Holderness Coastline Location: The Holderness Coastline

is positioned on the east coast of England, south east of the Yorkshire Wolds, with Scarborough to the north and the Humber estuary to the south. Holderness itself is an area of drained marshland and so therefore is a fertile area, home to lots of farmland and few major roads.

Erosion: The Holderness Coastline is one

of the fastest eroding in Europe with 1.5m per year eroding away. The original coastline is made of chalk but during the last ice age, glaciers deposited rock and sediment onto the coastline. These deposits have formed a flat coastline on top of this rock, right up to the Yorkshire Wolds. The deposits form an almost soil like layer on top, which at the coastline is easily eroded by the waves. This is also a problem as the waves are predominantly destructive waves with a large fetch, with nothing in their way from the Arctic Circle. The adjacent picture shows how erosion has changed the landscape since 1852 (the yellow lines are the boundaries form that era. As well as the destructive waves that batter this coastline we can see that from this picture, the beaches are narrow and offer little or no protection to the cliff side. Hence they are eroded more

Josh Winter 10T

13/06/2011

quickly and add to the factors that cause this coastline to be eroded so rapidly. Longshore Drift: The eroded material from this coast is then carried by longshore drift SE down the coastline. This material has over time been deposited at the end of the coastline, forming Spurn Head. This is due to the material continuing onwards when the solid coastline ceases to exist. However, Spurn Head will never cover the whole of the Humber estuary as the flow of the river coming into the sea prevents it from doing so. Over time the presence of Spurn Head will cause the sheltered bay to become a salt marsh as the water stills and eventually evaporates.

How the coastline is being protected: There are two types of

protection that are employed in coastline protection: hard and soft engineering. An example of hard engineering is sea walls, walls made of concrete in order to form a more solid barrier against the waves. Sea walls often have a curve at the top in order to deflect the waves back into the sea, often away from houses or footpaths. Another type of sea wall is a honeycomb sea wall (also known as a "seabee"). It is constructed as a sloped wall of concrete blocks with hexagonal holes, which makes it look like a honeycomb. During strong storms, surging sea water loses energy as it travels down the holes and through gravel at the base of the structure. The water is returned to the sea through underground drainage. Due to their cost, honeycomb sea walls are often passed over in favour of other forms of "hard" sea defence such as piled rocks or concrete steps.

Josh Winter 10T

13/06/2011

These piles of rocks are called rip rap or rock armour; made from a variety of rock types, commonly granite, limestone or occasionally concrete rubble from building and paving demolition. Riprap works by absorbing and deflecting the impact of a wave before the wave reaches the defended structure. The size and mass of the riprap material absorbs the impact energy of waves, while the gaps between the riprap traps and slows the flow of water, lessening its ability to erode structures. It is frequently used to protect the base of old Edwardian/Victorian sea walls, which due to the vertical wall, are often undermined. The sloping wall of a revetment usually acts as a base to all this hard engineering solutions, deflecting the waves upwards, absorbing the energy of the waves. Groynes are not necessarily a way to stop erosion but a way to halt the effects of longshore drift and maintain or cause a beach. The particles instead of washing down the coast, hit the groyne and help to keep the sand within the groynes and the beach itself. Man made solutions to the problem the coast faces of erosion, are often expensive and require a large amount of maintenance. Soft Engineering is a solution that does not require the building of mammoth structures spanning for great distances. Two examples of this are Beach nourishment and

Josh Winter 10T

13/06/2011

revegetating. Beach Nourishment involves the transport of the nourishment material from one area to the affected area. This process is often expensive depending upon the source (and thus the cost) of the sand. Revegatating however, is often cheaper as it involves re-growing the plants and grass on top of the cliffs, dunes or marshes, in order to hold it together through the roots and offer another form of drainage.

Implications of coastal engineering: In order to protect the

coastline we use a great number of different engineering techniques as shown above. However protecting a certain area of the coastline causes an area either side to be eroded more heavily than Mappleton in this picture, but in any protected area. Overtime this will cause an artificial headland and bay as the coastal retreats more slowly, and will cause problems for farmers as they experience increased amounts of flooding and land slipping into the sea. Stopping the longshore drift at Mappleton is one of the causes for this quicker rate of erosion as the eroded material is not carried down the coast making the beaches smaller and the waves have a greater impact on the cliff face even at a normal high tide let alone a strong storm.

How I think it should be protected: I believe that the Holderness

coastline should not have millions of pounds spent on it to protect the major profitable areas but should instead have no defences placed in at all and nature should be allowed to take its course. The money saved on this could then be used to help all of the people affected by the erosion, funding their move back inland and for the farmers, go some way as to refund them for the acres of land they lose every year. This would guarantee the future of these people for some 20 years and not cause the major implications that just defending certain areas has upon the natural shape of the coastline and the industries that rely or reside upon it.

Josh Winter 10T

13/06/2011