Flamborough Head Revision Cards.

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Geology.

  • Adjacent New York Moores is over 400m above sea levels, comprised mainly of limestone, sandstone and shales during the jurassic period.
  • South Flamborough Head is a large chalk head with till-topped cliffs due to glacial deposit from devanisan period.
  • Difference in rock resistance results in high cliffs and headlands/bays.
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Beaches.

  • Few well-developed beaches along this coastline stretch, a couple being Scarborough and Filey Bay.
  • Elsewhere, Deposits of sand and shingle accumulate slowly due to low river input and slow erosional rates of resistant rocks.
  • High-energy waves mean the rate of sediment removal exceeds accumulation.
  • Coastline lacks spits, bars and tomobolos despite considerable longshore drift, due to high tidal range of 4m and lack of esturary as sediment sinks.
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Headlands and Bays.

  • Wave energy is localised at headlands projecting into North seas due to wave refraction.
  • Large joints/faults are expoilted by wave erosion and enlarged to form caves and arches.
  • E.g. visible in Selvik's Bay and Green Stacks Pinnacle being a good stack example. 
  • Over 50 geos are formed along costaline aligned NE/NNE in prevailing wind direction.
  • Blowholes are developed in enlarge vertical master joints of chalk, this and boulder clay collasped into underlying sea caves.
  • This leaves funnel-shaped depressions on cliff tops.
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Sediment Sources.

  • This stretch is sub-cell 1d of major sediment cell 1, from St. Abbs in southern scotland to flamborough.
  • Some of the sediment here is from the nearshore area driven onshore by rising sea levels at the end of the glacial period.
  •  It's also supplied by coastal erosion e.g. sandstone and chalk from resistant rock outcrops and boulder clay deposits.
  • The esk, which enters the North Sea at Whitby, supplies limited sediment due to construction of weirs and reinforced banks.
  • There had been a net increase of sediment deposition of 9250m^3 from 2008 to 2011.
  • Zones of beach erosion and accretion were observed at Filey Bay reflecting influrence of winter storm systems.
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Cliffs/(at shore platforms).

  • Sedimentary rocks embedded horizontally, therefore cliff has a vertical face.
  • Cliffs at Flamborough head are made of chalk(very strong with very tightly packed mineral particles).
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  • vertial cliffs are 20-30m with overlying till lowered by mass movement processes to an angle of 40 degrees.
  • Cliffs between Robin Hoob's Bay and Saltburn are even higher with a steeper profile. This reflects the greater variety in geology.
  • Steeper slope with segments are formed in more resistant geologies such as sandstone and limestone and gentler slopes for weaker rocks such as clay and shales lowered at an angle by mass movement.
  • High-energy input and active erosion result in cliff retreat and therefore rocky shore platforms as a by-product e.g. Robin Hood's Bay.
  • Platform slopes at a typical angle of 1 degrees, the platform having a maximum width of 500m albeit extended much further offshore.
  • Current rates of erosion annd coastal retreat indicate the shore platform were formed 6000 years when sea levels were predominantly stable.
  • However some experts argue that they were formed within inter-glacial periods when sea levels were similar to today's.
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Energy.

  • Dominant waves on coastline are N/NW, with a fetch of over 1500km with the most exposed parts facing North e.g. the nearest to Saltburn.
  • Erosional rates vary due to wave energy input variance and resistance of different geologies. 
  • Wave height is monitered with floating buoys in Whitby bay of 2010-11, revealing heights exceeding 4m even in the summer.
  • High-energy inputs cause significant longshore drift from North to South alongside coastline, often interrupted by headlands.
  • sand and shingle then accumulate to form beaches in the bays, e.g. Filey Bay.
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