Coasts Flashcards

Question

What is pore water pressure and how can it weaken the structures of rocks

Answer 1

The pressure water experiences at a particular point below the water table due to the weight of water above it Permeable rocks allow water to flow through them – which can weaken rocks by removing the sediment that binds the rock together – it can also create high pore water pressure within cliffs, which can affect their stability.

Answer 2

 Coastal sand dunes  Coastal salt marshes, found in many river estuaries  Coastal mangrove swamps

Answer 3

Plants that can tolerate salt water, either around their roots, being submerged at high tide or salt spray from the sea

Answer 4

Plants that can tolerate very dry conditions, such as those found on coastal sand dunes where the sandy soil retains very little water due to drainage

Answer 5

- Embryo dunes pioneer plants - They stabilise the mobile sand – reduce wind speeds at the sand surface allowing more to be deposited – add dead organic matter to the sand, beginning the process of soil formation - They alter the environmental conditions from harsh, salty, mobile sand to an environment that other plants can tolerate - They lead to the development of plant colonisation - Grey dunes were once embryo dunes, but due to plant colonisation, have grown upwards

Answer 6

- Sand dune succession relies on specialised plants such as marram grass - Marram grass has tough, long and flexible wavy leaves that are designed to limit water transpiration - Marram grass has roots up to 3m long that can tap water far below the surface and can tolerate temperatures of up to 60 degrees centigrade

Answer 7

- Bare mud, hosts species of algae - Pioneer plants which colonise mud flats - Taller plant species from later serel stages can be seen - The salt marshes form and gradually slopes towards the shore, because plants trap sediment on incoming tides, which is deposited

Answer 8

When they reach the shore, forward movement starts to occur, which, as the depth is less than the wavelength - the base of the wave is slowed down by friction against the sea floor and the wave crest topples over and breaks onto the shore.

Answer 9

- The size of a wave depends on a number of factors including: Strength of the wind, duration the wind blows for, water depth and wave fetch

Answer 10

- Have a low wave height and a long wave length - They are gentle, flat waves with a string swash but weak backwash - The strong swash pushes sediment up the beach, depositing it as a (berm/ridge of sediment) at the top of the beach

Answer 11

- Have a very high wave height and a short wavelength - Common during storms - Have a strong backwash that erodes the beach material and carries it offshore, creating an offshore ridge

Answer 12

The shape of the beach, including its width and slope and features, such as berms, ridges and runnels. It also includes the type of sediment found at different locations

Answer 13

Hydraulic Action Waves crash against rocks and compress air in the cracks, adding pressure. Repeated compression widens the cracks and causes rocks to shatter Corrosion Water dissolves minerals in the rocks (particularly limestone) and washes it away Abrasion Sediment picked up by breaking waves is thrown against the cliff face The sediment acts like a tool on the cliff – chiselling away at the surface and gradually wearing it down Attrition Eroded particles in the water collide with each other and break into smaller fragments

Answer 14

- Sediment is transported along the coastlines by currents - Sediment transformation is influenced by angle of attacks depending on wind direction, tides and longshore drift (current flowing at angles to the coast, transporting material through the actions of swash and backwash)

Answer 15

Traction: Sediment rolls along, pushed by waves and currents Saltation: Sediment bounces along, either due to the force of water or wind Suspension: Sediment is carried in water columns Solution: Dissolved material is carried in the water as a solution

Answer 16

- Beaches - Spits - Bars - Barrier beaches - Tombolo - Cuspate Foreland

Answer 17

Found on coasts between the high-water mark and the low water mark. They form due to constructive waves depositing sand and shingle

Answer 18

Beaches which stick out at sea. They form at sharp bends on coastlines where longshore drift transports sand and shingle past the bend and deposits it in the sea. Strong winds can curve the spit (called a recurved spit) and plants can grow bashing the spit where waves cannot reach.

Answer 19

Form when a spit joins two headlands together, cutting of the sea from the water trapped between the bar and coastline. This forms a lagoon.

Answer 20

Sand or shingle bar above high tide, parallel to the coastline and separated from it by a lagoon

Answer 21

A spit connected to the mainland, an example being Chesil Beach

Answer 22

Created by longshore drift where sand and shingle deposits extend outward from the shoreline in a triangular shape

Answer 23

- Long stretches of coastlines operate as sediment cells - Sediment cells operate as a system with inputs, transfers and outputs of sediment. Under natural conditions the systems operate in a state of dynamic equilibrium with sediment inputs balancing outputs to sinks. - For short periods of time a sediment cells equilibrium state may be disrupted but will tend to return to balance over time - Negative feedback mechanisms help maintain the balance by pushing the system back towards equilibrium

Answer 24

 Sources: Places where sediment is generated, such as cliffs or eroding sand dunes; some sources are offshore bars  Transfer zones: Places where sediment is moving along the shore through longshore drift and offshore currents; beaches, parts of dunes and salt marshes perform this function  Sinks: locations where the dominant process is deposition; depositional landforms are created including spits and offshore bars

Answer 25

- Weathering can either be mechanical, chemical or biological - Weathering contributes to rates of coastal recession in a number of ways - Weathering weakens rocks, making them more vulnerable to erosion or mass movement processes.

Answer 26

Freeze Thaw Water expands by 9% in volume when freezing, exerting a force within cracks and fissures; repeated cycles force cracks open and loosen rocks. Salt Crystallisation The growth of salt crystals in cracks and pore spaces can exert a breaking force, although less than for freeze-thaw.

Answer 27

Carbonation The slow dissolution of limestone due to rainfall Hydrolysis The breakdown of minerals to form new clay minerals, plus materials in solution, due to the effect of water and dissolved CO2 Oxidation The addition of oxygen to minerals, especially iron compounds, which produces iron oxides and increases volume contributing to mechanical breakdown

Answer 28

Plant roots Trees and plant roots growing in cracks and fissures forcing rocks apart Rock boring An important process on vegetated cliff tops that can contribute to rockfalls

Answer 29

- On some coastlines, mass movement is the dominant cause of cliff collapse - There are a number of different types of mass movement: Blockfall, rotational slumping, and landslides.

Answer 30

 Rotational scars: Material deposited from rotational slumping  Talus scree slopes: The loose debris accumulated at the foot of the cliff  Terraced Cliff Profiles: Eroded rocks create ridges within the cliff

Answer 31

Occurs when ice on land melts and returns to the ocean, increasing the volume of the water present in the sea. Usually this is accompanying by thermal changes which primarily melts land ice.

Answer 32

Occurs from the downward movement of land, causing localised sea level rise. Land can be stressed downward from post glacial adjustments, subsidence (sinking of land) and accretion (accumulation of layers pushing down on the earth)

Answer 33

- Emergent coasts are a result of local tectonic uplift of the land surface or a fall in the elevation of sea level because of a reduction in the water volume of ocean basins. - Quite often, emergent coasts have rocky coastlines with cliffs and nearly flat platforms that extend inland where older coastal plains have been tectonically raised and are now elevated above the modern land and water interface - An example of an emergent coastline, because of its proximity to an active plate tectonic margin, is the west coast of North America.

Answer 34

- Submergent Coasts are those that have been flooded by ocean waters because of a relative rise in the elevation of sea level at that location. - The rise in sea level can be either the result of an increase in the volume of water in the ocean basins or the result of the land surface sinking, both of which create an apparent rise in the elevation of sea level. - A common feature of submergent coastal zones is river valleys or glacially-carved valleys that have been flooded by ocean water. - The Chesapeake Bay of the eastern United States is an example of a submergent coastline

Answer 35

 Long wave fetch and large, destructive ocean waves  Soft geology  Cliffs with structural weaknesses such as seaward rock dip and faults  Cliffs that are vulnerable to mass movement and weathering, as well as marine erosion

Answer 36

 Removing sediment from coastal sediment cells can have severe consequences for erosion  Coastal defences which cause the acceleration of erosion in other areas

Answer 37

- Holderness is a coastline that is 61km long in East Yorkshire - It is the fastest eroding coast in Europe - In some places like Cowden it has been eroding at 10m per year in recent times Geology - The cliffs on this coast South of Flamborough Head are mainly till/boulder clay and this is easily eroded by corrosion, corrosion and hydraulic action. - It is prone to slumping and mass movements when wet. - Narrow beaches – do not provide a lot of protection for the cliffs. - Made of chalk which dissolves when eroded rather than making sand for the beach. Powerful waves - The fetch is long- all the way from the Arctic Ocean - This causes destructive waves – with large wave height and high frequency crash on the cliffs. Many storms increase their action. • Weathering – physical, chemical and biological weathering Deep Sea Floor - The sea floor is deep so there is less friction to slow down the wave - Low pressure weather systems pass in from the North Sea Effects on coastline - Around 30 villages have been lost to the sea since Roman times - Property prices along the coast have fallen dramatically due to risk of erosion - This accounts for 25% of Britain’s gas - 80,000 square metres of Britain’s best farmland lost per year which has a huge effect on farmer’s livelihoods

Answer 38

- On many populated coastlines the threat of flooding outweighs the risk from erosion - This is because, many people live on low-lying coasts that are only a few meters above sea level - These areas include:  Coastal plains, such as the east coast of the USA  Estuaries, such as those of the rivers Thames, Severn and Tees in the UK  River Deltas, such as the Nile and Mississippi

Answer 39

- The Maldives in the Indian Ocean are at risk of rising sea levels - Its highest point in the country is mete 2.3m above sea level - The Maldives has a population of 340,000 people spread out across 122 islands - A sea level rise of just 50cm would mean the Maldives losing 77 percent of its land area - The capital Male, is ringed by a 3m high sea wall - Hullmale is a new artificial island built from coral and sediment dredged from the seabed between 1997 and 2002 at a cost of US$32 million – which is a full metre higher than Male

Answer 40

- Most coastal flooding is caused by storm surges - This can be caused by a depression in the mid-latitudes or a tropical cyclone in areas just north and south of the equator

Answer 41

- The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm - The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland. - A combination of a high spring tide and a severe European windstorm over the North Sea caused a storm surge - The combination of wind, high tide and low pressure had the effect that the water level exceeded 5.6 metres above mean sea level in some locations. - The flood and waves overwhelmed sea defences and caused extensive flooding. - In England, 307 people were killed in the counties of Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex - As a result of the widespread damage, the Netherlands particularly, and the United Kingdom had major studies on means to strengthen coastal defences. - The UK constructed a storm surge barrier on the Thames River below London, as well as one on the Humber estuary.

Answer 42

- Locations that are in the path of tropical cyclones are especially vulnerable to storm surges - Bangladesh is especially vulnerable to the impacts of tropical cyclones for a number of reasons:  Bangladesh is a very low lying 1-3 metres above sea level  Incoming storm surges often combine with outflowing river discharge – meaning river flooding and coastal flooding combine  Intense rainfall from tropical cyclones  Deforestation of the mangrove has removed vegetation that once stabilised coastal swamps - The 1970 storm surge killed 300,000-500,000 with wave height over 10m - $US 90 million in damages - The 2007 storm surge killed 15,000 with a wave height of 3m and caused $US1.7 billion in damages

Answer 43

- Climate change is likely to cause an increase in extreme weather, the frequency and magnitude of storms whilst contributing to sea level rise

Answer 44

 Economic – costs include the loss of property in the form of homes, businesses and farmland  Social – costs are impacts on people, such as the costs of relocation and loss of jobs  Environmental – impacts include the loss of coastal ecosystems and habitats; these are almost impossible to quantify financially but are likely to be small anyway because erosion is part of the natural coastal system to which ecosystems are adapted

Answer 45

- Repairing the damaged section of the South Devon Main line railway in 2015 cost 35 million – Estimates of the cost of to businesses in the South West were put between 60 million – 1.2 billion - On the Holderness coast – coastal erosion has caused falling property values; loss of access as roads, paths and steps down to beaches disappear; loss of amenity value as the coastline is visually scarred by collapsing roads, abandoned properties and warning signs

Answer 46

- Tuvalu’s highest point is 4.5 metres above sea level, and most land is 1 to 2m above sea level - Around 80 percent of people in the Seychelles live and work on the coast - Many are fringed by coral reefs, which act as natural coastal defences against erosion, however, rising ocean temperatures is threatening their existence. - They all have high population densities and very limited space, so there is no opportunity for relocation - They have small and narrow economies based on fishing and tourism which can easily be disrupted

Answer 47

Rip-Rap - Large igneous or metamorphic rock boulders - Break up and dissipate the wave energy - Reduced wave energy Rock breakwater - Large igneous or metamorphic rocks - Forces the wave to break offshore, rather than at the coast reducing wave energy - However, can interfere with longshore drift Sea wall - Concrete with steel reinforcement and deep-piled foundations - A physical barrier against erosion - Modern sea walls are designed to dissipate the energy - However, can cause destruction of the natural cliff face and foreshore environment. If reflective – can reduce beach volume Revetments - Stone, timer or interlocking concrete sloping structures, which are permeable - To absorb wave energy and reduce swash distance by encouraging infiltration - Reduced wave power - Can encourage deposition and may become vegetated Groynes - Vertical stone of timber fences built at 90 degrees to the coast - To prevent longshore movement of sediment, and encourage deposition, building a wider beach - Deposition and beach accretion - Prevention of longshore drift, sediment starvation and increased erosion down drift

Answer 48

Beach nourishment - Involves artificially replenishing the beach - Done to replace sediment lost by erosion - To enlarge the beach so that it dissipates wave energy. - To increase the amenity value of the beach by adding fresh sand - However, Ongoing costs are high – new sediment is required every few years Cliff stabilisation - Using rock armour at the toe of the cliff and using water pipes to channel groundwater out of the cliff - Useful in areas where it is the stability of the rocks that is causing coastal recession - It can be costly Dune stabilisation - Wooden wallboards are introduced to keep people off the dunes – education boards to encourage understanding – Fences used to reduce wind speed and encourage sand deposition - Sand dunes are an effective coastal defence – where they fringe the coast, they not only absorb wave energy from coastal erosion but also protect low-lying areas from coastal flooding. - However, the cost of these methods are low compared to hard engineering

Answer 49

- Abbott’s Hall farm in Essex is part of the Thames gateway - It is part of the Blackwater estuary - The salt marshes here are going to be protected and extended as sustainable coastal management - The sea has been allowed to breach the seawall to convert 84 hectares of farmland back to saltmarsh - This will act as a natural form of defence for the land behind it - If sea levels rise as expected the salt marsh will migrate inland naturally - Marsh birds like Brent geese and salt marsh plants like sea lavender will benefit greatly - Several groups support this decision to allow coast to retreat the line with new sea walls established further back etc

Answer 50

 No Active Intervention: No investment in defending against flooding or erosion. The coast is allowed to erode landward  Hold the Line: Build or maintain coastal defences so that the position of the shoreline remains the same over time  Managed realignment: Allow the coast to move naturally, but manage the process to direct it in certain areas  Advance the line: Build new coastal defences on the seaward side of the existing coastline

Answer 51

Actions - Along the coast - 11.4km out of 61km currently protected by hard engineering - Bridlington protected by 4.7km of sea wall as well as timber groynes - Hornsea village protected by concrete sea wall, timber groynes and rip rap - Mappleton – in 1991 two rock groynes and 500m long revetment were built, they cost £2 million and were built to protect the village and the B1242 coast road - Withernsea – groynes, sea wall have been built and rip rap placed in front of all when damaged in severe storms in 1992 Impacts - Groynes trap the sediment but down the coast the erosion increases e.g. downdrift of Mappleton the cliffs in the South are eroding and Cowden farm may fall into the sea - Protection is encouraging bays to form, and this may increase pressure on headlands and it may be too expensive to protect them - Many of these schemes are unsustainable Management in the Future - Shoreline Management Plan (SMP)for Holderness for next 50 years recommends holding the line in some places e.g. (Bridlington, Withernsea, Mappleton and Easington Gas Terminal) where there are villages and industry - Do nothing in more unpopulated stretches – unpopular with locals - Coastal realignment of businesses e.g. Caravan parks move further inland – but should they be financially compensated? - Sea wall proposed at Easington gas work – would cost £4.5 million but would eroded Easington more (where 700 people live) If longer sea wall to protect both would cost £7 million • Offshore reefs of tyres suggested – but would these harm the environment?

Answer 52

- ICZM means adopting a joined-up approach across different stakeholders in coastal areas in order to harmonise policies and decision making - In practice this means that coastal management must: - Plan for the long term, involve stakeholders, try to work with the natural processes and adopting ‘adaptive management’

Answer 53

Hard engineering methods are forms of coastal flood defences which mitigate the risk of flooding and coastal erosion and the consequential effects. Hard engineering methods are often used as a temporary measure to protect against coastal flooding as they are costly and only last for a relatively short amount of time before they require maintenance. However, they are very effective at protecting the coastline in the short-term as they are immediately effective as opposed to some longer term soft engineering methods. But they are often intrusive and can cause issues elsewhere at other areas along the coastline.

Answer 54

The £63million coastal defence scheme was officially opened in June 2018 and is designed to protect and reduce the risk of flooding to 7500 homes' along with the town’s tramway, schools and hospitals. The project was led by Wyre Council, the Environment Agency and Balfour Beatty and is made up of two kilometres of sea walls which have been designed to hold back major storm waves from the Irish Sea for the next 100 years. The walls have also been designed to protect against the effects of future climate change and sea level rise. The scheme has improved the local environment by creating a new ecology park on the landward side of the defences, increasing biodiversity, visual aspect and environmental footprint.

Answer 55

Overall, agriculture contributed around £24 billion of revenues to the economy

Answer 56

Flooding, and managing it, cost the UK around £2.2 billion each year: we currently spend around £800 million per annum on flood and coastal defences

Answer 57

• 168 km of coastline • Fetch of 4000km from the Atlantic • In 2016, 2.38 million visitors spent 300 million pounds. • Shoreline management plan at Bonchurch is hold the line. Reason is to protect properties, Victorian landscape and enlisted buildings • Do nothing on the southwest coast. Leads to landslides, slumping and cliff recession. • Brook and Chale (villages), farms, houses, holiday spots, dinosaur farm and military road at risk because of doing nothing. • Scenery and landscape preserved in the southwest, loss of access for tourists, decrease in economic benefits • Managed realignment at St Helen’s Duver and Bembridge harbour • Sand and shingle spit at entrance to Bembridge • Sea wall and groynes that will fail in these places in the next 50 to 100 years, leaving the land exposed, causing natural realignment. • Following this natural realignment, they are at risk of flooding. • 38 properties might be damaged by 2060, and 41 by 2010.

Answer 58

Seafood: in LEDCs coral reefs contribute about ¼ of the total fish catch, providing food for up to a billion people in Asia alone. If properly managed, reefs can yield on average, 15 tonnes of fish and other seafood per km squared/year. New medicines: coral reefs offer particular hope because of the array of chemicals produced by many of these organisms for self-protection. Corals are already being used for bone grafts, and chemicals found within several species appear useful for treating viruses, leukaemia, skin cancer and other tumours. Other products: reef ecosystems yield a host of other economic goods, ranging from corals and shells made into jewellery and tourism curious to live fish and corals used in aquariums, and sand and limestone used by the construction industry. Recreational Value: The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the global economy. Coral reefs are a major draw for snorkelers, scuba drivers and recreational fishers. Coastal protection: Coral reefs buffer adjacent shorelines through wave action and the impact of storms. The benefits of this protection are widespread and range from maintenance of highly productive mangrove fisheries and wetlands to supporting local economies that are built around ports and harbours, which in the tropics is often sheltered by nearby reefs.

Answer 59

* Sedimentation (covers coral, prevents photosynthesis by zooxanthellae). * Over-fishing * Careless recreation * Pollution * Climate change * Untreated waste water rise in agriculture and hotel development; Algal blooms due to nutrients, therefore blocks sunlight. Also uses up carbon dioxide, therefore eutrophication. • Overfishing. (Parrot) fish eats algae, therefore, prevents covering of algae over coral. Overfishing, less algae eaten, more algae grows and covers coral, so more coral killed, due to lack of nutrients and light for photosynthesis.

Answer 60

The island is also regularly affected by severe gales so an increase in the frequency of ‘extreme’ weather events could also be significant. It is possible that, with climate change, storms such as the 2005 floodings will become more frequent. Could also have a knock-on effect on the island’s connectivity as it could affect planes and ferries – with an impact on both individual mobility and the ability of local distributors to import key goods such as food.

Answer 61

The versatility of natural sources in coastal areas has made private and governmental users and investors to participate in this section to gain the utmost profits. The necessity of preparation and implementation of management plans for perpetual utilization of existent sources in coastal areas has become inevitable. Iran, possessing some 6000 km of coastline in north and south, owns abundant economic capacities in coastal zones and regarding the versatility of nature and coast operators and management of coastal activities and operations, necessity of attention to Integrated Coastal Zone Management becomes more significant.

Answer 62

Discordant coastline The area around Swanage is made up of bands of hard and soft rock. The soft rock is made of clay and sands, and the hard rock is chalk and limestone. The bands of soft rock erode more quickly than those of the more resistant hard rock leaving a section of land jutting out into the sea, called a headland. The areas where the soft rock has eroded away, next to the headland, are called bays. This process created Swanage Bay

Answer 63

Concordant coastline The alternating bands of hard and soft rock run parallel to the coast. Lulworth Cove is situated on the south coast of England, on a concordant coastline. The entrance to the cove is narrow where the waves have cut through weaknesses in the resistant limestone. Then the cove widens where the softer clays have been more easily eroded. At the back of the cove is a band of more resistant chalk, so erosion is slower here.

Answer 64

Old Harry Rocks Old Harry Rocks are located on the headland between Swanage and Studland Bay. The headland is made out of chalk, a hard rock. The headland juts out into the sea, so it is more vulnerable to high-energy waves. This caused the formation of Old Harry, a stack. Over time Old Harry will collapse to form a stump.

Answer 65

Chesil Beach is an example of a bar. Sediment has been deposited over time to form a spit. The spit has continued to join to the Isle of Portland. Behind the spit there is The Fleet, a lagoon.

Answer 66

- Repairing the damaged section of the South Devon Main line railway in 2015 cost 35 million – Estimates of the cost of to businesses in the South West were put between 60 million – 1.2 billion - Exeter in particularly - Government funding of £80 million to raise the sea wall south of Dawlish station by 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) was approved in February 2019.

Answer 67

Approximately 700 properties in England are vulnerable to coastal erosion over the next 20 years and a further 2,000 may become vulnerable over the next 50 years.

Answer 68

A recent project to identify the additional benefits of flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes suggested that schemes completed during 2012-13 provided improved protection to around 76,000 hectares of agricultural land.

Answer 69

Flamborough: do nothing Hornsea: Hold the line Mappleton: Hold the line Easington gas: Hold the line

Answer 70

However the sea defences have a downside; they are unsightly, can be inefficient and in the long term can be found to encourage local erosion and erosion in other places. Furthermore, sea walls make access to the beach more difficult and can discourage tourism. In the past, ad hoc also private sea defences have been put in place to protect assets, particularly at Ulrome and Skipsea. While these provide a short-term protection to the properties directly protected, their general nature and design is of concern. Private defences are often not of the same engineering standard of those publicly funded, and pose health and safety problems because of this –posing a danger to beach users. Long term control of erosion would require permanent protection of the cliff and foreshore clays. Simply defending the cliff toe through construction of a seawall or other such defence would still allow the foreshore to erode, ultimately undermining the structure. Maintaining a beach through effective sand control is therefore the aim when defending a frontage, the beach itself also provides a valuable amenity asset. Once established a beach can be contained through construction of a groyne field, the physical barrier that these structures provide prevents sand moving along and past the frontage. Storms can still draw sand directly seaward so beach sand is still lost and foreshore erosion does occur but at a much reduced rate.

Answer 71

The Easington Gas terminal, which receives gas from the North Sea gas fields, is now within 25m of the cliff edge, with no beach to protect it. Plans are currently being drawn up for defence works for this installation and possibly for the village of Easington itself. A rock revetment at the base of the cliff incorporating the full length of the site has been suggested.

Answer 72

Tourism and recreation: Withernsea, Hornsea and Bridlington are the main resorts. Beach recreation is of great importance for this area. Fishing and caravanning are the other main tourist features at the Holderness coast. ! Urbanisation (safety of people and investments): There are four main towns - Beverley, Bridlington, Driffield and Goole, the biggest of which is the traditional coastal town of Bridlington, which has a population of 32,000. Other towns along the coast are smaller, Hornsea 8.000 (count 1991) and Withernsea 6.500 (count 1991). Concluding, the main towns population and investments at the Holderness coast are relatively small. ! Fisheries and aquaculture: The coastal waters encompassed within the East Riding coastal zone and the associated North Sea region support a high level of commercial and recreational fishing activity and Fishing and fishing-related industries continue to play an important role in the life of many communities in the East Riding coastal zone. ! Agriculture and forestry: The coastal area has a rural nature and a lot of high quality agricultural land (because of the deposits of glacial till), mainly used for large scale arable cultivation and intensive livestock farming. ! Industry, transport and energy: Easington houses the Easington and Dimlington Gas Terminals which account for approximately 25% of Britian's gas supply. ! Nature and conservation: Dunes and wetlands at Spurn Peninsula, the Lagoons at Easington and the freshwater mere at Hornsea are very important natural sites. Some have been designated as SSSI areas.

Answer 73

On the most northerly point of the Holderness Coast lie the distinctly layered white chalk cliffs (topped by a layer of glacial till) of Flamborough. The cliffs are dotted with examples of erosion features such as caves, arches, stacks and stumps resulting from the presence of relatively more resistant limestone.

Answer 74

``` Hornsea has 2.9km stretch of shoreline fronting the town. This high-density urban development is dependent on tourism and recreation as well as a small fishing industry. ```

Answer 75

Situated approximately 3km south of Hornsea lies the village of Mappleton. Supporting approximately 50 properties, the village has been subject to intense erosion at a rate of 2.0m per year, resulting in the access road being only 50m from the cliff edge at its closest point.

Answer 76

The local council promised landowners facing the loss of their land and property that they would build a stone groin at the base of the cliffs to trap sediments and reduce the power of the waves. The inhabitants, however, were infuriated by the decision of the council not to take this action until the cliff edge is 30m from their front door. The main concern of the council had been to protect the British Petroleum oil and gas terminal further towards the south at Easington.

Answer 77

in 2000, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and other interested parties agreed to develop an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan for the East Riding coastal zone, the fastest eroding in Europe. This is a plan that balances all the issues that are important on the coast, including the environment, tourism, fisheries, agriculture and rural isolation.

Answer 78

The effectiveness of the measures taken at the Holderness coast are varying but in general the hard measures are successful in stopping or at least slowing down the erosion locally. However, due to the use of hard measures, downstream of the measures the erosion has increased. In between the towns with a fixed coastline, bays seem to be developing due to this erosion. The sea defences seem to be creating artificial headlands because erosion on both sides continues. As time progresses this could mean that the headlands (towns) become more and more exposed to the force of the waves, while the coast in between the headlands will erode more and more until a stable bay is formed.

Answer 79

Flamborough head, holderness

Answer 80

The most visible of the erosion zones, the cliff face undergoes erosion whenever the tide is high enough to allow wave action to strike its base. Wave impact and abrasion forces are then capable of removing material so steepening the cliff face to a point where it collapses spilling material onto the beach, this clay is then rapidly removed by subsequent tides. If beach levels are particularly low then a higher number of tides will reach the cliffs and more erosion will occur. This erosion state will usually continue until beach levels recover, which can be anything from months to several years. A period of relative calm will then follow until the cycle repeats again which may be in years or even decades time.