Coastal Erosion and Management along the Holderness Coast

Question 1

What is the majority of the Holderness Coastline made up of?

Answer 1

Glacial Till.

Structurally weak cliffs were laid down underneath the ice and today are prone to saturation and failure.

Question 2

How much are the cliffs eroding per year?

Answer 2

2m per year on average.

Question 3

How many villages have been lost at Holderness?

Answer 3

32 dating back to the Roman times.

Question 4

How does natural cliff erosion at Holderness happen, via which cycle?

Answer 4

• Soft boulder clay cliffs saturated with rain water.
• Steep cliff face ‘fails’ and landslide/slump takes place.
• Cliff and debris create relatively stable angle of debris.
• Storm waves remove debris in LSD, cliff steepens.
• Cycle starts again.

Question 5

What explains the physical reasons behind the rapid erosion?

Answer 5

Rising sea level and weak nature of cliff material.

Question 6

Name a human reason of rapid erosion?

Answer 6

Dredging of aggregate offshore.

Question 7

What has occurred because of Mappleton and Easington having coastal erosion management in place?

Answer 7

Areas in between have eroded forming a sheltered bay meaning Mappleton and Easington become headlands.

Question 8

What may happen to the defended villages and towns?

Answer 8

Turn into headlands causing them to receive high wave energy.
Cost of maintaining them becomes unstable.

Question 9

Name some socio-economic impacts of coastal erosion?

4

Answer 9

Properties threatened may lose value.
Settlements that reply on tourism will diminish if they remain undefended.
Loss of jobs mean the young leave.
Shops and schools close as populations fall.

Question 10

What are Mappletons main problems?

Answer 10

Boulder clay cliffs.
Strong waves.
Narrow beach.

Question 11

What does a narrow beach mean?

Answer 11

Very little natural protection from waves.

Question 12

How has mappleton changed?

Answer 12

Settlement has grown.
New buildings built.
Loss of land.

Question 13

What happened 30 years ago at Mappleton?

Answer 13

Local people campaigned for Mappleton to have some coastal management.
Cost-benefit and environmental impact analyses took place and management decision was to ‘hold the line’ and tackle the problem at the foot/face of cliffs.

Question 14

What did the scheme adopt at Mappleton?

Answer 14

3 component, funded with a £2.1M EU grant.

• 2 rock groynes
• rock revetment
• Re-grading of boulder clay cliffs.

Question 15

Why were groynes put in place at Mappleton?

Answer 15

Catch and build up sand as it moved southwards.

Question 16

Why were revetments pit in place at Mapplteton?

Answer 16

Counteract wave erosion at foot of cliffs.

Question 17

Why was the re-grading of the boulder clay at Mappleton put in place?

Answer 17

Reduce risk of landslides.

Question 18

Has the scheme at Mappleton been effective?

Answer 18

To an extent.
But.
Theres early signs of landslips and cliff retreat at the south of Great Cowden.

Question 19

What is happening at Bramston?

Answer 19

The coastline is retreating.
Temporary defences including tipping of rocks to protect cliffs from waves.
Do nothing approach means it will end soon.

Question 20

What is the managment policy at Hornsea?

Answer 20

Hold the Line.

Question 21

Hornsea is a town of…

Answer 21

8000 people dependent on tourism and fishing.

Question 22

What happened in 1994 in Hornsea?

Answer 22

New defences built including repair/replacement of 19 groynes.
Underpinning of sea walls.
Building a flood wall.
Placing rip raps at lower south promenade.

Question 23

Why was there an increase in erosion to the south of Hornsea?

Answer 23

Due to groynes.
However, defences designed to not damage beach causing reduced erosion and new housing to be built along the south of Hornsea.