Crack, cave, arch, stack and stump

• What is our example

  Flamborough Head
• Formation of a cave

  On any cliff line it's the weakest parts, such as cracks, fissures, joints and bedding planes that are attacked by the sea. The sea will undercut the cliff and create a cave. This is through a combination of wave quarrying and abrasion
• Formation of an arch

  If the cave is one the side of a headland it will extend backwards to meet another on the other side of the headland due to wave refraction concentrating energy into the caves. Eventually the conjoining caves will create a hole all the way through the headland which is called an arch.
• Formation of a stack

  As the cliff recedes and the wave cut platform develops, the arch looses support due to a combination of marine erosional processes from below and sub-aerial weathering from above. This will result in the top if the arch collapsing leaving an isolated portion of rock called a stack.
• Formation of a stump

  The sea will continue to erode the base of the stack. The top of the stack will continue to be subject to sub-aerial weathering. Over time, the stack will collapse and leave a small portion of rock. This is a stump
• Processes happening at Flamborough Head

  Erosion:

  Hydraulic action and abrasion will be the main methods of erosion for the landforms at Flamborough head as the erosion processes take place at the base of the cliff/landforms. An abrasion notch will be formed as a result of abrasion and a wave cut notch formed as a result of hydraulic action
• Controls on the coastline

  Flamborough Head is made up of steep chalk cliffs. Chalk is harder rock and therefore will take longer to erode. However, the strength of the rock does mean that landforms such as arches and stacks can be formed without the rock collapsing immediately.

  The rest of the Holderness Coast is a concordant coastline made up of weak, unconsolidated boulder clay.
• Inputs of sediment and energy

  Wind and Waves:

  - Flamborough Head is on the north-east coast of UK. This is a high energy coastline with a fetch of 1500km across the North sea

  Currents:

  - Longshore drift carries sediment from north to south along this coastline. However, Flamborough Head is the start of a sediment cell