List of shoals and sandbanks in the southern North Sea

Shoals and sandbanks are characteristic underwater seabed features of the southern North Sea and the eastern English Channel. The relatively shallow water depth allows tidal currents to transport, configure and alter seabed materials, such as sand, shells, clay, and gravel, into elongated banks or shoals of shallow water.

Formation
In the southern North Sea the Spring Tide range is in excess of 7 metres. The large tidal amplitude produces tidal currents of 1.5 metres per second (m/s) on the flood tide, and 1.35 m/s during the ebb tide. Water flows parallel to the shore and this is reflected in the orientation of sandbanks. Typically, sandbanks of the English Channel and southern North Sea rise 10 to 25 m above the sea floor and are 10 to 30 km long and 1 to 3 km wide. The volume of material in some of the banks has been estimated at between 70 to 1100 Million m3. Strong eddies and rip tides occur in the vicinity of many shoals, and the sea can break heavily over shoals especially when the wind is against the tidal current. Sandbanks and shoals are often marked by buoys. There are usually north and south marks, and on large shoals, east and west marks.

Extent
The table below is a list of the named sandbanks and shoals of the southern North Sea, the Dover Strait (Pas-de-Calais) and the eastern English Channel (La Manche). The geographical extent is eastwards from a line (00°14'E) extending south from Beachy Head England to Étretat France in the English Channel, through the Straits of Dover, then north through the southern North Sea to a line extending east from Berwick-upon-Tweed England (55°50’N) to Ringkobing Fjord Denmark.

This area includes the shipping forecast areas of Wight (part); Dover; Thames; Tyne; Humber; Dogger and German Bight (part). It includes the territorial waters and exclusive economic zones of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The Thames Estuary is defined as from the Nore Sand eastwards to a line from North Foreland to Harwich.

The Humber is defined as west of the Outer Sea Reach buoy 00° 06’E.

Abbreviations
SNS – Southern North Sea; S-N – South to North; E-W – East to West; SW-NE – South-West to North-East; SE-NW – South-East to North-West.

List
A tabulated list of shoals and sandbanks in the southern North Sea, Dover Strait and English Channel.