Processes

University of Hull

Erosion of the Holderness cliffs is a cyclic, four stage process:

1. The soft Boulder Clay cliffs become saturated with rain water and lose their strength.
2. The cliff is too steep and fails either as a block of material or as a slurry slide
3. Cliff failure reduces the angle and prevents further erosion but …
4. Large waves from the North East remove the debris in longshore drift to the South and the cliff oversteepens, rain falls and the cycle begins again.