Storm signals in coastal sediments: A review of palaeostorm archives and analytical approaches in north-west Europe

Katharina Hess, Max Engel

Coastal sedimentary archives offer key insights into past severe storms and related flooding, contributing to a better understanding of long-term coastal hazard histories. Although interest in palaeostorm reconstructions has increased in recent decades, a comprehensive overview and information for north-west Europe is missing. This synoptic literature review compiles all known sedimentary storm archives between 45°N and 75°N, outlining their geographical distribution, ages, and methodological approaches. We identified 77 sites described in 69 publications since 1985. The most frequently investigated archive types are peat bogs, followed by coastal dunes, salt marshes, coastal lakes and lagoons, and cliff-top storm deposits. Most records are concentrated in the British Isles, particularly Scotland, while data from southern Norway and the German coasts are largely absent, indicating a strong spatial bias. The ages of these records range from the Late Pleistocene (~14 ka BP) to the present, with a median sedimentary age range of 2.3 ka BP. Storm deposits are commonly identified as minerogenic sand layers embedded within organic-rich fine-grained sediments. Grain size and composition, often combined with loss-on-ignition analyses to estimate organic content, are the primary proxies used to infer depositional processes, which can generally be classified as marginal marine, overwash, or aeolian. The use of microfossils and stable isotopes remains limited across European studies. Recent studies show a growing trend toward more comprehensive laboratory analyses. Overall, this review highlights the need for standardised protocols in sampling, analysis, and interpretation to enable broader comparisons and to reconstruct long-term storm patterns across Europe more reliably.