Saltburn to Flamborough Flashcards
What has caused low beach development from Saltburn to flamborough?
High wave energy backed by an upland coast creates conditions that remove sediment from beaches.
Supply of sediment from cliff erosion and rivers is limited.
Gradients are relatively steep offshore.
What processes are responsible for the erosional features from Saltburn to flamborough?
Erosion rates are low (0,1 m year)
Dominant waves from north and north west with a fetch over 1500 Km long contributes to shaping the coasts hard geological structure.
Long-shore drift is driven by powerful northerly waves form north to south.
Describe the geology from from Saltburn to flamborough.
Rocky upland coastline.
Caused partially by glaciation.
The rocks of Jurassic age are mainly sand-stones, shale, ironstones and limestones.
In some places weaker rocks such as shale and clay are cropped out.
Describe shore platforms from Saltburn to flamborough.
As cliffs retreat they leave behind a rocky platform.
Examples are at Robin Hoods bay.
Some experts argue that they are relic features formed during winter interglacial when sea levels were similar to how they are today.
Describe the cliffs from Slaltburn to flamborough?
The cliffs are mechanically strong and chalk. A boulder clay capping rests at a gentler slope on the cliff tops.
Headlands; describe caves and arches from Saltburn to Flamborough, and the processes responsible for them.
Wave erosion and cliff retreat cause landforms such as caves, arches and stacks.
Headlands include Kettleness and Flamborough.
Caves develop where mechanical wave action exploits a line of weakness.
Where a narrow ridge or ‘fin’ of rock projects seawards, cave development may lead to rock collapse and the formation of an arch
Headlands; describe stacks and stumps from Saltburn to Flamborough, and the processes responsible for them.
Following the formation of an arch further erosion will result in the arch collapsing leaving a stack of isolated rock separated from the sea. Erosion reduces stacks to stumps, and the base becomes part of the shore platform.
Explain the bays from Saltburn to Flamborough.
Headlands and bays are common on Yorkshire coast, where there is variation in rock type, and the geology structure is often discordant.
Robin Hoods bay is cut into weaker shale, the bay is anchored by more resistant sandstones.
Further south Filey Bay has developed where the weak kimmeridge clay reaches the coast. It is flanked by more resistant corallian limestone.
There is considerable long-shore sediment movement but there are no spits and other detached beach forms, between Saltburn to Flamborough, what could be an explanation for this?
There is a relatively high tidal range of about 4m.
It is a predominantly straight coastline, with few abrupt changes in direction.
There is an absence of shallow embayments or broad estuaries to act as sediment sinks for sand and shingle.
Explain the sediment supply from Saltburn to Flamborough.
Some sediment has come form the a region close to shore, driven onshore as sea levels rose at the end of the last glaciation.
Sediment supply from cliff erosion is important locally.
Given the lithology there is limited supply from this source today.
Only one large river - the Esk from Slatburn to Flamborough which enters the coastal zone between Saltburn and Flamborough, and even then its sediment load is significantly reduced by weirs and bank reinforcements along its channel.
Describe the extensive beaches from Slatburn to Flamborough.
Most extensive beaches have formed in sheltered low energy bays, such as those at Runswick, Filey, and scarborough. Sediment is interrupted by major headlands and sand and shingle is often trapped in deep bays.
Describe the shoreline cliffs from Slatburn to Flamborough.
Horizontally bedded sedimentary rock form along the entire stretch (concordant coastline)
Therefore cliff profiles usually have a 20-30m vertical face.
Overlying the chalk capping of glacial till is lowered by a sub-areal process to an angle of around 40 degrees.
Varied geology caused higher cliffs with a step like profile. Beds of limestone, ironstone, sandstone, shale and boulder clay.
Differences in lithology influence the effectiveness of sub-aerial processes: steep slope segments correspond to more resistant rocks such as sandstone; gentler slopes are more typically shale and clay.
