Rapid erosion along Holderness coast of East Yorkshire, UK and rising eustatic sea levels driven by climate change

Abstract

Following the end of the last ice age, decelerating global post-glacial sea level rises submerged the southern North Sea, and along this coast, 63 km of soft glacial deposits are still being rapidly washed away. The collapse of the massive ice sheets covering Britain, Ireland and Fennoscandia was a complex process, with warming after 14.7 ka. Limited glaciation then returned during the Loch Lomond Stadial at the end of the Pleistocene, Doggerland, connecting Britain with the continent, was slowly immersed, becoming a shrinking island which was rapidly submerged after 8 ka. This coincided with the Storegga tsunami which hit what remained of Doggerland’s shores and along the coasts of Scotland and Northumberland. Since then, the sea has risen by around 27.5 m. Now it is clear eustatic increases in global sea levels are starting to accelerate once again, we must start adjusting to this reality in the way we manage our coastal infrastructure and try to understand more about how this interacts with naturally dynamic shorelines.