For my GCSE controlled assessment I will be investigating the hypothesis ‘long shore drift at Holderness means the coastline requires management’. Throughout this investigation I will be looking at these key processes in details: The process of Erosion; Long shore drift; transport of sediment along the coast; Coastal Management; and Hard Engineering.
On the 18th of November our year 11 Geography class went to visit the East coast of England. We went there to collect data and evidence about coastal management along the Holderness coastline. We visited Mappleton and Withernsea and observed the sea defences there; afterwards we visited Spurn Point to look at the affect old sea defences how there and see a spit formation.
To start off my investigation I went to Mappleton first. Mappleton is a small village and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is approximately 3 miles south from the seaside resort, Hornsea. It has many sea defences protecting the coast from erosion with its population increasing to 342, there may be a demand in more sea defences. After Mappleton, I went to Withernsea and then spurn point. Mapleton and Withernsea both have chalk cliffs that are eroding away, the sediment is then being deposited at Spurn point. The five key terms that I will be focusing on are the process of erosion, long shore drift, transport of sediment along the coast, coastal management and hard engineering.
Holderness coast

Holderness coast

We compared the data we collected from two different sites along the Holderness coast, the Holderness Coast is one of Europe's fastest eroding coastlines. The average annual rate of erosion is around 2 metres per year. This is around 2 million tonnes of material every year. Under lying the Holderness Coast is bedrock made up of Cretaceous Chalk. However, in most place this is covered by glacial till deposited over 18,000 years ago. It is this soft boulder clay that is being rapidly eroded. Along this coast we visited two sites to collect various pieces of data that helped us investigate the transport of sediment along the coast. The Holderness coast is rapidly eroding and many measures are being taken to protect the coast and keep it from going in land any more, however the some processes are effective yet affect other places along the coast and other methods are very beneficial and haver no drawbacks.

Holderness coastline
Holderness coastline

Holderness coast
Holderness coast

Mappleton is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England this is one site we visited on our field trip collecting data that would help me prove my hypothesis I collected various pieces of data to do so. It is situated on the North Sea coastline in an area known as Holderness, lying approximately 3 miles south of the seaside resort of Hornsea. In 1991 the Parish of Mappleton had a population of 321, a slight rise of 11 since 1981. Mappleton is a small coastal village located on the B1242 road approximately 3 Km. south of Hornsea. A major feature of the village is the 14th Century Church of All Saints situated in the centre of the village. The village has a general linear shape and comprises a number of farm units and dwelling houses located along both sides of the B1242 between the Methodist Chapel in the north and Cliff Lane in the south. Mappleton cliffs, some 200 metres from the centre of the village, have experienced rapid erosion from the sea in recent years and have threatened the village itself. The build of hard engineering has been one of the measures implemented to protect the village from further erosion along with a lot more management. Mappleton and the cliffs are no longer at great risk from erosion.
The rock groynes have stopped beach material being moved south from Mappleton along the coast. However, this has increased erosion south of Mappleton. Benefits in one area might have a negative effect on another.
Mappleton
Mappleton

Mappleton
Mappleton

Holderness Coast
Holderness Coast

Withersea is situated approximately 10 miles north of Spurn Point and 17 miles south of Hornsea where the B1242 meets the A1033. The town is surrounded by rich agricultural land and yet sits close to the cliffs and the North Sea. Withernsea was another is another site I visited in my field trip to collect data and compare to see the movement of material along the Holderness coast. Withernsea is a traditional holiday resort in the East Riding of Yorkshire, sporting an attractive promenade and seafront. The base of the wall is protected from being undermined by the sea using a series of wooden groynes built out at right angles to the wall to low tide level. These prevent the beach from being totally removed by long shore drift and destructive waves.
Longshore drift
Longshore drift
The Erosional process of longshore drift was happening at both mappleton and withersea. Waves can approach the coast at an angle because of the direction of the prevailing wind. The swash of the waves carries material up the beach at an angle. The backwash then flows back to the sea in a straight line at 90°. This movement of material is called transportation. Continual swash and backwash transports material sideways along the coast. This movement of material is called longshore drift and occurs in a zigzag.
The Erosional process of longshore drift was happening at both mappleton and withersea. Waves can approach the coast at an angle because of the direction of the prevailing wind. The swash of the waves carries material up the beach at an angle. The backwash then flows back to the sea in a straight line at 90°. This movement of material is called transportation. Continual swash and backwash transports material sideways along the coast. This movement of material is called longshore drift and occurs in a zigzag.

Sites at withernsea
Sites at withernsea

Holderness coast Holderness coast

Constructive waves
Constructive waves
There was many main key processes of erosion that affected mappleton and withersea. Erosion is the wearing a way of rocks and soil along the coast and pushing the land back over a long time the land retreats back. The sea shapes there landscape. There coastal erosion is wearing away at the Holderness coast. Destructive waves erode the coastline in various ways.

Hydraulic action is one way of erosion that happens naturally air becomes trapped in the cracks and joints of the rock of the cliff face. When a wave breaks, the trapped air inside is compressed by the freat force this then weaken the cliff and causes erosion. This process takes the form of the sea waves crashing and bashing against rocks and cliffs. This exerts pressure on the surrounding rock, and can progressively splinter and remove pieces. Over time, the cracks can grow, sometimes forming a cave. The splinters fall to the sea bed where they are subjected to further wave action.
Different types of weathering are types of erosion, this the weakening of the structure of the rocks by weathering but the rocks remain as they to be later affected by other processes that break them away to erode them or be removed by mass movement . There are three types of weathering, chemical weathering is the involvment of chemicals in the atmosphere that alter the structure of the rocks, processes like carbonation this is when the rainwatwer absorbs carbon dioxide to form a weak carbonic acid. This then further reacts with the calcium carbonate in the rocks such as limestone and chalk forming the calcium bicarbonate which in removed in solution. As not all of the coast in eroded by this process only limestone cliffs experience carbonation when carbonic acid from the water dissolves the limestone.
Mappleton cliff analysis
Mappleton cliff analysis

Distinct layers can clearly be seen (soil vegetation boulder clay and layers of sand and gravel.
Distinct layers can clearly be seen (soil vegetation boulder clay and layers of sand and gravel.

Biological weathering- the influence of plants the roots gradually break up the cliff material and nesting holes in the cliffs made by birds and provide further weakness for other types of weathering and erosion to attack.
Biological weathering- the influence of plants the roots gradually break up the cliff material and nesting holes in the cliffs made by birds and provide further weakness for other types of weathering and erosion to attack.

The cracks in the cliff made by hydraulic action are weakened by freeze thaw weathering that breaks away the cliff.
The cracks in the cliff made by hydraulic action are weakened by freeze thaw weathering that breaks away the cliff.

Clear sigh of the cliff being retreated by the different processes of erosion and the sediment being left behind by the waves.
Clear sigh of the cliff being retreated by the different processes of erosion and the sediment being left behind by the waves.
Evidence of slumping land due to the land being saturated.
Evidence of slumping land due to the land being saturated.

An increase in sea level rise at the Holderness coast means that the coastal management used to protect the coast is being flooded and is ineffective the groynes at the sites are being flooded and the material is being transported over them this is why the council need to update the management to make it better. At the Holderness coast there is hardly any evidence of see level rise but over the years as the see level is expected to rise the coastal management at mappleton and withernsea will not work and need to be updated and heightened in the future.
An increase in sea level rise at the Holderness coast means that the coastal management used to protect the coast is being flooded and is ineffective the groynes at the sites are being flooded and the material is being transported over them this is why the council need to update the management to make it better. At the Holderness coast there is hardly any evidence of see level rise but over the years as the see level is expected to rise the coastal management at mappleton and withernsea will not work and need to be updated and heightened in the future. mass movemnt is the movement of land due to it beijg effected by other eatheing processes this make the land weak and it collapses in on it self in the above picture subsided land will eventuallt fall in the process of mass movement the land has sluped due to the land being saturated aslo due to it being effected by other waethring processes mass movement is mainly a side erisonsional process that happens after other processes take place however it can take place by its self. Biological weathering is the process that involves things as burrowing animals and plants attacking the rocks and weakening their structures, it can also be caused by the roots and vegetation growing into the rock. As roots grow from underground they push up into the rocks on the cliffs forming them to be pushed apart and crack off. Seeds from a plant can be blown by wind into cracks in the cliff and begin to grow pushing the land apart. At mappleton the land on the cliff wasn’t level this was down to the land being saturated and not due to biological weathering however there were minor evidence of biological weathering at mappleton and non at withernsea. Physical weathering was the main type of erosion used at mapplton and withernsea this is the physical breakdown of rocks. The main is freeze thaw weathering this is when water becomes trapped in the cracks of the rocks often overnights as the temperature drops overnight the water expands in the crack forcing the rocks to be opened up and crack the rocks the pressure exerted on the rocks can either weaken or break the rocks. The physical type of erosion was not shown that much in withernsea than mappleton as withernsea was defended by rock armour and the cracks needed for freeze thaw weathering were not there.
Weather: weakens the top of the cliff different weathering processes combined together. Majority of weathering is physical freeze thaw weathering that affects the top of the cliff as water gets trapped in cracks and weakens and breaks the land.
Weather: weakens the top of the cliff different weathering processes combined together. Majority of weathering is physical freeze thaw weathering that affects the top of the cliff as water gets trapped in cracks and weakens and breaks the land.

Material that has been dropped off the cliff and placed on the beach is shown here at mappleton and will later been carried away by the waves and transported in a different place by longshore drift
Material that has been dropped off the cliff and placed on the beach is shown here at mappleton and will later been carried away by the waves and transported in a different place by longshore drift

Cracks and crevices shown in the cliff and hydraulic wave action will take advantage of this and weaken and break rock also the crevices allow water and air to be trapped inside to be broken away by freeze thaw process
Cracks and crevices shown in the cliff and hydraulic wave action will take advantage of this and weaken and break rock also the crevices allow water and air to be trapped inside to be broken away by freeze thaw process

Mappleton
Mappleton
Weather weakens the top of the cliff. The sea attacks the base of the cliff forming a wave-cut notch. The notch increases in size causing the cliff to collapse. The backwash carries the rubble towards the sea forming a wave-cut platform. The process repeats and the cliff continues to retreat

Weather weakens the top of the cliff. The sea attacks the base of the cliff forming a wave-cut notch. The notch increases in size causing the cliff to collapse. The backwash carries the rubble towards the sea forming a wave-cut platform. The process repeats and the cliff continues to retreat

Abrasion is when bits of rock and sand grind against each other this is the result of very soft rocks at the beaches for example like sand paper. This process is really minor and we saw evidence of this process at mappleton and withersea and recorded the pebble roundness in our booklets, however over a long time this process can cause cliff faces to be weakened and then affected by other processes of erosion. Attrition is the erosion of waves smacking against the cliff side with the help of small rock fragments the rocks also collide with each other, grinding and chipping each other, progressively becoming smaller, smoother and rounder. The erosional process of solution is when Acids contained in sea water will dissolve some types of rock such as chalk or limestone. However as the cliffs at withernsea and mappleton were made out of clay this process didn’t really affect the places we visited.
Rock wall used to protect the cliff from eroding at deflect the waves back to the sea
Rock armour used to take the energy of the waves so the cliff is protected also less energy is exerted on the cliff wall, furthermore the waves are broken down by the rocks
Groynes used to stop the process of long shore drift at withernsea and keep their material on the beach from vanishing
The movement of the material along the beach by the waves by the erosion process of attrition
Rock wall used to protect the cliff from eroding at deflect the waves back to the sea
Rock armour used to take the energy of the waves so the cliff is protected also less energy is exerted on the cliff wall, furthermore the waves are broken down by the rocks
Groynes used to stop the process of long shore drift at withernsea and keep their material on the beach from vanishing
The movement of the material along the beach by the waves by the erosion process of attrition
Withernsea
Withernsea

Here is a graph showing the pebble size at Mappleton at two sites I recorded the pebble size moving along the beach at 6 sites but to show the big diffrence in data In pebble size I only included site one and site six. At site one you can see how little stones we came across this showed that the water moved the material along the beach in the process of longshore drift at site six we found a lot of stones. The graph shows how the pebble near the waters edge were larger this meant that the process of hydraulic action and attrition had not affected the pebbles as much here, but as you moved up the beach we saw that the pebble became smaller and more of the same size, the data showed that the pebbles became much smaller because of the water crashing on the rocks and grinding them together (attrition) and the process of chemical weathering that had a greater affect on the rocks further away from the beach than if they were closer to the water edge. Some of the pebble at the back near the cliff are not smooth and are large this shows how constructive waves have moved the rocks and material up the beach and they have not been affected by attrition that much compared to other rock near the cliff. looking at the number of pebbles you can see how little pebbles are found at the waters edge compared at site six this proves the theory of longshore drift at mappleton and you can see how material is going up the beach to gather and create the beach.

At Withersea the data shows more constructive waves affecting the beach because we see more pebbles at the back near the cliff this shows that the water is pushing the pebbles up the beach to create the beach with the material. There is also less evidence of attrition and hydraulic action at withernsea than mappleton because we see larger rocks in withernsea than mappleton. The erosional process of hydraulic action therefore will be more stronger at Withersea as there are larger rocks being carrried by the waves and there will be more force exerted on the cliffs than at Mappleton. The pebbles at the back of the beach may not be in as much contact with the cliff and may just be being transported to the back as large rocks. The process of long shore drift is much larger here at Withersea than mappkleton as more pebbles are being tyransported to the back aswell aas them being much larger than the ones at Mappleton. At site five near the nd we see are peak in pebble size at 7.2,6.5, 8 cm of pebbles this proves how longshore drift is carrying materaila up the beach in large quantities and also in much larger sizes

Coastal management at Mappleton and Withernsea:
There are different ways of protecting the coastline from erosion using hard or soft engineering at used at the coast depending on the benefits and drawbacks they will bring. Building a sea wall a wall built on the edge of the coastline. Advantages of the sea walls are that they Protects the base of cliffs, land and buildings against erosion. Can prevent coastal flooding in some areas. Disadvantages of the sea walls are that they Expensive to build. Curved sea walls reflect the energy of the waves back to the sea. This means that the waves remain powerful. Over time the wall may begin to erode. The cost of maintenance is high there was evidence of a sea wall at withersea that was put up by the council to prevent flooding and the coastline there from retreating anymore the wall was successful as it prevented more land from eroding.
Building groynes is an example of hard engineering they are a wooden barrier built at right angles to the beach. Advantage of the groynes are that they Prevents the movement of beach material along the coast by longshore drift. Allows the build-up of a beach. Beaches are a natural defence against erosion and an attraction for tourists. Disadvantages of the groynes are that they can be seen as unattractive. Costly to build and maintain. At both sites we saw groynes at the location and they were effective as we saw and recoded the beach material being gathered up and being deposited up the beach the groynes helped build the beach up and prevent them from disappearing. At the sites we took a beach profile with the equipment we had which was a ranging pole and a clinometer.
Rock armour or boulder barriers are large boulders are piled up on the beach. Advantages of rock armour and boulders are Absorb the energy of waves. Allows the build-up of a beach. Disadvantages are that they can be expensive to obtain and transport the boulders. At mappleton we saw the use of rock armour and boulders these were used along with rock groynes were sued which were much more effective that wooden ones and far more reliable these protected the waves against the hydraulic action of the waves. However better methods were used at withernsea as they use a rock wall along with rock armour and wooden groynes tis meant that the use of these three coastal management strategies was more effective than just using one.
This is a beach profile at mappleton above I explained how we retrieved this data. And the profile shows the material being collected at different points on the beach by the process of longshore drift
This is a beach profile at mappleton above I explained how we retrieved this data. And the profile shows the material being collected at different points on the beach by the process of longshore drift

We measured every ten metered and the data shows a clear correlation of as you move up the beach the more material is gather up.
We measured every ten metered and the data shows a clear correlation of as you move up the beach the more material is gather up.

Here you can see the two beach profiles I took at the different sites I visited, mappleton and withernsea the reason I took the beach profile was to record the angle of the beach to see the build-up of the material and how fast longshore drift is taking place. Looking at both profiles you first recognise that longshore drift is taking place obviously because of their steep build-up of the beach and you can also see the difference were longshore drift is happening faster as mappleton the beach is more steeper than at withernsea this is because the coastal management strategies used at mappleton are more effective than the ones at withernsea to gather up the material
Here you can see the two beach profiles I took at the different sites I visited, mappleton and withernsea the reason I took the beach profile was to record the angle of the beach to see the build-up of the material and how fast longshore drift is taking place. Looking at both profiles you first recognise that longshore drift is taking place obviously because of their steep build-up of the beach and you can also see the difference were longshore drift is happening faster as mappleton the beach is more steeper than at withernsea this is because the coastal management strategies used at mappleton are more effective than the ones at withernsea to gather up the material

Quadrat
Quadrat
Compass
Compass
Clingometer
Clingometer
On the day at the trip in order to collect the suficient data needed to prove my prediction we needed the right tools. On the day we visited mappleton we went down to beach to do a beach profile we did this by starting at the waters edge and stick one of the ranging poles into the beach. Measure 10 metres up the beach or to the point where the slope seems to change angle (whicever comes first). Stick the second pole into the beach. Using the clingometres to measure the angle between the two poles by lining up the 1.5 metre marks.we repeated the process up the beach until we reach the top. At each point we also recorded the information such as type of beach materila and any vegetation that wuld ususallly grow at the top of the beach. We did this beach profile at both mappleton and withernsea and then from the data made a beach profile on paper. At both sites we also made field sketches were we drew and annotated field sketch of both sites we made sure that we included chalk cliffs, shingle beach, car park, and the direction of prevailing winds alon with annotation to describe the things we drew.
Ranging poles (beach profile test)
Ranging poles (beach profile test)
At both sites we also did cliff profiles were in the drawing we included low and high water marks, approximates the cliff hieght accurately, angle of the wave cut platform and overlaying material and descriton of the drawing. Recording in which direction the wind was coming in from was important at both sites as we could then determine in what direstion the oing shore drft was happening. we markes points of the compass on a large sheet of card. We aligned the points correctly using a compass. Then we held the streamer (lenth of the red thread) over the centre and note which direction the wind is coming from. At both sites we catrried out full pebble analysis were we selected six locations at which to measure and record the roundness of the pebbles at different distances from the cliffs, we choose places with a lot of pebble sand we picked the pebbles with a quadrat recording 30 pebbles at each site moving up the beach measuring a distnace of 10 metres.
Beach profile at mappleton
Beach profile at mappleton
This is cliff analysis drawing that we did at mappleton to show the cliff from my own prospective labelled there major part on the cliff as swell
This is cliff analysis drawing that we did at mappleton to show the cliff from my own prospective labelled there major part on the cliff as swell
We also recorded the pebbles roundnes by observing the pebbles that we picked out at random at the six sites and looking at the shape of the pebbles then using a chart which showed six different pebble shapes we named them from A to F and then recorded this along with the size of each pebble. At both sites we measured the numebr of waves that we saw in 10 minutes. At both sites we also measured the surface load measurement were we threw a dog buiscet into the sea and using a trample wheel we recorded how many metrts the biscuit moved in the sea this showed us how ling shore process was happening on the beach and by comparing the data at both sites we could compare how longshoer drift was happening at one sites compared to the other.

The top of the cliff showing the land that has been undercut
The top of the cliff showing the land that has been undercut

A B C D E F
A B C D E F

Another method of proving our hypothesis was to measure the shape of the pebbles. The bar chart above shows the roundness of the pebbles found at mappleton by observing the pattern presented the data shows clearly that there is attrition present as you can see more jagged rock are shows at site one than site six this shows that at the water’s edge there are less rocks recorded that are rounded meaning the process of attrition is less also this data collection proves my hypothesis is correct that there is material being moved up the beach as we can see there are more rocks recorded at the back of the cliff this shows how the coastal management is effective and process of longshore drift is active at mappleton . Also at site six you can see that there are more rounded rocks at the back of the beach meaning more attrion is present, this positive correlation shows eroded material not only is getting deposited along the coast by the constructive waves and longshore drift but also rubbing against each other creating smaller and rounded rocks
Another method of proving our hypothesis was to measure the shape of the pebbles. The bar chart above shows the roundness of the pebbles found at mappleton by observing the pattern presented the data shows clearly that there is attrition present as you can see more jagged rock are shows at site one than site six this shows that at the water’s edge there are less rocks recorded that are rounded meaning the process of attrition is less also this data collection proves my hypothesis is correct that there is material being moved up the beach as we can see there are more rocks recorded at the back of the cliff this shows how the coastal management is effective and process of longshore drift is active at mappleton . Also at site six you can see that there are more rounded rocks at the back of the beach meaning more attrion is present, this positive correlation shows eroded material not only is getting deposited along the coast by the constructive waves and longshore drift but also rubbing against each other creating smaller and rounded rocks

Comparing the pebble size to the data I got at withernsea you can see how the coastal manage is more effective is protecting the beach and also the effectiveness soft the groynes that they have used at withernsea you can see the number of pebbles at the eater edge is low due to longshore drift transporting the material up the beach. This shows that the constructive waves are building the beach and the coastal management here is effective however at both sites there are limited information to make a confident conclusion as on the day we collected the data the pebbles may have been less than that are on other days also we have only collected on piece of data meaning that our results may not be repeatable also the Holderness coast council have been conducting these same test for over fifty years and haven’t yet come to a conclusion based fro there results so working of these results we can only make conclusion of low confidence. My hypothesis of the process of longshore drift at these two sites can be proven with confidence by analysing the data at this point the material is shown to be gathering at the back of the beach near the cliff along with the bigger rocks however longshore drift is happening at different speeds

Another way that we measured the process of longshore drift was to measure how fast longshore drift was happening at the two sites at Mappleton and Withernsea, the graphs show clearly that longshore drift is present because you can see the dog biscuit moving along the waves in a positive correlation at both sites and increasing in movement to. However at Mappleton longshore drift is happening faster than a Withernsea this is down to the fact that the groynes at withernsea are made from wood and are old and brittle so they are less effective and let material through than the rock ones at withernsea also the prevailing winds at the two sites are shown to be strong at withernsea than mappleton. This shows that the council need to put in better ways to protect the coast or improve the ones that already in place to make sure that the coast doesn’t erode any more. This data shows a clear correlation of how as you move along the Holderness coastline the erosion gets worse and worse because the coastal management at the last site affect the next place. Like here Mappleton and the cliffs are no longer at great risk from erosion. The rock groynes have stopped beach material being moved south from Mappleton along the coast. However, this has increased erosion south of Mappleton. Benefits in one area might have a negative effect on another. This is why just a few months ago spurn point which right at the end of the Holderness coast was cut of the mainland by heavy waves, the process of longshore drift created the spit of spurn point and it kept eroding.

Mapleton 5, 7, 5, 7, 9, 11, 5, 7 (degrees
Wither sea 7, 10, 9, 6, 4, 7, 8 (degrees)
Mapleton 5, 7, 5, 7, 9, 11, 5, 7 (degrees
Wither sea 7, 10, 9, 6, 4, 7, 8 (degrees)

Analysis of the data proves my prediction of ‘long shore drift at Holderness means the coastline requires management’. Throughout my investigation at the sites I carried out different ways of measuring how fast and how much longshore drift was staking pace and also looking at the management put in place by the council to prevent the process. The data shows that the process of longshore drift was happening more at Withernsea than at mapplton, we saw at mapplton there was hard engineering because there was rock groynes put in places to gather the material these groynes were much stronger than the wood ones at Withernsea so they were more effective in gathering up the material the beach profile I took at both sites shows the angle of the beach therefore showing how much material had gathered at the two sites from this I clearly saw that the beach at Mapplton had a lower gradient to the at withernsea so my prediction was true. The coastline at the Holderness coast line does require coastal management due the rapid rate of erosion just last year we lost the route connecting spurn point to the coastline and now spurn point is an island this shows how as we moved along the coast there was more erosion present due to the coastal management used at the previous site.

The confidence in my data can be placed at a medium level because I only recorded the data from one day and we did do thorough test so that we had a lot of evidence to prove our prediction, also we carried out different test and not only one way of analysis e.g. beach profile, pebble analysis, roundness of pebbles, wind speed dos biscuit test. Because we did a lot of test on longshore drift I can use different types of data to prove different things in various ways, however because we only collected data on one day the reliability on it is placed low. On that one day the wind speed may have been different than other regular day, there may have been a bigger tide coming in land on that one due to these factors and more the reliability in the data has to be placed low. The Holderness coastline council have been doing the same experiment as I did for over fifty years and still haven’t come up with a conclusive answer this goes to show I would have to repeat my test numerous times to give a conclusion with a high level of confidence.