Coasts case studies

Question 1

Holderness background

Answer 1

• Yorkshire
• losing 2m of coast per year
• lost 4km since Roman times
• 29 villages lost to the sea
• 80000m2 of farmland lost per year

Question 2

Why is there so much erosion at Holderness?

Answer 2

• Geology: weak boulder clay
• waves: powerful and destructive (5000km atlantic fetch)
• narrow beaches

Question 3

What’s happening at Mappleton?

Answer 3

• population 250
• road 34m from the sea, cheaper to defend than move
• community built their own revetment and groynes
• terminal scour

Question 4

What’s happening at Kilnsea?

Answer 4

• most southerly village on Holderness
• lost 300m of land in 150 years
• population 90
• vulnerable to floods

Question 5

Why is the coast of west africa eroding so quickly?

Answer 5

• 1-2m retreat per year
• rising sea levels
• lack of defences
• dams trap sediment which can’t be deposited at coast
• destruction of mangroves

Question 6

What is the Deltawerken (Netherlands)?

Answer 6

• hard engineering megaproject
• dams and gates constructed to control flow of water between the eastern islands

Question 7

What is happening at Kiribati?

Answer 7

• roads eroded
• food insecurity
• homes submerged/destroyed

Question 8

Where is eustacy affecting?

Answer 8

• Kiribati
• Flooding rias eg Kingsbridge

Question 9

where is isostacy affecting?

Answer 9

ice melting in scotland
- scotland rising by 1.5mm p/year
- south uk sinking by 1mm p/year eg essex

Question 10

what is happening in the isle of arran, scotland?

Answer 10

relict cliffs eg kings cave
isle of arran - raised beach 5m above sea level
due to isostatic uplift

Question 11

why is bangladesh vulnerable to floods?

Answer 11

monsoons, himalayan snowmelt
- 2004 floods covered half of country, killed 600

Question 12

Ria

Answer 12

Kingsbridge, south devon

Question 13

fjord

Answer 13

Sognefjord, norway
- 205km long
- 1.3km deep
- 4.5km wide

Question 14

Fjard

Answer 14

Kanholmsfjarden, Sweden

Question 15

Dalmatian coast

Answer 15

croatia
- 1240 islands parallel to coast

Question 16

maldives

Answer 16

The Maldives have an average height of 1.5 m above sea level, but its population of 400,000 is too large to be easily accommodated elsewhere. It’s highest point is 2.3 m above sea level, and a 50 cm rise would flood 77% of it.

Question 17

hallsands

Answer 17

sediment cell disruption
shingle dredged offshore to provide material for construction of dockyard in plymouth, so shingle from the beach slipped into holes left. As sea levels fell, deep fast-flowing channels which stopped material being deposited at Hallsands developed