Recent acceleration in coastal cliff retreat rates on the south coast of Great Britain

Hurst, M. D. , Rood, D. H., Ellis, M. A., Anderson, R. S. and Dornbusch, U. (2016) Recent acceleration in coastal cliff retreat rates on the south coast of Great Britain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(47), pp. 13336-13341. (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1613044113) (PMID:27821750)

Abstract

Significance: Cliffed coasts erode when attacked by energetic waves. Cliff retreat threatens coastal assets and livelihoods. Understanding rates of past erosion is vital to quantifying these risks, particularly when confronted with expected increases in storminess and sea level, and given continued human occupation and engineering of coastal regions. Historical observations of cliff retreat span 150 y at most. We derived past cliff retreat rates over millennial time scales for chalk cliffs on the south coast of Great Britain by interpreting measured cosmogenic nuclides with numerical models. Our results provide evidence for accelerated erosion in recent centuries, which we suggest is driven by reduced sediment supply and thinning of beaches in the face of environmental and anthropogenic changes.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by National Science Foundation Grants EAR- 1552883, EAR-0724960, and EAR-1331828 (to R.S.A.). This paper is published with the permission of the Executive Director of the British Geological Survey and was funded by the Land, Soil, and Coast research programme (BGS05002).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Rood, Dr Dylan and Hurst, Dr Martin and Anderson, Mr Robert
• Authors: Hurst, M. D., Rood, D. H., Ellis, M. A., Anderson, R. S., and Dornbusch, U.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences; College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
• Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
• ISSN: 0027-8424
• ISSN (Online): 1091-6490
• Published Online: 07 November 2016
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 National Academy of Sciences
• First Published: First published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113(47):13336-13341
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher