Holderness
Holderness is one of the most rapidly eroding coastlines in Europe.
Roughly 1 to 2 metres a year.
Longshore drift plays an active part in moving sediment along the coastline in a southward direction.
This removal of sediment means that there are only small beaches at the cliff foot to protect the cliff from wave power and erosion mechanisms such as hydraulic action.
So the cliff is slowly retreating.
½ a million tons of sediment are moved south in suspension by Longshore drift every year.
Along the coastline there is a lot of human activity, including tourism and farming.
This erosion is impacting severely on the industries and therefore management is essential and needed.
Before the ice age, the Holderness coastline was a chalk coastline (hard rock). But since the melting of the ice caps, glacial deposits were left behind, leaving boulder clay.
Bounlder clay erodes 10 times faster then chalk.
Roughly 1 to 2 metres a year.
Longshore drift plays an active part in moving sediment along the coastline in a southward direction.
This removal of sediment means that there are only small beaches at the cliff foot to protect the cliff from wave power and erosion mechanisms such as hydraulic action.
So the cliff is slowly retreating.
½ a million tons of sediment are moved south in suspension by Longshore drift every year.
Along the coastline there is a lot of human activity, including tourism and farming.
This erosion is impacting severely on the industries and therefore management is essential and needed.
Before the ice age, the Holderness coastline was a chalk coastline (hard rock). But since the melting of the ice caps, glacial deposits were left behind, leaving boulder clay.
Bounlder clay erodes 10 times faster then chalk.