High Energy Coastline Case Study

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Using a case study, assess the relative importance of the different physical factors influencing the landscape of a high energy coastline. 16 marks.

There are multiple important physical factors that influence the landscape of a high-energy coastline. Environments are strongly influenced by the geology, which dictates levels of coastal erosion and rock resistance to wind and water. If a high energy coastline consists of softer rock such as mud or chalk, coastal erosion will be greater. This is because it is less resistant to erosional processes such as pounding, which refers to when wave energy exerts pressure onto soft rock, causing it to weaken further and over a large time-scale of thousands of years can cause the formation of bays and headlands. The bays form where softer rock would have previously been and due to …show more content…
One example of a high energy coastline which has been influenced by physical factors such as its geology is the stretch of land between Saltburn and Flamborough Head, a discordant coastline. This means that the geology consists of alternating bands of soft and hard rock running perpendicular to the ocean. It can be characterised by its high fetch (1500 km) which causes large amounts of erosion and deposition. Waves in this region often exceed 4m even during quieter summer months, which means that there is significant wave energy constantly eroding the areas of softer rock at a rate of 0.8m per year. Over time this is what caused Flamborough head to exist, as it consists of a mixture of harder rock such as limestone which only recedes 0.1m per year due to its higher resistance to the erosional processes such as pounding.
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