Holderness coast: Location: - Located at east coast of England - 60km long

Major features:

Tourism and recreation Fishing and aquaculture Agriculture and forestry (high quality agricultural land) Energy: gas terminals (Easington and Dimlington) account for approx. 20% of Britains gas supply

Geological features:

- Mainly cliffs (20-30m high) consisting of soft, boulder clay in bands (horizontally) - Coast is exposed, approaching waves have a long fetch over the North Sea - Mainly destructive waves eroding the base of the cliff by hydraulic action, freeze thaw, abrasion, solution, slumping

- Narrow beaches that do not protect the coastline (further threatened by sealevel rise, 6mm per year) - One of Europes fastest eroding coastlines (2m per year), 4km of land have disappeared since Roman times - About 2 million tonnes of material eroded per year, some villages have completely disappeared - 3% deposited at spit (Easington) - Mappleton under threat: main road running through the village was 500m from cliff (1998), now only 50m Response / defence: - Cost-benefit analysis: costal defences cheaper than building a new road - Hard defences: concrete seawall, timber groynes (encourage the build up of beach in front of Mappleton by trapping longshore drift) - Possible solution: large underwater reef made of tyres (costly to build, but they would reduce the amount of energy that approaching waves carry) - Only most valuable areas of land are protected, much of the farmland is given back to the sea (?managed retreat?) - Construction of groyne caused erosion of about 20m per year further along the coast (spit), spit is still being eroded, but no new material can arrive - Loss of beaches for tourists use

Problems:

Barton-On-Sea: Location:

- Located at south coast of England Major features: Geological features: - First place in England to try rock groynes

- Problems with coastal erosion (1m per year, several buildings have been lost) - Longshore drift from west to east - Bournemouth (further west) built sea defences no new sediment could arrive at Barton to protect the cliffs - High energy waves approaching from SW - Cliff is undercut and slumping occurs - Cliff geology: sandstone (porous) on clay (impermeable) water collects between those two layers, causing sliding Response / defence: - 1960s: council decided to protect cliff foot by rocks and steel piles (approximate costs: 1 million GBP) (to absorb wave energy) - 1974: wooden groynes were replaced by rock groynes (they extend 1.8km along the cliff toe) (to trap sand and build a beach to protect the cliffs) - Costs since 1987 are estimated at 4.5 million GBP - Who will pay? - Visual problems it doesnt look natural - Rock groynes at Barton trap sand so coast further east is now more easily eroded

Problems:

Porlock bay: Location:

- Bristol channel, Somerset (England) Major features: - Much of the coastline under care of the National Trust - Saltmarsh is a 185 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) - Coastline includes single ridges, salt marshes and a submerged forest - Shingle ridge which protects the marsh from the sea was weakened due to high water levels and stormy weather - Cost-benefit analysis showed that protecting the threatened land was no longer cost efficient (last rebuild of ridge took place in 1990), since then managed retreat - A new salt marsh developed provides new habitat to animals and protects the land behind from further erosion - Some land that was previously used for agricultural purposes is no longer used for farming as it is inundated by the sea at high tides

Geological features:

Response / defence:

Problems: