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    Case Study Holderness Coastline

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    biology111
    The Holderness Coast in East Yorkshire has some of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe, losing about 2 meters per year to powerful storms and waves from the North Sea. The soft cliffs left from the last ice age are easily worn away, threatening coastal towns, infrastructure like gas terminals, and farmland. Defensive structures like groynes, rock walls, and beach replenishment have been installed to slow the erosion, but the village of Mappleton remains vulnerable due to its narrow beaches and small population.

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    Case Study Holderness Coastline

    Uploaded by

    biology111
    277 views1 page
    The Holderness Coast in East Yorkshire has some of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe, losing about 2 meters per year to powerful storms and waves from the North Sea. The soft cliffs left from the last ice age are easily worn away, threatening coastal towns, infrastructure like gas terminals, and farmland. Defensive structures like groynes, rock walls, and beach replenishment have been installed to slow the erosion, but the village of Mappleton remains vulnerable due to its narrow beaches and small population.

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    The Holderness Coast in East Yorkshire has some of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe, losing about 2 meters per year to powerful storms and waves from the North Sea. The soft cliffs left from the last ice age are easily worn away, threatening coastal towns, infrastructure like gas terminals, and farmland. Defensive structures like groynes, rock walls, and beach replenishment have been installed to slow the erosion, but the village of Mappleton remains vulnerable due to its narrow beaches and small population.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    277 views1 page

    Case Study Holderness Coastline

    Uploaded by

    biology111
    The Holderness Coast in East Yorkshire has some of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe, losing about 2 meters per year to powerful storms and waves from the North Sea. The soft cliffs left from the last ice age are easily worn away, threatening coastal towns, infrastructure like gas terminals, and farmland. Defensive structures like groynes, rock walls, and beach replenishment have been installed to slow the erosion, but the village of Mappleton remains vulnerable due to its narrow beaches and small population.

    Copyright:

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    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Case study on coastal erosion: The Holderness Coastline (Mappleton)

    What is the Holderness Coast? The Holderness Coast, East Yorkshire, is one of Europe's
    fastest eroding coastlines; in fact the average
    annual rate of erosion is around 2 metres per
    year!

    What are the causes of this? The coast is


    frequently attacked by powerful destructive
    waves driven by strong winds blowing
    across the North Sea.

    • The soft boulder clay cliffs, left after the last


    Ice Age, are easily eroded.
    • The waves erode the base of the cliff by
    hydraulic action and abrasion. The destructive
    power of the waves may be increasing due to
    slow sea level rise.

    What are the effects of this? A 4km strip of


    land lost since Roman times and many villages have disappeared.

    • The North Sea gas terminal at Easington is one of the two eat coast sites where gas
    pipelines from the North Sea drilling platforms come ashore. It is a vital part of the UK’s
    energy supply infrastructure, but it is under threat because of its cliff-top location.
    • Coastal towns such as Withernsea and Hornsea, farms, roads and tourist facilities such as
    caravan sites are under threat from the advancing sea.

    Is there anything being done about this?

    Yes, there are several coastal defences in place to try and reduce the force of the waves on
    the cliff bases. These include:

    Groynes (low walls built out into sea, usually at right angles to the coastline, help to break
    power of incoming waves, slow down process of longshore drift.

    Rock wall (stop waves removing sand and gravel from beach)

    Embankments (high walls are situated where beach meets the land/cliff, usually made of
    concrete/stone and bounce back storm waves)

    Sand and shingle dumping (material dumped offshore to reduce power and height of
    incoming waves).

    What about Mappleton?

    Mappleton is a village and it is situated on the North Sea coastline in an area known as
    Holderness.

    • Sea defences at Mappleton-caused erosion 6 times faster in the area to the South of
    the village than 10 years ago.
    • Beaches are very narrow (so are not good defences against coastal erosion-only
    WIDE beaches are).
    • In 2001, it was found that there were about 249 people living in Mappleton and
    coastal defences are expensive, so councils can only pay for them in areas where
    quite a few people live.

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