elements such as ground elevation, fine sediment content, and so forth.

Key Word:
tidal flat, land reclamation, water and sediment qualities, horseshoe crab, numerical wave computation

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