Erosion of the Holderness coastline

Background information to the Holderness coastline 

 

The structure of the Holderness coastline varies travelling from the headland in the North to the spit in the South due to the process of erosion and the established geology.  From the North, Flamborough’s headland is constructed of chalk a more resistant type of rock to erosion causing the headland to jolt out to sea. Erosion still affects the chalk headland wearing away material creating stumps and blowholes occurring over a longer period of time.  The surrounding coastline running South of Flamborough lies boulder clay which is an “unconsolidated weak mass of clay material and boulders” (Quinn, Philip and Murphy, 2009) which erodes at a faster rate than chalk, causing the land to retreat, creating a bay from Bridlington to Withernsea. The bay created through erosion is visible today, however over time the Holderness coastline has “retreated inland by 4km” losing a number of villages to the sea. Now homes, farmland, other villages and caravan parks are under threat, with the combination of erosion due to the weak clay, sea level raise of 4mm per year and the energy of the North Sea, the future for the Holderness coastline is likely to be washed away. Along the coastline material is wearing away through processes such as erosion and weathering, a few examples are hydraulic action, abrasion, solution and freeze thaw.

Finally finishing off the Holderness coastline a spit is present at Spurn head formed by longshore drift and deposition of eroded material from the North. Wave energy transports material along the coastline, as waves meet the Humber Estuary  energy decreases with the waves no longer being able to transport material so it is deposited creating a spit, which extends the coastline over time.

Management was used to protect areas of the Holderness coastline, in 1991 as 2 rock groynes were constructed at Mappleton a site in the centre of the coastline costing around £2 million to prevent longshore drift. However the hard engineering put in place did not serve their purpose of defending the Holderness coast, as the groynes caused an increase rate of erosion to the south. Groynes benefit the area where they are located but have negative effects on the surrounding land.

The focus for this website is the Holderness coastline as it is one of the fastest retreating coastlines in the world, with the use of GIS, remote sensing and other maps it allows erosion rates to be studied. As the retreating coastline is extremely fast local people are at risk of losing their homes and belongings, by studying erosion rates over a long period of time it allows future retreating of the coastline to be examined. Predicting erosion and the retreat helps areas of the coastline to protect the land or move away. Over time it could be found that people have moved away from the area or the retreat has decreased. This website will focus on the erosion of the Holderness coastline over time.