Destructive waves In the foreground - what are the characteristics of the waves? This type of wave has lots of energy.

The effect of geology on coastal landforms and processes Isle of Purbeck East Yorkshire Coast

The White Cliffs of Beachy Head The geology is visible - where is it weak? The power of the waves can attack these. At the foot of the cliff there is a rock shelf. What is this feature called?

Beachy Head, Sussex In this photo the bedding planes are clearer, as is the wave cut platform. On the top of these cliffs sub-aerial processes are at work.

Isle of Purbeck and Wight The Isle of Wight is chalk also. You can see the headlands of the Isle of Purbeck [a peninsula not an island]. How are these created?

Aerial view At what tide is this photograph taken? How do you know this? What features are visible?

Old Harry’s Rocks The features are much easier to see here. Create an annotated sketch to show the main features.

Pinnacles at Old Harry What is this feature? What eventually will happen to this feature? It’s a stack, eventually it will be undercut and will collapse to create a stump. The collapsed material will be used for attrition.

The East Yorkshire Coast This part of the coast line is called Holderness. Boulder clay or till is soft so it slumps easily. The finer clays are taken in to suspension.

1915 Historically planners have not learnt to restrict building here the effects on the railway can be seen

Holderness Why would someone live here? Is there any protection to this beach?

South Holderness This is still the Holderness coastline why is there so little evidence of erosion at this time? The beach is performing a key role, which is the absorption of energy.

Holbeck Hotel, Scarborough Here we can see the more recent slump caused by heavy rain and saturated ground. The hotel collapsed in the middle of the night. The sea undermines the cliff, sub-aerial processes act on the top creating instability.

Summary Hard geology like the chalk cliffs of The Isle of Purbeck erode slowly forming caves arches and stacks. There is little chance of rapid erosion and therefore loss of infrastructure. Soft geology like the Holderness clay cliffs erodes quickly with slumping happening overnight. 10m can be lost in one storm. Protection is needed in these areas

With thanks to Francine Wilson Jones, Wilnecote High School