CASE STUDY- Holderness coast Flashcards
give an example of a place which has adopted the hold the line strategy
Mappleton, withernsea, Easington, hornsea and bridlington
give an example of a place which has adopted the do nothing strategy
Barmston, spurn head, great cowden farm
what is the erosion rate of the holderness coast
2m per year/2 million tonnes of material lost per year- fastest in Europe
what happened to barmston in 1967?
6 meters lost in 2 days
how many villages have been lost to the sea over the last 1000 years?
29
how many years earlier than expected did great cowden farm fall into the sea due to faster erosion rates because of protection in mappleton?
45 years
why is Easington so important to protect?
25% of the UKs gas comes ashore from the north sea here
why is spurn spit important?
- 6km of heritage coastline making it a major attraction
- Important wildlife habitat with over 200 species of birds
- jobs: humber pilot station where officers guide ships through the busy humber estuary
why is the holderness coast important?
- Farming: Fertile boulder clay ideal for dairy farming
- Industry: Easington gas terminal- 25% of uk supply and provides jobs
- Tourism: several seaside resorts eg. bridlington and hornsea, £450m generated each year, 8000 full time jobs, 8.5m day trips per year
how many meters have been lost in the last 35 years?
60 meters
how much has been lost since roman times?
3-4km
what have been the impacts of erosion on families?
- stress and economic loss
- houses, loss of value, not able to insure, forced to move
- Barmston caravan park- 10+pitches lost per year
- threat of job loss eg. humber pilot station
What have been the impacts on farming and land at great cowden farm?
- Sue earles farm at great cowden- cattle falling over the cliff, £250,000 farmhouse with £3500 demolition cost
- Erosion up from 3 ft per yr to 30ft per year due to mappletons defenses
how far is easington gas terminal from the sea?
12 meters
what strategy have they deployed at easington?
hard engineering- 1km of rock revetment along cliff front
how much was spent on Mappleton’s defenses in 1991 and what was it spent on?
£2 million- 2 rock groynes, 500m long rock revetment, cliff re profiling (prevents slumping)
why have the beaches of the holderness coast been a cause of the coastal erosion?
Narrow beaches: -no beaches to reduce the erosive power of the waves
-the chalk headland of Flamborough head prevents the transport of materials from the north, thus little beach material is transported southwards to the beaches of holderness
why has the lithology been a cause of the coastal erosion on the holderness coast?
- Cliffs are made out of boulder clay which is easily eroded by corrasion and hydraulic action
- boulder clay is also prone to rotational slump and landslides when the rock becomes saturated
why have the powerful waves been a cause of the coastal erosion on the holderness coast
-powerful DESTRUCTIVE waves attack the coast as they have a long fetch allowing them to build up energy as they are blown by the wind
why has rising sea levels become a cause of erosion on the holderness coast?
-increasing volume of water in the oceans, greater power to erode the coastline
how have humans caused greater erosion on the coastline
1) Defenses such as groynes at hornsea, starve beaches down the coast of material resulting in narrower beaches which dont protect the cliffs as much
2) Offshore dredging reduces the amount of sediment available to build up beaches
3) Development has increase the loading on the land and surface runoff making cliffs more unstable and more likely to experience rotational slumping
name a few social impacts of the coastal erosion on holderness coast
- Property prices along the coast have fallen sharply
- 29 villages have been lost since roman times
- difficulty to get a mortgage or insurance
name a few economic impacts of the coastal erosion along the holderness coastline
- Visitor numbers have dropped by 30% between 1996-2006 in bridlington
- Many settlements have had to install expensive hard engineering schemes eg. 2m spent at mappleton
- Easington gas terminal
- seaside caravan park at Ulrome is losing 10+ pitches per year
what road is the defences at mappleton defending?
B1242
what are the environmental impacts of the coastal erosion along the holderness coastline
- 200 species of bird are threatened by the erosion of the spurn spit which protects their homeland in the salt marshes behind it
- Spurn spit is 6km of heritiage coastline
