Coastal Landscapes in the UK
Coastal landscapes in the UK are diverse and dynamic, shaped by a combination of geological, physical, and human processes. They include features such as cliffs, beaches, spits, and salt marshes, which are constantly evolving due to erosion, deposition, and sea level changes. Human activities, such as coastal management and tourism, also play a significant role in shaping and impacting these landscapes.
7 Key excerpts on "Coastal Landscapes in the UK"
eBook - ePub- Gloria Pungetti, Gloria Pungetti(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...They form a dynamic marine ecosystem of interconnecting habitats (Duke and Wolanski, 2000 ; Moberg and Rönnbäck, 2003), which are mutually and symbiotically dependent on one another (Birkeland, 1985). The concept then widened to include the role of human beings as connectors of different ecosystems, with seascape ‘to be understood as inhabited coastal areas (including the land and waters) that are shaped and managed by processes of livelihoods and sustainable use of marine resources based on traditional knowledge and customary practices’ (Yiu and Nagai, 2016). From here, Yiu defines seascapes as coastal human settlements where local people use and manage the environment and natural resources not only for their livelihoods, but also for spiritual and cultural needs, as an integral part of their way of life. From an environmental perspective, seascape can be seen as a space occupied by a body of water, whether marine, brackish or fresh, along with the surrounding vegetation and human communities that utilise it and interact with each other (Buot and Buot). Although seascapes are deemed to be a spatial extent of habitats, with no coverage limit, and subjective to areas of interest (Wedding et al., 2011), the ecosystem processes and services within the seascapes, as pointed out by Villanueva, Gatumbato and Araza, cannot be holistically understood without including an integrated approach adjoined with terrestrial ecosystems (Maina et al., 2013). From ‘a fluid space in constant flux’ (Phelan, 2007), to ‘a medium that connects peoples across distances or a metaphor for choice of interconnectedness’ between different worlds (Diggins, 2018), seascape is ‘an elusive and temporal spatial concept, altered over time and from place to place’ (Hart, 2016)...
eBook - ePub- Riki Therivel, Elizabeth Wilson, Donna Heaney, Stewart Thompson(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...4: Coastal zones This chapter presents the first of three case studies exploring the need for, and applicability of, SEA in selected situations in the UK. It considers one particular bio-geographical zone, namely the coast. Chapter 5 considers the energy sector and chapter 6 a habitat, lowland heath. These case studies exemplify some of the inadequacies in the current system that strategic environmental assessment would help to rectify, as well as some of the likely difficulties that would be faced in its implementation. Firstly the importance of coastal zones and the threats that they face are set out. Existing international, national and regional policies affecting coastal zones are then discussed. A review of EIAs for projects on the coast shows that the existing system of project EIA does not adequately cover all of the impacts of development projects on coastlines. These results point to the need for a more strategic approach to managing coastal zones; the chapter concludes with a discussion of the factors that such a strategic approach must consider. 4.1 The importance of coastal zones The UK has more than 15,000 km 2 of coastline and approximately 300,000 km of territorial waters. Three-quarters of its counties/regions border the coast (Gubbay,1990). Many types of habitats are associated with the coast. These provide refuges for many key species of the UK's native fauna, and in particular for nationally and internationally important populations of wading birds and wildfowl. The UK coastline is also important because its location and climate enable it to provide a home for a number of temperate, Mediterranean and Arctic species of flora and fauna. The UK's many estuaries are particularly important for both their conservation and their economic value: they are among the most biologically productive ecosystems in the world...
eBook - ePub- Robert A. Francis, James D.A. Millington, George L.W. Perry, Emily S. Minor, Robert A. Francis, James D.A. Millington, George L.W. Perry, Emily S. Minor(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...The landscape is deeply rooted in culture and history. It reflects the character and the identity of a tract of land, which gains meaning as a territory for the community that lives there and shaped it. Hence, it is also a social construct, which is reflected in ancient administrative divisions and custom laws (Cosgrove, 2004). As a result, there are multiple interpretations of the landscape, and these will vary between disciplines; for discussions of these different interpretations, and a more specific history of the term, see (for example) Cosgrove and Daniels (1988), Cosgrove (2002, 2004), Olwig (2002, 2004), and Antrop and Van Eetvelde (2017). Given this, it is useful if disciplines, or indeed individual studies, can define as far as possible their interpretation of the term. Table 1.1 gives some definitions of ‘landscape’ from the landscape ecology literature. Two conventional formal definitions of landscape currently exist: (1) that for cultural landscapes, defined by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention (2008, p. 14), which considers cultural landscapes to be the ‘combined works of nature and of man’ and explores various categories and subcategories; and (2) that of the European Landscape Convention by the Council of Europe (2008, p. 9): ‘Landscape means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors’. As most countries are signatories to these conventions, they have had to adopt these definitions in policy; hence, many researchers and practitioners use these definitions so as to apply their knowledge in society. In the context of landscape ecology, there are two main interpretations of the landscape: (1) a spatially delineated physical tract of land ‘with its distinguishing characteristics and features’ (see e.g. Oxford English Dictionary, 2020 and the European Landscape Convention); in this sense, the ‘land’ can be considered a spatial building block in the sense of land units (cf...
eBook - ePubThe Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms of Southern Britain AD 450-650
Beneath the Tribal Hidage
- Sue Harrington, Martin Welch, Martin Welch(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Oxbow Books(Publisher)
...4. Travelling and Using the Land- and Sea-Scapes Coastal erosion and tide patterns In the context of the environmental circumstances of the period AD 450–700, it is important to delineate the potentialities of coastal routeways as they impacted on Early Anglo-Saxon site location and landscape syntax. The coastline of southern England as it exists today was probably broadly in place 3000 years ago (c. 1000 BC) with localised variations thereafter caused by erosion and deposition related to tide and weather patterns. Where different geological formations form the coast, they erode at different rates. Modern estimates suggest that, for the study region’s south coast, the erosion rate will have varied between 28 metres and 108 metres per hundred years. Thus, for example, between Selsey Bill and the mouth of the Cuckmere in East Sussex, the coastline in AD 400 may have been over 1700 metres further out (Goudie and Brunsden 1994, 48, fig. 33). The coast of the Isle of Thanet and north Kent has lost land to a similar extent with estimates of up to 4.8 kilometres for the same period (Brookes 2007, 44). Between Folkestone and Dungeness in southeast Kent, however, the loss seems to have been far less, estimated at approximately 400 metres. There are two consistent factors in coastal formation (Cresswell 1959): tide rotation and wave fetch. Wave fetch refers to the distance a wave travels before it hits the shoreline and, as Figure 12 (derived from Cresswell 1959, 21) shows, the greatest impact is of the Atlantic Ocean onto the west coast of the British Isles. Correspondingly, the shortest fetches occur across the Irish Sea and along the English Channel. The North Sea is an area of medium fetch, with the break point between this and the short-fetch waves of the English Channel found around the North Foreland in Kent, indicating contrasting maritime conditions along each of these coasts...
eBook - ePubUrban Landscape Ecology
Science, policy and practice
- Robert A. Francis, James D.A. Millington, Michael A. Chadwick, Robert A. Francis, James D.A. Millington, Michael A. Chadwick(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...There are then three additional criteria proposed for consideration: ‘Rarity’ and ‘Representativeness’ are based on aspects and elements of the particular landscape character in question. ‘Recreational value’ is proposed as: “Evidence that the landscape is valued for recreational activity where experience of the landscape is important” (Swanwick 2013, p. 84). UK landscape sensitivity case studies Through reference to the review of landscape sensitivity undertaken above I appraise the approach taken to landscape sensitivity through the survey, appraisal and design of two coastal flood risk management projects undertaken as EIA development by the Environment Agency: 1 Deal Sea Defences (completed April 2013). 2 Dymchurch Coastal Defences – Frontage A (completed July 2011). The coast can be defined as: “the resulting environment from the coexistence of two margins, namely: the terrestrial edge of the continent and coastal water as the littoral section of shelf seas. Together they constitute a whole which needs a specific methodological approach, and dedicated planning and management methods” (EEA 2006, p. 111). There are a number of stages through which a coastal scheme must pass, before a preferred option is selected and funded for delivery, starting with a Shoreline Management Plan (SMP). SMPs are non-statutory and provide a large-scale assessment of the risks associated with coastal processes through a policy framework to reduce those risks to people and the environment. They are developed by Coastal Groups, which are principally made up of local authorities and the Environment Agency, one of whom adopts a leading role in co-ordinating the Coastal Group and writing the SMP for the respective stretch of coastline...
eBook - ePub- Rattan Lal(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...1). It is utterly dependent upon where you happen to be standing. There is a huge difference between “what the eye can comprehend” (see) from a mountain top vs. the view from a coastal plain marsh. This perspective depends exclusively upon your field of view. It encompasses everything, and yet only, what you happen to see (doesn’t address things out-of-view). 2. Explicit Geomorphic context — e.g., mountains (any mountains) vs. plains (any plains) : “Landscape—a broad or unique land area comprised of an assemblage or collection of natural landforms that define a general geomorphic form or setting (e.g., mountain range, lake plain, river valley, etc.). Landforms within a landscape share spatially associated formational processes but can vary in details and age.” [ 2 ] This context recognizes landform groups that are spatially associated in a unique, recognizable pattern (clustered, oriented, and arranged) indicating a common link (Fig. 2). The link(s) may be similar topography (elevation and relief), composition (bedrock or sediment types), structure (tectonic, crustal deformations), surficial modification (erosional or depositional alterations), etc. and are tangibly different from adjoining landform groups. If landscape subtypes (e.g., different types of mountains) are recognized, the emphasis is on specific geologic or geomorphic attributes (e.g., fault-block mountains vs. volcanic mountains) rather than differences in climate, vegetation, or geography (e.g., the Organ Mountains vs. the Cascade Mountains). A list of common landscapes is shown in Table 1. 3. Physiographic context : Landscape—a collection or group of individual landforms that are spatially associated in a unique, recognizable pattern (clustered, oriented, and arranged) indicating common links. The links are not restricted to geomorphic and geologic parameters but may also include geography (where on a continent), native plant communities (desert vs...
- Peter Morris, Riki Therivel, Graham Wood, Riki Therivel, Graham Wood(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...The underlying geology also has engineering and construction implications, and affects both geochemistry and geophysics (Keller 2010). Some geological aspects are of indirect importance in ESIA. For example, both the storage and movement of ground and surface waters, and water geochemistry will be affected by the hard geology of an area (see Chapter 2). The geology and hydrogeology of a site influences the potential for on-site and off-site pollution as a result of development, and pathways for any pollution that may have occurred in the past. Finally, competition between mineral extraction and other land uses may be critical in some circumstances. For example, Cuba et al. (2014) investigated overlapping claims between mineral extraction projects and river basins, agricultural land use and protected areas in Ghana and Peru. Geomorphology includes the study of topography (the terrain), and the factors that have moulded the land to the present form. This includes the nature of the rock and soils in relation to the erosion and deposition caused by glaciers, rivers and wind. Human impacts can include landscape/visual aspects (Chapter 11), but also consequences such as erosion, slope failure, subsidence, and sedimentation in aquatic systems. Some aspects of geomorphology, such as soil erosion, overlap with soil studies. 3.2.2 Land and soils Land and soil are often considered to be the same thing, but there are important differences between these terms. The quality of land for agriculture and forestry is determined by the combined physical properties of climate, topography and soil. The value placed on land also has social and economic dimensions, which are influenced by the potential uses of land and also its location in relation to settlements. Land is a more complex concept than soil, and because these terms are practically indivisible it is more helpful to consider the relationship between land and soil than to seek separate definitions...
