Case study: Holderness, East Yorkshire

Question 1

Why are there headlands and bays on the Holderness Coastline

Answer 1

• the North Sea waves have a very long fetch (850km) and therefore the waves are very powerful and easily erode the cliffs
• the headland at Flaborough Head is made of chalk. Chalk erodes more slowly than clay and for this reason it just out along the coastline

Question 2

Why does the headland continue to erode

Answer 2

• the waves attack the base of the headland through the processes of hydraulic action, abrasion and solution
• hydraulic action has the most influential effect

Question 3

What has happened in Hornsea

Answer 3

• Hornsea is a small coastal town. It consists of high-density urban development containing residential and tourist-related properties. Its local economy is dependent on tourism and recreation
• to protect a caravan park, a sea wall was built in 1991 to absorb the power of the waves and reduce the rate of erosion
• this is part of the EA’s policy to ‘hold the line’ by using hard engineering to keep the shoreline in its current position

Question 4

Where is Mappleton

Answer 4

• village 3km away from Holderness
• home to 600 people and connected by the B1242

Question 5

What happened in mappleton

Answer 5

• experienced intense rate of erosion of two metres per year
• had led to the main road being partially eroded, causing disruption to transport

Question 6

What was the solution to the erosion in Mappleton

Answer 6

• rock groynes were built with granite
• groynes trap beach material and stop it being transported away by longshore drif
• this has built up a wide, sandy beach which is a natural sea defence that dissipates wave energy to the point that erosion is no longer a threat
• a 450 metre line of rock armour was placed at the base of the cliff absorb wave energy during storm conditions
• cliffs have been reprofiled to form gentle slopes which have been stabilised with vegetation, this has protected cliffs from mass movements such as slumping

Question 7

What problems have the groynes led to south of mappleton

Answer 7

• stopping of lsd —> the beach is starved of new sediment —> destructive waves attack the cliffs and land is lost to sea
• erosion rates have increased from 1.7 metres to 3.3 metres per year (known as ‘terminal groyne syndrome)
• at Cliff Top Farm, up to 10 metres of land have been lost every year
• in 1991, the land was 20 metres away from the sea. In 2022, 100 metres of farm land had been eroded

Question 8

What is the EA going to do about the unwanted consequences

Answer 8

Despite the unwanted consequences, the Environment Agency plans to protect Mappleton using the ‘hold the line’ policy and let nature take its course south of the village