The Holderness Coast Case Study

Question 1

Where is the holderness coast?

Answer 1

Yorkshire

Question 2

How far does the holderness coast stretch?

Answer 2

50km

Question 3

What important costal features are on the holderness coast?

Answer 3

• chalk cliffs of flamborough
• the plain of holderness
  -spurn head
  -Humber estuary

Question 4

What physical factors work along the holderness coast?

Answer 4

-weather
-waves
-geology

Question 5

How does the weather effect the holderness coast?

Answer 5

-winter storms cause stronger waves and higher sea levels (surge)
-saturated cliffs suffer increased runoff leading to slumping and other forms of mass movement
-rain brings intensified sub-aerial processes

Question 6

How do waves affect the holderness coast?

Answer 6

-dominant waves are from the north east
-largest fetch is north east
-destructive waves erode the beaches and attack the foot of cliffs, lsd carries material southward , low energy environment of Humber estuary allows sediments to collect forming a spit, mudflats and sand dunes near to spurn head

Question 7

How does geology affect the holderness coast?

Answer 7

-main types of rock found along the holderness coast is chalk and boulder clay
-more resistant chalk form features such as flamborough head
Boulder clay cliffs to the south are more easily eroded

Question 8

Why is flamborough head so important?

Answer 8

-the chalk is resistant to erosion and has a distinctive lithology
-the horizontal bedding planes assist in the development of wave-cut platforms
-wave quarrying can result from the sheer force of the waves hitting the headland
-wave refraction concentrates waves on headlands, allowing caves to develop further

Question 9

Why are the holderness cliffs so important?

Answer 9

• they are formed from material left by ice sheets
  -they are retreating at an average rate of 1.8 metres per year

Question 10

What happens at the holderness cliffs?

Answer 10

-on land, rainwater enters the clay and the weight of the water causes material to slide seawards, this may occur along natural slip planes in the cliffs or the saturated clay may slump forwards onto the beach
-at the cliff foot fine clay is easily removed by waves
-lsd carries Half a million tonnes of sediment southwards each year in suspension
-little material left to form beaches & protect cliffs
- rip currents may excavate ords/deep hollows

Question 11

What are small sections of the holderness coastline referred as?

Answer 11

Littoral cells (eg flamborough to the Humber estuary)
They are open systems with inputs, transfers and outputs of water and sediment

Question 12

What are some hard engineering techniques implemented on the holderness coast?

Answer 12

-sea walls, put in place at holiday resorts eg. Hornsea and withersea
-groynes, to hold beach materials threatened by lsd erosion eg. Hornsea, withersea and mappleton
-rock armour, to absorb waves eg. Withersea and easington

Question 13

What are some soft engineering strategies implemented on the holderness coast?

Answer 13

-beach nourishment, replacing sand lost by lsd eg. Hornsea and mappleton
-do nothing eg. Neck of spurn head

Question 14

What is at Hornsea?

Answer 14

A holiday resort with a promenade and hotel frontage

Question 15

What protection has been put in place at Hornsea? How much did it cost?

Answer 15

-a sea wall
- groynes which have been repaired and new ones built £5.2 million

Question 16

What affects has the costal engineering techniques put in place at Hornsea had on other areas of the coast?

Answer 16

Trapping of sand by the groynes may have caused scour at mappleton

Question 17

What strategies have been put in place to protect the resort at withernsea?

Answer 17

-groynes and a sea wall
-to prevent further wave erosion, a new wave return wall has been built
-rip rap to further protect these
-beach nourishment
-cost £6.3 million