Coastal sediment cells reflect processes operating at a range of scales, but it is the medium spatial and temporal
scales (decades to centuries) that are of greatest interest for coastal management. This paper focuses on
coastline position change within a single sediment cell over 150 years where the geomorphology includes
cliffs, beaches and saltmarshes. The focus is the east coast of England from Flamborough Head to Gibraltar
Point. Although the updrift sector of this sediment cell has been studied for well over a century, the downdrift
sector has attracted significantly less attention. Using topographic profiles, bathymetric profiles, aerial photographs
and historical maps we mapped coastline erosion and accretion using the Digital Shoreline Analysis
System (DSAS) and calculated volumetric changes for different morphometric units. Rapid erosion of the
updrift Holderness cliffs has been counterbalanced with accretion on beaches along the downdrift Lincolnshire
coast. The amount of accretion in Lincolnshire corresponds to around 29% of the volume of sediment
eroded from Holderness. Much of the eroded cliff material is likely to be deposited temporarily into nearshore
and offshore sand banks before being redistributed by cross-shore currents. An exploration of storm
surge impact on long-term erosion and accretion rates showed no clear relationship between storm surge
frequency and change in coastline position, however this may be in part due to the relative timing of
storm occurrence and data acquisition. The Jenkinson daily weather type classification was found to be a reasonable
proxy for the occurrence of strong onshore winds which may offer scope for further investigation of
the role of forcing factors over time periods beyond the length of the meteorological and tidal station records.
Winter North Atlantic Oscillation phase was not a good indicator of storminess on the east coast of England
but may be a useful proxy for quiescence.
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School
Social Sciences
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Geography and Environment
Citation
MONTREUIL, A-L. and BULLARD, J.E., 2012. A 150-year record of coastline dynamics within a sediment cell: Eastern England. Geomorphology, 179, pp. 168 - 185.