2.b. Coastal landforms are inter-related and together make up characteristic landscapes Saltburn to Flamborough Head

Question 1

physical factors

Answer 1

geology:The environment is strongly influenced by its geology. The adjacent
North York Moors rise up to 400 m above sea level and comprise
mainly sandstones, shales and limestones formed during the
Jurassic period as well as some carboniferous rocks. Flamborough
Head, at the southern end of this stretch of coastline, is a large
chalk headland. Its spectacular cliffs are topped with till, a
superficial deposit left behind by glaciers during the Devensian
glacial period. Differences in rock resistance are responsible for the
varied coastal scenery, notably the high cliffs and the bay and
headland sequence.
During the late cretaceous and early tertiary periods, tectonic
processes caused uplift of the sedimentary rocks leading to folding
and faulting. This exposed the rocks and affected resistance to
geomorphic processes.

Question 2

interrelstionshop

Question 3

what extent are long term changes more
influential on coastal landscape systems than short
term changes?

Answer 3

• Long term changes e.g., changes over millennia
  e.g., shore platform development in erosional
  landscapes, or spit or tombolo development in
  depositional landscapes
• Long term changes
  may also include climate change.

Short term changes e.g., over seconds e.g.,
arch collapse, mass movement events in
erosional landscapes or breaching of onshore
bars in depositional landscapes, as well as
human changes/management

• E.g., In erosive coastal landscapes, short term
  changes creating arches, stacks or stumps are
  very influential in changing the unique nature of
  the coastline e.g., Flamborough Head,
  Yorkshire.

However, long term channges e.g.,
creating shore cut platforms at Robin Hood’s
Bay which can be extensive but are also limited
to low tide so less influential to the system

• E.g., Environmentally both long term and shortterm changes create new landforms and input
  sediment into the littoral cell, however long-term
  changes because of their lengthy period of input
  are likely to be more influential in accumulation
  in terms of influence in the littoral cell
• Short term changes have a smaller spatial scale
  e.g., arch collapse or spit breach compared to
  long term changes e.g., shore platform creation
  which can span almost 11km around
  Flamborough Head, Yorkshire
  *

Temporal scales are more significant with long
term changes as occur over several millennia,
whereas short term changes occur in minutes