holderness coast case study

Question 1

key facts

Answer 1

located on the east coast of England - 61km long
fast eroding coastline at rates of 1.8m per year, 23 villages have been lost since Roman era

Question 2

geology of the holderness

Answer 2

bedrock made of chalk (resistant to erosion)
soft boulder rock is being eroded
- longshore drift moves material south
- boulder clay is easily eroded

Question 3

towns within the sediment cell

Answer 3

flamborough head = a resistant chalk headland shows how wave erosion can produce arch, stack
mappleton = easily eroded boulder clay shows effects of subaerial erosion
humber estuary = winds and tides develop mudflats and salt marshes (depositional)
spurn head = sediments brought here by LSD are deposited causing recurved spit

Question 4

coastal management strategies

Answer 4

erosion increases southward at the holderness
hard engineering = high construction and maintenance often used to protect valuable buildings
soft engineering = environmental benefits

Question 5

spurn head

Answer 5

sediment is deposited here where winds and waves have created a recurved spit = grows at 10cm per year
management strategy = abandonment
- holderness borough council could not afford to save it

Question 6

hornsea

Answer 6

holiday resort with a beach so management highly important
- groynes are repaired and rebuilt at £5.2 million
- sea wall raised
- sand dunes are built with trees planted in

Question 7

withernsea

Answer 7

sea resort further south
- groynes
- sea wall
- return wall built to prevent wave erosion
- wall furtherly protected by riprap (£6.3 mill)

Question 8

mappleton

Answer 8

home to 342 people and 50 properties, would be lost without coastal defences
- groynes protect sandy beach
- groynes have led to increased erosion in cowden (erosion increased from 1m to 3m per year)