Storm surges threaten, in particular, the coasts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark and low lying areas of eastern England particularly around The Wash and Fens. Storm surges are caused by changes in barometric pressure combined with strong wind created wave action. The first recorded storm tide flood was the "Julianenflut", on 17 February 1164. In its wake, the Jadebusen, (a bay on the coast of Germany), began to form. A storm tide in 1228 is recorded to have killed more than 100,000 people. In 1362, the Second Marcellus Flood, also known as the "Grote Manndrenke", hit the entire southern coast of the North Sea.
Storm tides
North Sea
North Sea | Storm tides
Storm surges and tsunamis Yes, though rare, the North Sea has been the site of a number of historically documented tsunamis Yes, it has been the site of a number of historically documented tsunamis. Yes tsunamis
when will the new dunkirk film be released on dvd
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18 December 2017
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what is this film about?
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Dunkirk evacuation of World War II
assistant
can you mention a few members of the cast?
user
Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles
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where was it shot?
user
Dunkirk and Urk, Netherlands
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can you tell me anything about the latter place's past?
user
Until 1475 the High and Low Lordship of Urk and Emmeloord was in the hands of the Van Kuinre family
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what does the economy of this place depend upon?
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Fishery
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is there any waterbody nearby ?
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North Sea
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what kind of marine organisms are found in this sea?
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Cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, plaice, sole, mackerel, herring, pouting, sprat, and sandeel
assistant
what kind of minerals are found in this sea?
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Sand, gravel and rolled pieces of amber
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does this place experiences any natural hazards?
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In addition to oil, gas, and fish, the states along the North Sea also take millions of cubic metres per year of sand and gravel from the ocean floor. These are used for beach nourishment, land reclamation and construction. Rolled pieces of amber may be picked up on the east coast of England.
North Sea | Mineral resources
The underlying geology of the North Norfolk coast is Cretaceous chalk, exposed at Hunstanton cliffs just to the west of the SSSI, but buried by soft Quaternary glacial debris for the entire length of the SSSI coast. Unlike the soft, rapidly eroding cliffs further east, the coast of the SSSI has shown a less consistent pattern, with a net accretion of beach material between 1880 and 1950. However, this coastline is threatened by climate change, with sea level rising an estimated 1–2 mm per year for the last 100 years, increasing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion. Half the area of the salt marshes that formed in the lee of Scolt Head Island has been reclaimed in the last 300 years, creating ecologically important, but very fragile, grazing marshes.
Holkham National Nature Reserve | Threats
Storm tides of the North Sea are coastal floods associated with extratropical cyclones crossing over the North Sea, the severity of which are affected by the shallowness of the sea and the orientation of the shoreline relative to the storm's path, as well as the timing of tides. The water level can rise to more than 5 metres (17 ft) above the normal tide as a result of storm tides. Northern Germany and Denmark are particularly susceptible to storm tides. The coastline of the German Bight forms an L-shape facing northwest. Also vulnerable are the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, where the sea shallows and is funnelled toward the English Channel.
Storm tides of the North Sea | Introduction
The underlying geology of the North Norfolk coast is Cretaceous chalk, exposed at Hunstanton cliffs just to the west of the SSSI, but for the entire length of the SSSI coast, the chalk is buried by soft Quaternary glacial debris. Unlike the rapidly eroding soft cliffs further east, the coast of the SSSI has shown a less consistent pattern, with a net accretion of beach material between 1880 and 1950. This coastline is threatened by climate change, with sea level rising an estimated at 1–2 mm per year for the last 100 years, increasing the risk of flooding and coastal erosion.
North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest | Threats
This may affect the movement of sediment, and lead to some erosion of the dunes and beaches at Holkham, but should not destroy their effectiveness as a sea defence unless the island reattaches to the mainland at some date in the distant future.
Holkham National Nature Reserve | Threats
When the tide is at its lowest the sea recedes and an expanse of sand in excess of wide is uncovered, offering excellent opportunities for walking and littoral discoveries. The rockpools at the base of the cliffs create perfect places for small fish and crabs to hide until the tide turns, and there is an abundance of small molluscs such as periwinkles, limpets and mussels clinging in clusters to the rocks. In the sea beyond low water mark is Gull Rock (or Otterham Rock).
Trebarwith Strand | Natural history
One of the most vulnerable stretches is that between Blakeney Point and Weybourne, which included the Cley and Salthouse Marsh reserves. The coast here is protected by a shingle ridge, but the sea attacks the ridge and spit through tidal and storm action, with a single storm sometimes moving a "spectacular" amount of shingle. The Blakeney Point spit has sometimes been breached, becoming an island for a time, and this may happen again. The northernmost part of nearby Blakeney was lost to the sea in the early Middle Ages, probably due to a storm. The spit is moving towards the mainland at about 1 m (1 yd) per year, and for the last two hundred years maps have been accurate enough for the encroachment of the sea to be quantified.
North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest | Threats
The soft rocks of the North Norfolk coast have been attacked by the sea for centuries; at Titchwell Marsh, the beach and sand dunes protecting the northern edge of the reserve have been eroded, and climate change has increased the likelihood of damage to the freshwater areas of the reserve. The predicted increasingly stormy weather could damage the dune system and expose the soft earth banks to wave damage, or the sea could just over-top the defences, as it did in the 1953 floods. Either way, the conservation value of the reserve would be adversely affected, especially through the potential loss of the bitterns.
Titchwell Marsh | Threats
Salt storms near the Aral Sea pose a serious health hazard to surrounding areas. Run-off from nearby farms has resulted in the pollution of the Aral Sea with toxins like pesticides and fertilizers. As the sea evaporates, the toxic pollutants in the water crystallize along with other minerals to form salt flats. When the toxins and minerals from the salt flats are blown into the air by these storms and inhaled, the toxins and minerals may cause throat and lung cancer, infant mortality, decreased life expectancy and birth defects. Salt storms can also block visibility and cause chemical damage to surrounding structures.
Salt storm | Effects
This same storm event caused similar erosion damage to houses built on the upper dunes in Raumati Beach, on the west coast of the North Island, New Zealand. Bulldozing and bulk removal of sand from protective coastal dunes is therefore an extremely hazardous activity, and one that has been widely carried out in New Zealand in order to form a surface on which to build on to obtain sea views.
Coastal development hazards | Dune destruction
However, there is no safe access to the seaward shore on any of the stretch between the southern tip near Danger Point to Ladram Bay in the north. The vertical cliffs are not interrupted (cut) by streams valleys, hence the lack of shore-access. To study the coast accurately a boat is required. It is possible to travel along the shore from the mouth of the Otter river to Ladram Bay near Otterton at very low tides but the beach is mostly covered with massive boulders of fallen sandstone, many very slippery because the more ferruginous nature of the rocks encourage algal growth.
Danger Point | Geology and littoral ecology
silica but with traces of other heavy minerals, garnet, ilmenite, magnetite and pyroxene. The erosion of the cliffs into fine sand carried on the sea currents creates Farewell spit further east. The northern side of the dunes are steeper and unstable being constantly exposed to the prevailing winds which average over 25 km/h. The southern side which faces Golden Bay is more stable and largely covered with vegetation. The tide here can recede as much as seven kilometres exposing some 80 square kilometres of mud flats; a rich feeding ground for the many seabirds in the area but also a trap for frequently stranded whales.
Farewell Spit | Introduction
On the lower rocks, in reach of the waves, are plentiful lichens, seaweeds, sponges, limpets and barnacles. To the south are Dinas Bach and Dinas Mawr, twin peninsulas formed from weathered pillow lavas 600 million years old, thought to have been early fortified sites from the Iron Age. Kittiwakes, cormorants and shags can be seen on the cliffs, while farm birds such as the yellowhammer frequent the gorse. On Mynydd Anelog, experimental plots have been marked out to monitor different methods of managing heather to discover the best way the habitat can be conserved for the future.
Aberdaron | Porthor
Storm surges threaten, in particular, the coasts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark and low lying areas of eastern England particularly around The Wash and Fens. Storm surges are caused by changes in barometric pressure combined with strong wind created wave action. The first recorded storm tide flood was the "Julianenflut", on 17 February 1164. In its wake, the Jadebusen, (a bay on the coast of Germany), began to form. A storm tide in 1228 is recorded to have killed more than 100,000 people. In 1362, the Second Marcellus Flood, also known as the "Grote Manndrenke", hit the entire southern coast of the North Sea.
North Sea | Storm tides
The flood of 1976 and the "North Frisian Flood" of 1981 brought the highest water levels measured to date on the North Sea coast, but because of sea defences such as improved warning systems and dikes built and modified after the flood of 1962, these led only to property damage.
Storm tides of the North Sea | Recent storm tides
There built structures are at the north end and a stony causeway allows for vehicular access at low tides. A small wind turbine has been erected on the west coast.
Inner Holm | Introduction
Icebergs are common from early February to the end of July across the shipping lanes near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The ice season is longer in the polar regions, but there is little shipping in those areas. Hurricanes are a hazard in the western parts of the North Atlantic during the summer and autumn. Due to a consistently strong wind shear and a weak Intertropical Convergence Zone, South Atlantic tropical cyclones are rare.
Atlantic Ocean | Natural hazards
The original reason for the separation of the north of the Island of Guernsey may relate to seismic disturbances or changes in the sea level. The rise and fall of the tide in Guernsey is over which creates energy to move loose materials. The Braye was open to the sea and the shoreline moves with the waves and the tides. Gravel and sand are deposited onshore, only to be swept back offshore. Storms batter the coast, and tides flood areas on a daily basis. The premiere forces that shapes the coastal landscape, however, are waves. Beaches are not fixed features, they are dynamic environments.
Braye du Valle, Guernsey | Origins
The seabed surface at the construction site mainly consists of sand. It was initially reinforced by a 2.4-m-thick layer of large stones. However, this hindered installation of the turbine piles, which should be driven through the protection layer deep into the seabed. Therefore, stones were replaced by two layers of geotextile containers, i.e., sandbags made of a special damage-resistant nonwoven geotextile. Empty bags had a size of 1.45 × 2.38 m and could accommodate 1 m of sand; they were filled on the Rømø island up to 80 vol% and weighed 1400 kg each. The seabed protection withstood the St.
Amrumbank West | Seabed protection
Over the first few days of the disaster, an estimated 73,000 tonnes out of the ship's 130,000-tonne cargo of North Sea crude oil was spilt, most of which spread along either the shoreline of Milford Haven waterway or the coastline to the south. This caused an enormous amount of environmental and aesthetic damage to the coastline and its marine life in an area which lies within the protection of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
MV Sea Empress | Short-term effects
Storm tides are a regular occurrence in the North Sea basin; several form each year. Although most do not cause significant damage, the impact of some has been devastating. During one, the February flood of 1825, the Danish coastline changed, as the North Jutlandic Island became separated from the Jutland Peninsula.
Storm tides of the North Sea | Introduction
Though rare, the North Sea has been the site of a number of historically documented tsunamis. The Storegga Slides were a series of underwater landslides, in which a piece of the Norwegian continental shelf slid into the Norwegian Sea. The immense landslips occurred between 8150 BCE and 6000 BCE, and caused a tsunami up to high that swept through the North Sea, having the greatest effect on Scotland and the Faeroe Islands. The Dover Straits earthquake of 1580 is among the first recorded earthquakes in the North Sea measuring between 5.6 and 5.9 on the Richter scale. This event caused extensive damage in Calais both through its tremors and possibly triggered a tsunami, though this has never been confirmed.
North Sea | Tsunamis
The island is composed entirely of mudstones and sandstones of late Silurian/early Devonian age assigned to the 'Milford Haven Group' of the Lower Old Red Sandstone. This suite of rocks was formerly known as the 'Red Marls'. The strata are folded into a syncline with an east–west axis hence the rocks on the north coast dip inland i.e. to the south, at 25° to 40° whilst those on the south coast also dip inland i.e. to the north, even more steeply, at up to 80°. A couple of north–south aligned faults affect the strata at the eastern end of the island, erosion along them being responsible for both Crab Bay and North Haven.
Skokholm | Geology
The cargo ship "Gold Bond Conveyor" en route from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to Tampa, Florida foundered in the Atlantic Ocean 60 nautical miles (110 km) SE of Sable Island, Nova Scotia with the loss of all 33 crew. It is thought that water entered the hold where gypsum ore was being stored and caused the rock to shift and harden. This instability compounded with winds of 90 miles an hour (145 km/h) and 100-foot (30 m) waves led to her sinking. The Liberian-flagged ship was owned by Skaarup Shipping Corp., of Greenwich, Connecticut, and under charter to National Gypsum Co., a U.S.
1993 Storm of the Century | North Atlantic
Salt extraction for human consumption had taken place at Seal Sands since Roman times through the use of panning. This continued throughout the 20th century and left caverns which are now used as liquid/gas strorage facilities for the process industry.
North East England | Teesside chemicals
As the strong wind passed over the North Sea, a storm surge was recorded all along the east coast of the United Kingdom on 3 January, advancing from the northern North Sea, water levels in the north of England rose higher than those of the North Sea flood of 1953, although they were lower in the south. The storm surge was far more severe on the north German coast reaching levels never previously recorded, reaching 6.45 m above mean sea level at Hamburg (4.5 m above mean high water levels). Fortunately dykes had been raised after the devastating North Sea flood of 1962 which was 0.85m lower.
Gale of January 1976 | North Sea
Blakeney Chapel was 400 m (440 yd) from the sea in 1817, but this had reduced to 195 m (215 yd) by the end of the 20th century. The landward movement of the shingle means that the channel of the River Glaven becomes blocked increasingly often, leading to flooding of the reserve and Cley village. The Environment Agency considered several remedial options to protect these vulnerable areas, and a new route for the river to the south of its original line was completed in 2007 at a cost of about £1.5 million. The Environment Agency's long-term policy is to hold the line only to protect communities and infrastructure, with managed retreat as the solution to rising sea levels elsewhere, even at sites like Cley where the financial benefits from the recreational value of the reserve outweigh the cost of maintaining the sea defences.
North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest | Threats
"Dune rock" that was deposited during a Pleistocene interglacial period about 120,000 years ago is now being eroded in the sea-cliffs near Swartklip. During glacial periods the sea level dropped to expose the bottom of False Bay to weathering and erosion. The last major regression, about 20,000 years ago, lowered the sea level to the present 130m isobath, which is south of Cape Point and Cape Hangklip, leaving the entire bottom of False Bay and a large part of the continental shelf to the west of the peninsula exposed. During this period an extensive system of dunes was formed on the sandy floor of False Bay.
Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area | Geology
Here lies a series of rocky skerries below and above sea level, and the meeting of currents, together with wind and weather, create dangerous conditions for boats and ships. The situation became more hazardous in 1884 when the high cliff "Munkurin" on the southernmost rock, Sumbiarsteinur, crashed into the sea and the seafarers lost the fixed landmark of the rocks.
Akraberg | Introduction
As with much of the Norfolk coast, erosion was and continues to be a major problem. Clifton Way is an experimental site; its sea defences include riprap (at £1,300 a boulder, predominantly shipped from Norway), wooden groynes, revetments, gabions and Offshore Reefs. The cliffs of soft boulder clay slump because of the water running through the clay, and the resulting material on the beach is removed by the succeeding high tides. In the neighbouring village of Sidestrand, the church was moved back from the cliff edge in the 19th century, though the tower of the church was left standing on the cliff top.
Overstrand | Coastal erosion
In 2016 the beach at North Hallsands was reported to have been washed away by storms, leaving only a peat underlay which contains the remnants of a petrified forest. However, this is part of a regular natural cycle which occurs every few years, as are the more frequent episodes where the shingle from North Hallsands is removed by the scouring action of the local sea currents, deposited at other parts of the bay and then eventually returned by the same process. There are no plans to restore the sea defences at North Hallsands or protect the few houses at possible risk as South Hams Council has had a policy of no intervention since 2002.
Hallsands | Present day
This destruction of sand dunes is often then mitigated with construction of seawalls, revetments and groynes in often futile attempts to prevent storm erosion hazards to unsuitably located assets and infrastructure on coasts. These engineered methods are commonly ineffective and frequently actually magnify the hazard or just move the hazard down coast. In Porthcawl, South Wales, a seawall constructed to stop erosion in 1887 was replaced in 1906, 1934 and finally in 1984 when the beach was paved as each prior structure was undermined by further erosion. The loss of aesthetics due to the lack of a sand beach resulted in tourists utilising alternative beaches.
Coastal development hazards | Engineered structures
One of the most difficult variables that made navigating the British Channel so dangerous were (and still are) were the currents caused by the tides. Local pilots had good knowledge of those currents.
Hugo of Moncada i Gralla | Nautical difficulties
Now at sea, areas around the site are being drilled for natural gas.
Ravenspurn | Introduction
A £12.6 million sea defence scheme by the Environment Agency was designed to reduce the risk of this erosion and flooding happening in the future. The Environment Agency built of new sea wall and rock or concrete stepped revetments between 1997 and 1998 and imported 320,000 tons of additional sand in 1999 to build a new beach. This beach sits between four rock groynes and has been built at a much higher level than the previous beach so that the waves are broken before they reach the new sea wall. Any waves that do reach the new wall are turned back by its curved shape.
Minehead | Geography
Dragonflies include the migrant hawker, southern hawker and ruddy darter. On exposed parts of the coast, the muds and sands are scoured by the tides, and have no vegetation except possibly algae or eelgrass, but where the shoreline is more protected, internationally important salt marshes can form, with several uncommon species. The salt marsh contains glassworts and annual seablite in the most exposed regions, with a succession of plants following on as the marsh becomes more established: first sea aster, then mainly sea lavender, with sea purslane in the creeks and smaller areas of sea plantain and other common marsh plants.
Holkham National Nature Reserve | Other animals and plants
The dunes are an essential natural defence against the projected rises in sea level along this vulnerable coast.
Holkham National Nature Reserve | Introduction
Experts assume an acute danger of collapse of the top two thirds because of an unstable layer of sands above sea level, which already is the thinnest part of Lange Anna.
Lange Anna | Introduction
Nevertheless, the effect can be impressive phytoplankton blooms, known as red tides. The water in False Bay is constrained from westward flow by the Cape Peninsula, so these red tides can be relatively persistent. The south easterly wind can push up a very rough wind wave, but the fetch is short and it usually dies down quite quickly, but while it lasts it can clear a large amount of benthic fauna off the shallower reefs, which may take weeks or months to find its way back. In winter, the South Atlantic High moves north and the weather pattern is dominated by cold fronts formed over the southern ocean, The winds generally follow the pattern of light to strong north-westerly, swinging though south-westerly as the front passes overhead, and followed by relatively weak south-easterlies.
Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area | Seasonal variations in sea conditions
The northern frontage of Sheringham is protected by a concrete seawall which also serves as the promenade. It is a vital part of the protection of the town against the natural erosion that occurs along the North Norfolk coast. The storm surge of 1953 considerably damaged Sheringham's wooden sea defences. In front of the sea wall are groynes, armoured at their bases with large blocks of natural rock, which prevent long shore drift. There are numerous drains along the frontage. To the east towards West Runton the seawall ends just below Beeston Bump. From there a timber revetment and groyne system, designed and constructed in 1976, runs eastwards for 2 km (just over a mile) to West Runton Gap.
Sheringham | Sea defences
A further more than 230 deaths occurred on seacraft along Northern European coasts as well as on ships in deeper waters of the North Sea. The ferry MV "Princess Victoria" sank in the North Channel east of Belfast with 133 fatalities, and many fishing trawlers sank. Realising that such infrequent events could reoccur, the Netherlands and the UK carried out large studies on strengthening of coastal defences. The Netherlands developed the Delta Works, an extensive system of dams and storm surge barriers. The UK constructed storm surge barriers on the Thames Estuary and on the Hull where it meets the Humber Estuary.
North Sea flood of 1953 | At-sea fatalities
It is mainly a deep erosional scour, while the western part follows the North-South line of an old rift valley formed during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. To the east of Great Britain, lies the Dogger Bank, a vast moraine, or accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris, which rises up to deep. The Silver Pit is a hollow or valley-like depression that has been recognised since about 1843 by fishermen. Nearby is the Silverpit crater, a controversial structure initially proposed to be an impact crater, though another interpretation is that it may result from the dissolution of a thick bed of salt which permitted the upper strata to collapse.
Geography of the North Sea | Submarine topography
Sand dunes are very dynamic fragile structures that act as stores of sediment used to carry out the coastal processes mentioned above. This removal of the upper beach sediments is important from a hazard perspective as this is the area of the coast that is often utilised for property development due to the high prices sea front properties with a view can achieve. In Pegasus Bay, New Zealand, storm events in 1978 and 2001 caused significant erosion of the New Brighton and Waimairi sand beaches. In the 1978 storm event houses on the seaward side of the New Brighton Spit suffered from undercutting as the dune sediment in which they were built on was eroded by high wave energy.
Coastal development hazards | Dune destruction
There is a small bay in the east - Haa Geo, and a cave in the west. The North end is called "the Niv". It is approximately long. The geology is moine gneiss and quartzite. It has steep sides, and is over tall.
Uynarey | Geology and geography
Chronicles of the time again record more than 100,000 deaths, large parts of the coast were lost permanently to the sea, including the now legendary lost city of Rungholt. In the 20th century, the North Sea flood of 1953 flooded several nations' coasts and cost more than 2,000 lives. 315 citizens of Hamburg died in the North Sea flood of 1962.
North Sea | Storm tides
The green hairstreak, purple hairstreak, hummingbird hawk-moth and ghost moth are sometimes seen, particularly in the woods at Holkham, along with the common butterfly and moth species. In some years the clouded yellow, Camberwell beauty, painted lady or diamondback moth may be seen, and the silver Y can sometimes occur in huge numbers. The dune tiger beetle is a nationally rare denizen of moist sand dunes. The lagoons behind the shingle beach at Salthouse and Cley are salty due to the percolation of seawater through the bank. These saline lagoons may cover mud, firm sand or submerged vegetation, and hold some rare and threatened invertebrates including the starlet sea anemone, lagoon sand shrimp, Atlantic ditch shrimp, and lagoon cockle.
North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest | Other animals
Winds that cause upwellings have increased, causing a cooling of the water in the bay, and possibly nutrient enrichment. The ecosystem has shifted as a result, with typical west coast species like kelp and rock lobsters expanding their ranges and populations eastwards. Sea level rise and exposure to more frequent storm surge has increased the erosion of low lying sandy shores, and increased risk to coastal developments. The rising sea level is cutting back the coastline near Macassar beach during high swell events at a rate in the order of 2 m per year. The sea level is estimated to have been rising at about 1.9 mm per year since 1958.
False Bay | Climate change
There are two rock sequences along the coast at Budleigh Salterton, the Pebble Beds and the "Otter Sandstone Formation". In the cliff face it is very apparent that both dip eastward. The "Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds" are overlain by the sandstones that form the cliffs at Danger Point. Both sediments are markedly red, which indicates that they were formed in a desert in the hot dry climate of in the Triassic Period about 225 million years ago. The coastal path, south of the village of Otterton on the peninsula of Otter Sandstone, has many viewpoints and headlands from which the cliffs can be seen.
Danger Point | Geology and littoral ecology
One other consequence of the storm was a record influx of little auks (a small Arctic seabird) into the North Sea, with a count of 18,371 from the Farne Islands on 9 November as they returned north, nearly double the previous record count, then further counts there of 7,143 on 10 November and 28,803 on 11 November. North Norfolk District Council were left seeking to apply for compensation from the government's Bellwin scheme for natural disasters. Replacing damaged promenade handrails was estimated to cost £20,000, while council-owned beach chalets were estimated to cost more than £40,000 to mend. Inspections were also undertaken of the steel under Cromer pier, where waves had damaged the floor of the Pavilion Theatre.
North Sea flood of 2007 | Aftermath
The Black Middens is particularly dangerous as it is mostly below the water at high tide when shifting sand bars form around it. Many ships have been blown on to the Black Middens and wrecked – five ships during three days of storms in 1864, whose wrecks resulted in 34 deaths within close sight of the shore. In order to mitigate such disasters, the Lights of North Shields were constructed in 1536 on the orders of Henry VIII, to guide mariners into the river. The first Volunteer Life Brigade was formed in Tynemouth in 1864, to rescue sailors who navigated into danger despite the lights.
Black Middens | Shipping hazard
The rock is a hazard to shipping. Between 1861 and 1865, nine vessels ran aground on it. On 14 August 1861, the "Coriolanus" from North Shields, en route from Liverpool to Quebec, lost her bearings in thick fog and grounded on the rock. The Lloyd’s agents in Belfast sent the tug "Wonder" to assist, but before the tug arrived the weather deteriorated. The crew decided to abandon ship and took to the boats. All 28 drowned. An empty boat was found by the "Betsy" from Maryport floating off Ballywalter. On 5 January 1873 the "Marseilles" from London, en route from Moulmein to Glasgow, also stranded on the Cannon Rock.
Cannon Rock | Marine hazard
There are some normal faults cutting the 100m cliffs further north closer to Ladram Bay and a lot of post-diagenetic mineralisation along joints, as well as some truncated coarse cross-bedding and what appear to be fossil levees seen in cross-section Fossils from the Triassic period are extremely rare. Although normally only fossil fragments are found, the sandstones at Danger Point have yielded excellent discoveries, such as the Beaked Lizard, known as Rhynchosaur.
Danger Point | Geology and littoral ecology
Although Holkham is low-lying and can flood in severe weather conditions, it is protected by the spit that developed at the Holkham Gap in the 1990s and the dunes along the coast, which are increasingly being stabilised by vegetation. The Environment Agency's management plan until 2105 is to rely on the natural protection of the dunes, intervening only if work is necessary to maintain their effectiveness in the face of a potential sea level rise of 1.1 m (3 ft) by that date. The shingle that makes up Scolt Head Island is moving westwards and southwards at up to 3.5 m (10 ft) per year.
Holkham National Nature Reserve | Threats
The island is traversed by numerous normal faults many of which run broadly NW-SE though ranging from E-W to NNW-SSE. Loch Eport is developed along one such fault. The Outer Hebrides Thrust Zone runs along the eastern coast of the island and brings distinctive gneisses which form the rough hilly terrain along that coast. More recent geological deposits include blown sand along the northern and western coasts and peat inland.
North Uist | Geology
Its proximity to the Elbe estuary and the North Sea brings with it the danger that, in the event of a dyke breach during a storm surge the area, which lies just above sea level, will suffer major flooding.
Land Hadeln | Geography
This storm created a brand new tidal lagoon, which since that storm is rapidly developing with creeks forming and land that was recently farmed pasture now tidal salt marsh.
Porlock Bay | Geomorphological
Cornwall is not known for being prone to natural hazards, although they do happen. The county experiences droughts and heat waves with the rest of Europe as they happen, but its location close to the ocean dampens their severity. Also, European windstorms in the winter usually make landfall on the west coast of Europe, including Cornwall, resulting in severe gales and flooding. Cornwall's large amount of valleys also make it prone to rapid flooding when an unusually heavy amount of rainfall occurs, as seen in the Boscastle flood of 2004. Although not lying on any plate boundary, Britain occasionally experiences intraplate tremors as a result of the Eurasian Plate's motion, reactivating weak points in the rock.
Geography of Cornwall | Natural hazards
North-westerly gales produce powerful wind waves which batter the west coast of the peninsula, but the east side waters may be calm, with a minor wind chop due to the short fetch. The westerly winds may also clean up the surface waters of the west side of False Bay, and as there is usually much lower insolation at this time of year, plankton does not usually bloom, and the water remains relatively clear. The westerly storms of the southern ocean also produce very large waves with a large amount of their energy propagating towards the north-east, and as these move away from their source they separate by wave-length, as the wave velocity is a function of the wavelength, with the longer, more powerful waves travelling faster and losing less energy as they travel.
Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area | Seasonal variations in sea conditions
Individual islands in the firths, or islands and the coast, are often joined up by sandbars or spits made up of sand deposits known as "tombolos". Towards the south the firths give way to a cliff coast, which was formed by the moraines of Ice Age glaciers. The horizontal impact of waves on the North Sea coast gives rise to eroded coasts. The cliff landscape is interrupted in southern England by large estuaries with their corresponding fringing marshes, notably the Humber and the Thames. There are skerries in southern Norway formed by similar action to that which created the fjords and firths.
Coastline of the North Sea | Northern fjords, skerries, and cliffs
Tides flood salt marshes regularly ensuring ecological productive areas. Salt marshes provide unique habitats and purify tarnished waters. Along the beaches of the Outer Banks plants and beach grasses like Opuntia Humifuia, Cabbage Palmentto, and Sabal Minor are noticed. Pindo and Windmill palms are not indigenous to the area, but are located in many areas mainland. Towards the sound side sea grasses, Yucca Aloifolia and Wax Myrtles nestle. The Maritime Forest also known as the Nags Head Forest can be located within the perimeters of Nags Head. A Maritime Forest is an area of forest affected by sea spray. This forest is located on the mainland side of the island.
Hazard mitigation in the Outer Banks | Geography
Icebergs can occur at any time of year throughout the ocean. Some may have drafts up to several hundred meters; smaller icebergs, iceberg fragments and sea-ice (generally 0.5 to 1 m thick) also pose problems for ships. The deep continental shelf has a floor of glacial deposits varying widely over short distances. Sailors know latitudes from 40 to 70 degrees south as the "Roaring Forties", "Furious Fifties" and "Shrieking Sixties" due to high winds and large waves that form as winds blow around the entire globe unimpeded by any land-mass. Icebergs, especially in May to October, make the area even more dangerous.
Southern Ocean | Natural hazards
Plant species in the North Sea include species of wrack, among them bladder wrack, knotted wrack, and serrated wrack. Algae, macroalgal, and kelp, such as oarweed and laminaria hyperboria, and species of maerl are found as well. Eelgrass, formerly common in the entirety of the Wadden Sea, was nearly wiped out in the 20th century by a disease. Similarly, sea grass used to coat huge tracts of ocean floor, but have been damaged by trawling and dredging have diminished its habitat and prevented its return. Invasive Japanese seaweed has spread along the shores of the sea clogging harbours and inlets and has become a nuisance.
North Sea | Flora
The first was an open switch in the detonation circuit closed by hydrostatic pressure. The second was a spring pushing the detonator away from the explosive charge into the buoyancy chamber unless compressed by hydrostatic pressure. The mines were intended to be safe at depths less than . Each mine contained a dry cell battery with an electrical detonating circuit which could be initiated by any one of five parallel fuzes. Four of the fuzes were conventional horns in the buoyant upper hemisphere of the mine. Each horn contained a glass ampule of electrolyte which would connect an open circuit if an ampule was broken by bending the soft metal horn.
North Sea Mine Barrage | Mark 6 Mines
The amount of shingle moved by a single storm can be "spectacular"; the spit has sometimes been breached, becoming an island for a time, and this may happen again. The northernmost part of Snitterley village was lost to the sea in the early Middle Ages, probably due to a storm. In the last two hundred years, the maps have been accurate enough for the distance from the ruins to the sea to be measured. The 400 m (440 yd) in 1817 had become 320 m (350 yd) by 1835, 275 m (300 yd) in 1907, and 195 m (215 yd) by the end of the 20th century.
Blakeney Chapel | Threats
There have been recent experiments with vegetation defences (planting shrubs, plants and trees on the cliff face) to prevent rotational cliff slump, and therefore slowing the retreat of the cliff towards land which is in use.
Barton on Sea | Geography
The erosion by the sea is a substantial problem. A groyne built in 1994 to alleviate the problem was thought to be a mistake that had made the situation worse by 2013. The height of the groyne was to be reduced and the large boulders removed. This was important to preserve the beach and the Wales Coast Path.
Dinas Dinlle | Description
The elements strontium and calcium are associated with seawater, sand, and small fragments of shells and reefs washed ashore during large storms. X-ray fluorescence shows spikes in both elements at certain points associated with layers of sand in the mud. These sand layers may be storm overwash from hurricanes in Massachusetts Bay over the past 700 years.
Bartlett Pond (Plymouth, Massachusetts) | Geology
Volcanism and a rift system developed in the central North Sea area where basaltic lavas were extruded. The mantle warped upwards creating a dome in the middle of the North Sea where the Iapetus Suture intersected the Tornquist-Teisseyre fault system. The dome area was amidst the Viking Graben, Central Graben and Moray Firth Basin. The Scotland rifting and the extrusive centre of the Forties were associated with the uplifted area. The Long Forties and Horda Basin were also volcanic centres. During this time the sea level fell. Major reservoirs were created in the North sea during this time as clastics and sands were deposited in paralic environments.
Geology of the North Sea | Middle Jurassic domal uplift
All of this is easily accessible from shore, but caution should be taken if the current or waves are strong.
Nusa Penida | Crystal Bay
Room dedicated to tides and storm floods of the Wadden Sea. Videos on the walls show the various environments found in the Wadden Sea region, and there are several installations explaining the tides and their effect on the environment. An interactive sand box installation shows settlements forming on higher ground.
The Wadden Sea Centre | The Landscape of the Wadden Sea
Every time the ice sheet reached its greatest extent, the North Sea became almost completely dry. The present-day coastline formed after the Last Glacial Maximum when the sea began to flood the European continental shelf. In 2006 a bone fragment was found while drilling for oil in the North Sea. Analysis indicated that it was a Plateosaurus from 199 to 216 million years ago. This was the deepest dinosaur fossil ever found and the first find for Norway.
North Sea | Geology
This revealed a dark layer of decayed vegetation under fallen trees up to in diameter. The trees lay "as if felled by a storm" and were visible under the sea for . A search for these tree remains in the 20th century was unsuccessful. Inland it is fertile and agricultural and there is some commercial lobster fishing. The underlying geology is predominantly Devonian sediments of the Rousay flagstone group with Eday sandstone in the south east.
Sanday, Orkney | Geography and geology
Connister Rock, also known as St Mary's Isle, is a small islet immediately to the north of the harbour. It is completely submerged at high tide, and cannot be seen during stormy, night, or other low visibility conditions. The islet caused many shipwrecks until the Tower of Refuge was built on it.
Douglas Harbour | Hazards
The Strait of Dover opened during the Ice Age, as described below; as a result the British Isles have now become islands not connected with continental Europe any longer. The English Channel was formed by erosion caused by two major floods. The first was about 425,000 years ago, when an ice-dammed lake in the southern North Sea overflowed and broke the Weald-Artois chalk range in a catastrophic erosion and flood event. Afterwards, the Thames and Scheldt flowed through the gap into the English Channel, but the Meuse and Rhine still flowed northwards. In a second flood about 225,000 years ago the Meuse and Rhine were ice-dammed into a lake that broke catastrophically through a high weak barrier (perhaps chalk, or end-moraines left by the ice sheet).
Geology of the North Sea | Quaternary glaciations
The salt and fresh water marshes used to be very well protected. However the cost of replenishing the shingle spit grew too much for the village to sustain. Once the repairing stopped, it became easier for waves to get through; in 1953 a large storm, measured at above ordnance datum (see North Sea flood of 1953) hit the North Norfolk coast and the shingle ridge was mostly destroyed. A further storm surge in 1978 measured above ordnance datum and the protection measures confined flooding to the marshes and A149 coast road. The North Norfolk Shoreline Management Plan introduced by the Environment Agency has proposed a number of strategies in the light of continual erosion and predicted rising sea levels caused by global warming: these include "Advance the line", "Hold the line", "Managed retreat" and "Do nothing".
Cley next the Sea | Sea defences
As a result of rising sea levels in the post-glacial period, these formed an abrasion coastline. The rusty-red glacial till, which gives the cliffs their name, is caused by colouration arising from the oxidation of ferrous elements.
Rotes Kliff | Introduction
Intrusive igneous rocks are represented by diorites and monzonites of the 'North Britain Siluro-Devonian Calc-Alkaline Dyke Suite' seen at Scalasaig and Balnahard. Lamprophyre dykes, assigned to the same suite are also frequently seen intruding the country rocks. Later intrusions took place during the early Palaeogene period and consists of microgabbro dykes assigned to the North Britain Palaeogene Dyke Suite. The island is cut by numerous geological faults many of which are aligned either NE-SW or ENE-WSW. Superficial deposits consist largely of modern-day beach deposits, some raised marine deposits and blown sand. There are also areas of glacial till of Pleistocene age and of peat formed in the postglacial period.
Colonsay | Geology
Nore fort was the only one built in British territorial waters at the time it was established. Other forts were in international waters until the three-mile limit was extended to . The fort was badly damaged in 1953 during a storm, then later in the year a Norwegian ship, "Baalbek", collided with it, destroying two of the towers, killing four civilians and destroying guns, radar equipment and supplies. The ruins were considered a hazard to shipping and dismantled in 1959–60. Parts of the bases were towed ashore by the Cliffe fort at Alpha wharf near the village of Cliffe, Kent, where they were still visible at low tide.
Maunsell Forts | Nore Fort (U5)
The island has one main tidal creek (), which flows from the western portion of the island to a wide mouth on the eastern shore, emptying into the Wadden Sea. The salt marshes on the island have lain ungrazed for many years, leading to the rebounding of marshplants such as "Armeria maritima" (), "Artemisia maritima" (), "Limonium vulgare" (), and "Aster tripolium" (). The intertidal zone around Südfall is protected from dredging to prevent the damage or destruction of cultural traces and artifacts.
Südfall | Nature
The report stated that leaving the defences unmaintained would increase the risk of a severe flood to the low-lying residential area of Kewstoke and an extensive area of agricultural land that are currently defended. The authors went on to discuss the importance in the shorter and longer term of ensuring that the current defence line is kept and said that monitoring and research of the coastal processes on the foreshore is recommended. The Sand Bay Management Committee is keeping a close eye on the conditions of both the salt marsh and the sand dunes.
Kewstoke | Geography
Rock pools contain sea anemones, blennies, crabs and molluscs. Sandy shores harbour a variety of plants and animals which are buried in the sand. Birds such as curlews and oyster catchers are to be seen prodding the sand to find these creatures for food. A few cormorants and fulmars breed along the coast where stonechats and rock pipits can also be spotted. Herring gulls are the commonest breeding birds and are an interesting sight nesting in the chimneys of coastal towns.
North York Moors | The coast
Due to the heavy human populations and high level of industrialization along its shores, the wildlife of the North Sea has suffered from pollution, overhunting, and overfishing. Flamingos and pelicans were once found along the southern shores of the North Sea, but became extinct over the 2nd millennium. Walruses frequented the Orkney Islands through the mid-16th century, as both Sable Island and Orkney Islands lay within its normal range. Gray whales also resided in the North Sea but were driven to extinction in the Atlantic in the 17th century Other species have dramatically declined in population, though they are still found.
North Sea | Biodiversity and conservation
Meanwhile, the exposed chalk cliffs are gradually being worn down by the sea, particularly at the North Foreland. Much else of the coast is a built-up area. The Wantsum area is still liable to flooding: during the North Sea flood of 1953 Thanet was cut off for a few days, but the sea defences have been strengthened since then.
Isle of Thanet | Geography
The villagers had enough time to evacuate as the landslide was quite slow moving, and they sought refuge on a ship ("The Henry"), anchored in the bay that had come to load up with alum. The slump revealed a new area of shale which could be used to make alum, so a new set of works was built the following year, and the houses of the workers built further inland. Besides alum and ironstone mining, the cliffs have supported a small jet industry, which still entices people to look for the stone along the headland. The ironstone at Kettleness was worked in two sites; between 1838 and 1857, stone was won directly from the cliffs and beach being loaded onto ships directly in the bay, though this was described as a "hazardous operation".
Kettleness | Geology and industry
The largest project of this type was the diking and reclamation of the IJsselmeer. Tidal forces have formed the Frisian Islands. In the micro tidal area, (a tidal range of up to , such as on the Dutch or Danish coasts, barrier beaches with dunes are formed. In the mesotidal area (a tidal range of between ), barrier islands are formed; in the macrotidal area (above tidal range), intertidal deposits raise the spring tide range . A soft rock coast is formed in the meso-macro tidal areas located in the southern North Sea. These soft rock coastal bedrock plains are interspersed with soft rock (shale and sandstone) cliffs.
Coastline of the North Sea | Southern shoals and mudflats
The geology of the island is the product of erosion and reworking of glacial sediments. The reserve protects a sand dune system along with other habitats such as salt marsh and intertidal mudflats.
North Walney | Habitats
Trace elements from buried sediments, percolating rain water, and trapped sea water meant various inorganic ions were present within the porous rock, among them chlorine, fluorine, sulphate, calcium, barium, lead, zinc and even uranium. Organic material from the decomposing bodies of marine animals in the sediments formed hydrocarbons, precursors of oil and gas. At high pressure a hot mineralised fluid formed and was forced into fractures and other voids in the rock. From this fluid, catalysed by the hydrocarbons, compounds such as galena (lead sulphide, PbS), sphalerite (zinc sulphide, ZnS), baryte (barium sulphate, BaSO) and fluorspar (calcium fluoride, CaF) were precipitated as solid crystals.
Treak Cliff Cavern | Blue John
Storms sometimes destroyed the barriers depositing sand and gravel over peat beds in Marazion Marsh, and in the foundations of many buildings in Wherrytown and Long Rock. The remains of these natural barriers can still be seen at Eastern Green and the dunes to the seaward of Marazion Marsh. The submerged forest in the intertidal area between Wherrytown and Long Rock is of national importance and is a Cornwall Geology Site. At Loe Pool a barrier dammed the ria of the River Cober causing the formation of Cornwall's largest lake. Very little of the Loe Bar shingle is locally derived (compared with nearby Gunwalloe beach material to the south) and the deposits have been tentatively dated as Eocene.
Mount's Bay | Post-ice age
Because of its geology and the weathering that occurs here, there are frequent coastal collapses, especially in winter.
Cape Arkona | Introduction
Both floods cut massive flood channels in the dry bed of the English Channel, somewhat like the Channeled Scablands in the USA. Glaciation had an enormous impact on the coastline of the North Sea. The west coast of Denmark is notable as it had been very glaciated during the Saale Glacial Stage and Weichselian glaciation. As the sea levels fell in the Holocene epoch, Denmark's north coast gave way to raised spits, beach ridges and cliffs.
Geology of the North Sea | Quaternary glaciations
Superimposed upon the ‘astronomical tide’, which is caused by the gravitational attraction of the Moon and Sun, is the ‘storm surge’ caused by strong winds and low air pressures. The major flood at Sea Palling and other parts of the north Norfolk coast in 1953 resulted from a large storm surge occurring at high tide. This disaster led to the development of the UK National Tide Gauge Network and the UK Storm Tide Forecasting System. POL led the development of computer models to predict UK storm surges several days ahead based on forecast weather information. Routine surge forecasts are now produced by the Met Office and result in Flood Warnings issued by the Environment Agency.
Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory | 20th century
The village was devastated by a storm surge on 5 December 2013. Dozens of homes and businesses were damaged. In July 2019 a scheme commenced to deposit almost two million cubic metres of sand, forming a 6-kilometre (3.7 mi) artificial dune, to protect nearby Bacton Gas Terminal. Costing £20 million, the scheme will also protect the villages of Bacton and Walcott. The dune will be 7 metres (23 ft) high and extend up to 250 metres (820 ft) out to sea.
Walcott, Norfolk | North Sea flood of 2013
A Cranfield University assessment dismissing the feasibility of demining Yorke Bay noted that the sand dunes had expanded considerably since 1982, burying the mines too deeply for advanced detection equipment and disrupting the orderly lines in which they were originally laid. At the same time, however, any large storm could potentially cause large numbers of mines to suddenly resurface. To recover them all would thus require mass excavation of the entire beach area with armored digging equipment, a task that would be expensive, dangerous, unlikely to definitively succeed, and certain to do severe damage to the "internationally important" Magellanic penguin rookeries.
Yorke Bay | Minefields
Later work on marine sediments found above sea level in the Forth Valley convinced Jamieson that the area had once been beneath sea level, and that this was caused by the weight of glaciers depressing the land.
Thomas Jamieson | Introduction
Lack of proper maintenance of the dunes led to continuous breaches and it was not until the nineteenth century that a programme of sea defence work was started. The North Sea flood of 1953 took the lives of seven villagers – some of the 100 who perished in Norfolk alone. A memorial plaque is in St Margaret's Church. Following this tragedy the sea wall was extended in 1986 and in 1995 the Environment Agency undertook a multimillion-pound project erecting four barrier reefs then later in 1998 put up five more to make them more effective.
Sea Palling | History
1978 North Sea storm surge was a storm surge which occurred over 11–12 January causing extensive coastal flooding and considerable damage on the east coast of England between the Humber and Kent. Higher water levels were reached than during the devastating North Sea flood of 1953 from North Shields to King's Lynn, but values were lower towards the Thames. Locally severe flooding occurred in Lincolnshire, The Wash, north Norfolk and Kent. Improvements in flood protection following the devastating flood of 1953 meant that the catastrophic losses seen during that storm were not repeated. The storm caused severe damage to many piers along the east coast of England.
1978 North Sea storm surge | Introduction
Several days of continuous onshore flow caused significant coastal flooding and beach erosion in New Jersey. The worst erosion took place in Ocean County, specifically around Mantoloking, where of sand was washed away; Ortley Beach saw up to . Wind gusts up to —the highest observed winds in relation to the nor'easter—were measured at Cape May. Coastal flooding in New Jersey destroyed at least one home. Stone Harbor sustained millions of dollars in damage to the beach. At least 3,600 residences lost power in the state. Despite severe coastal erosion, structural damage was limited.
October 2015 North American storm complex | Northeastern states
To the east of the Wells channel, the reserve is mainly salt marshes and mud flats, and is difficult and potentially dangerous to access, although a public footpath runs along the southern edge of these tidal areas. The salt marshes on this coast are stated in the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notification document to be "among the best in Europe ... the flora is exceptionally diverse". Holkham also has good examples of sand dunes, and the pines planted on the dunes have provided shelter for other trees and shrubs to become established, making this the only substantial area of woodland in the North Norfolk Coast SSSI.
Holkham National Nature Reserve | Description
During this maritime period, sediments deposited themselves on the bedrock, which explains why that region even today has superior fertility to that of the rest of the country. It is the reason why the line of separation between the north and the south (the "Limes Norrlandicus"), which passes not far from the park, is so visible in the region: the zone to the north of the "limes" was not covered with these sediments. When this sea, called the Littorina Sea, the ancestor of the Baltic Sea, withdrew, the Dalälven found itself blocked at Avesta by one of these eskers formed by the ice sheet: Badelundaåsen.
Färnebofjärden National Park | Geology
On 12 July 2016, the tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration concluded that for purposes of Article 121(3) of the Convention, the high-tide features at Gaven Reef (North) is rocks that cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own and accordingly shall be entitled to 12nm of territorial sea measured from its baseline but have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. PCA also concluded that Gaven Reef (South) is, or in their natural condition was, exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide and are, accordingly low-tide elevations that do not generate entitlement to a territorial sea, exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.
Gaven Reefs | Geographical features