Slide 5: Glacial till = unconsolidated sediment deposited during the last ice age.

It is loose and crumbly: not resistant to erosion.

Slide 8: Colour photographs / diagrams of the black and white versions on the information sheet – simply here so boys can see them more clearly.
Slide 9: Differentiation – if lower sets struggle with the reading task and have several questions to clarify their understanding of the processes, this activity
could simply be a discussion rather than written task (it is not a case study or example required on the specification).
At the base of the cliff weakening could have occurred due to hydraulic action and abrasion (corrosion is not likely due to the geology: glacial till).
The cliff may have experienced undercutting at the base as a result of these processes.
Pressure from above, from the weight of buildings and saturated soils, could have caused the cliff face to give way – a rotational slip – causing a landslide.
Weathering – biological and physical – may have weakened the top of the cliff over time causing faults and cracks.
CHALLENGE: Glacial till is unconsolidated (not cohesive, nothing ‘holding’ it together) and the unsorted nature of the sediment, including some very large
sediments, makes it unstable and loose; it crumbles easily because it has no cohesive strength to overcome gravity once it is left unsupported. The boys are
likely to phrase this more simply e.g. it looks crumbly and not very strong.
Slide 10-11: Note – constructive and destructive waves next lesson. Some waves a larger than others because of stronger winds causing storm waves in
some location or a longer fetch, providing a greater distance over which wave height can be increased by winds.
A wave breaks when the base of the wave is slowed down due to friction with the sea bed, but the top of the wave continues moving at the original faster
speed. This causes the top to move further forwards and an elliptical shape to form: a greater wave height but shorter wave length. When the top of the
wave moves so far forward that it is no longer supported (the height increases to the point that the base cannot support it), then the wave will collapse under
gravity causing the wave to “break”.
The depth of the sea bed will control when a wave breaks; as soon as the waters become shallow then friction with the sea bed will begin to slow the base of
the wave. The waters shallow as the coastline is approached. Headlands ‘stick out’ from the coastline and the area of sea directly in front of them is
shallower than the sea surrounding them (where the bays can be found). The waves therefore begin to slow down in front of the headland but the waves
either side of the headland continue moving at a quicker speed; this causes the wave crests to wrap around the headland and concentrate wave energy on it:
wave refraction.
CHALLENGE: Cornwall or south-west Wales due to the long Atlantic fetch and prevailing winds from the south-west.
Slide 14: Boys will need to check their answers and write down the correct answer as it is not written out on their sheet. The coastline becomes shallow as
the headland is approached. This increases friction with the base of the wave, slowing it down, and eventually causing it to break. The section of the wave
travelling either side of the headland continues travelling quickly, and this causes the wave to curve in towards the headland.
Slide 16:
Occur in clay cliffs during the winter – slumping (because of the higher rainfall during winter)
Weaken cracks at the top of the cliff face during winter – freeze-thaw weathering (because the temperature may fluctuate around zero diurnally)
Have no effect at all on the cliff - attrition
Effect the White Cliffs of Dover at the base – corrosion (chalk cliffs vulnerable to acid erosion)
Effect the White Cliffs of Dover at the top / on the cliff face – chemical weathering (chalk cliffs vulnerable to acid weathering from rainwater)

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What relief features can you see on the map
of the Lake District near Keswick?

V- shaped
Ridges Scarp Valley

U- shaped
Valley
What has happened here?

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Holbeck Hall landslide, Scarborough

The Holbeck landslide, south of Scarborough in

North Yorkshire, attracted considerable interest
when it destroyed the four-star Holbeck Hall Hotel
between the night of 3 June and 5 June 1993. A
rotational landslide involving about 1 million
tonnes of glacial till cut back the 60 m high cliff by
70 m. It flowed across the beach to form a semi-
circular promontory 200 m wide projecting 135 m
outward from the foot of the cliff.

There was originally 70 m of garden between the

hotel and the cliff edge. At 6 am on the 4 June a
guest saw that 55 m of the garden had
disappeared. The hotel was evacuated and the What processes could
landslide continued to develop, culminating in the have weakened the
collapse of the east wing of the hotel by the cliff and caused it to
evening of 5 June.
collapse?
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Coastal recession in action…!

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 Lesson 2
How do physical processes shape
the coast?
To explain the coastal processes of weathering, mass
movement and erosion

To be able to describe and explain the characteristics of

constructive and destructive waves and the beach profiles
and features they create

To understand the factors that affect rates of coastal erosion

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Coastal processes
Read the information about
coastal processes, classifying
it using highlighting:
• Erosion
• Weathering
• Mass movement

REMEMBER: erosion involves the

break-up and movement away of
sediment, whilst weathering is
the break-up of rocks in situ.
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 Biological weathering Soil creep

Slumping

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Coastal processes
Use the information to discuss and
then write a paragraph to answer the
question about the Holbeck Hall
landslide which took place in June and
in a boulder clay cliff.

What processes could have weakened

the cliff and caused it to collapse?

CHALLENGE: Can you explain why

the cliff was more at risk from
collapse because it was glacial till?

(See 31/03/2024
extra video to show how soft 10
Waves

Read the information

about waves and wave
refraction.

Highlight definitions of
fetch, wave height, wave
break, swash, backwash
and wave refraction.

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 Waves Write short paragraphs to:
1. Explain why some waves are larger than others.
2. Explain why a wave breaks when they reach the coastline
referring to friction, the speed of the wave and the ratio
height: length.
3. Explain why more wave energy is concentrated on
headlands (why the waves curve in towards the
headland).
4. CHALLENGE: Look at an Atlas map of the British Isles.
Where might surfers go to find the biggest waves? Why?

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Waves

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Waves

Wave length
decreases as the
front/base of the
wave slows down;
therefore wave height
increases
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Waves
REVIEW: Overhead view of wave refraction

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The largest waves in
the British Isles are
found on the south-
west coast (e.g.
Cornwall) due to the
long fetch over the
North Atlantic
Ocean, which
coincides with the
prevailing wind
direction from the
south west.
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Reviewing today’s learning
Chalk cliffs
Which coastal
process is MOST
LIKELY TO…and
WHY?
Write down:
Occur in clay cliffs during the winter
Weaken cracks at the top of the cliff face during winter
Have no effect at all on the cliff
Effect the White Cliffs of Dover at the base
Effect the White Cliffs of Dover at the top / on the cliff face
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 Homework
Revise lesson 2 and research in advance of lesson 3

Read and revise the information about the transportation and

deposition of sediment by the sea on our coastlines.

Use highlighting to pick out the different processes of

transportation and their definitions, and why deposition might
occur.

Write a paragraph to suggest the reasons why Bournemouth

Council are worried about longshore drift on Bournemouth
beach?
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Extra

Good footage of friable cliff collapse in San Diego

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RV9b6ZQBSw

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