Coasts are under threat and

need to be managed

What causes a cliff to recede?

Cliff which are on right angles with the sea
will erode quicker than cliffs which are
parallel
Rock type resistant (limestone) and less
resistant (clay).
weathering of cliff face
Mass movement (slumping and soil creep)
Erosion of base of the cliff by the sea.

Which photo shows the greatest

effects of cliff erosion?
Which one should be protected?
Why?
If a settlement is on a cliff top,
then public awareness will be
high as peoples homes and
businesses are under threat.
B

Less consideration is given

to agricultural or
recreational land.

Sue Earls farm on

the Holderness
coast has been
allowed to fall into
the sea because her
need for defence
was minimal.
Further down the
coast, Gas
Terminal at
Easington has
been protected
because it
supplies large
quantities of
North Sea Gas to
British households

Question
A) Why are areas defended while
agricultural land is left to the action of the
sea (4 marks)?

Defence of the British coastline

has been cause for concern for a
long time. Many people, such as
environmentalists and taxpayers
in inland areas, believe that the
coast should not be defended.

Has Britain always been this

shape?

Half the class is for the

protection of the coastline, half
is against. Come up with an
argument give reasons for your
answers

Reasons against defence.

Sea levels are rising and inevitably some
of the land near the coast will be below
sea level in the future. Would it not be
more sensible to allow it to flood now?
Building sea defences is very costly. As
they are not indestructible, this is surely a
waste of money?
The environment that is created is not
natural.

 Although the sea erodes large areas of

the British coastline every year, more is
replaced by deposition than is removed.
The problem is that the areas which are
being built up are usually not the areas
where people live or used for industry.

 If we are going to spend millions of

pounds defending the coastline, what sort
of defences should we use?
Hard engineering options: sea wall,
groynes, revetments, rip rap, gabions, sea
bees and off-shore reefs.
Soft engineering: (recent) managed
retreat, beach nourishment, stabilising
dunes, cliff regrading and doing nothing.