East Yorkshire Coast - Geology and Geomorphology

These pages are mainly about the relationship of the visible landforms of the Yorkshire Coast to the underlying geology and the geomorphic processes that have shaped them. The landforms and geology have themselves affected the human use of the coast, from settlement and transportation patterns to economic activities such as mining and tourism.

Before proceeding further please read this CAUTIONARY TALE

While virtual field trips present few dangers please take appropriate safety measures on real trips and follow the Geological Society code of practice.

Everyone can do geology!
Short necked Plesiosaur or Pliosaur vertebrea found at Speeton by a youg member of York Geology club.

The East Yorkshire coast is located on the east coast of England facing the North sea.
For the purposes of this page I have included the stretch of coast from the river Tees in the north to the river Humber in the south. Strictly speaking the Yorkshire border is at Staithes, a few kilometers south of the river Tees and thus a small part of Cleveland has been annexed. The river Tees however is the northern boundary of the lower Jurassic (liassic) outcrops and thus a more "geological" boundary than the county boundary.

In the north the cliffs at Boultby rise to 203m, the highest in Britain though much altered by alum quarrying. Southward the cliffs continue with magnificent 'solid' sections. (see photo above.) From Speeton to Bridlington the chalk forms a magnificent line of cliffs, the highest chalk cliffs in Britain. The headland at Flamborough has magnificent scenery of stacks and sea caves. South of Bridlington the low glacial till cliffs of Holderness sweep smoothly to the mouth of the Humber, guarded by Spurn Point

NEW An introduction to the Geology of East Yorkshire A geological guide to the coastal hinterland by Mike Horne F.G.S. the secretary of the Hull Geological Societywith a guide to local sites of geological interest, stratigraphy and a guide to geological fieldwork.

Coastal Landforms

The Yorkshire coast displays a number of coastal landform types. These include high cliffs, bays, beaches and pocket beaches, shore platforms headlands , stacks and sea caves, rapidly eroding sections and an interesting cyclic spit formation

The Yorkshire coast displays some of the finest jurassic and cretaceous sections in Britain.

"The beds are deposited one upon the other just as one might pile some volumes of books; and there is a gradual dip or slope to the south-east, which enables one to walk along the cliffs and examine each bed in its proper order as it presents its surface in the cliff line. So admirable is this arrangement that it might be said that the sections have been arranged for the convenience of the geologist."

Sheppard, Thomas. (1906) "The making of the East Yorkshire Landscape."

Generally speaking the older rocks are to the north and progressively young southwards. Almost a complete sequence Lower Jurassic->Cretacous exists, only the uppermost jurassic and lowermost cretacous are absent. Folding and faulting are relatively minor but a major fault is seen at Ravenscar, just south of the Robin Hood's bay dome. This is the western edge of a graben, the Peak Trough which runs oblique to the coast and whose influence is seen at scarborough and at Red Cliff further south where the eastern bondary of the graben forms the Red Cliff Fault.
South of Filey the low cliffs of Speeton show a non-sequence at the top of the Kimmerigian and the Portland and Purbeck rocks of southern England are missing. The Speeton clays form "the finest marine cretaceous in Britain" (Neal J. & Catt, J.)
Just south of Speeton Beck the chalk begins, with a layer of red chalk. The Chalk cliffs rise magnificent and precipitously to the highest chalk cliffs in Britain at Bempton (external link)The chalk headland of Flamborough show interesting crush and distortion features associated with the Howardian Fault Belt, thought to be a continuation of the Craven Fault system of the Yorkshire Dales.
At depth the Market Weighton Block, a bouyant and rigid structural block runs east-west from just south of Bridlington to just north of Hull. This exerted considerable influence on sedimentation throughout the jurassic and cretaceous forming a barrier to sediment spread from the north
South of Bridlington the 60 Km. long sweep of the Holderness coast is a rapidly eroding section of low glacial till cliffs containing many erratics from as far away as Scandinavia.

Fossils

Can you help identify this unusual ammonite

The Yorkshire coast is famous for its Jurassic and Marine Cretaceous fossils. These pages are more concerned with structure and landform but here is one of my favorite fossils

Start your field trip

Visit Spurn Point, a cyclical spit at the mouth of the river Humber

See the fastest eroding coast in Europe

Visit one of Yorkshires premier seaside resorts and see how its geology influenced the development of the town.

Examine a buried Paleo-Cliff

Walk in the footsteps of a Jurassic dinosaur

Walk a kilometer and a half out to sea on a reef of Jurassic limestone

Stacks, seacaves and the highest chalk cliffs in Britain

Jet, alum and ironstone link the geology and the economy of the coast

If these whet your appetite why not see what field trips and lectures the Hull Geological Society is running in the real world! Updated October 1999

Humberside Geologist Online the journal of the Hull geological society

And why not visit some Geology related links

Hull University No geology department here anymore but excellent physical geography department.
The University's Centre for Lifelong Learning runs a series of part-time geology course. Geolectica.com Site of Geochallenge, a fun and very hard geological puzzle.

Everything you could want to know about the ongoing battle with creationists at Talkorigins.org dedicated to mainstream science responses to creationist sillyness

The University of Ediacara University I would most like a professorial chair from.

A geologists lifetime field trip list the inspiration to put this site up.

Sun and Sea at the Californian Coastal geography site

Basic Coastal processes tutorial a bit slow and basic but good if you want the basics

A whole chapter from a textbook on the coastal geology and geomorphology of Novia Scotia Beautifully produced but you need Adobe Acrobat to view it!

See a sea stack disappear

See the devastating effects of Hurricanes and el-nino weather on the U.S. coastline.

A comprehensive and well crafted site about the gelolgy and geomorphology of New York bight from City University New York.

I welcome comments, corrections and suggestions so why not Email me here

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