Cosmogenic exposure dating reveals limited long-term variability in erosion of a rocky coastline

Zuzanna M. Swirad (), Nick J. Rosser, Matthew J. Brain, Dylan H. Rood, Martin D. Hurst, Klaus M. Wilcken and John Barlow
Additional contact information
Zuzanna M. Swirad: Durham University
Nick J. Rosser: Durham University
Matthew J. Brain: Durham University
Dylan H. Rood: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London
Martin D. Hurst: University of Glasgow
Klaus M. Wilcken: Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization
John Barlow: University of Sussex

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Predicted sea-level rise and increased storminess are anticipated to lead to increases in coastal erosion. However, assessing if and how rocky coasts will respond to changes in marine conditions is difficult due to current limitations of monitoring and modelling. Here, we measured cosmogenic 10Be concentrations across a sandstone shore platform in North Yorkshire, UK, to model the changes in coastal erosion within the last 7 kyr and for the first time quantify the relative long-term erosive contribution of landward cliff retreat, and down-wearing and stripping of rock from the shore platform. The results suggest that the cliff has been retreating at a steady rate of 4.5 ± 0.63 cm yr−1, whilst maintaining a similar profile form. Our results imply a lack of a direct relationship between relative sea level over centennial to millennial timescales and the erosion response of the coast, highlighting a need to more fully characterise the spatial variability in, and controls on, rocky coast erosion under changing conditions.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17611-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17611-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17611-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().