Geomorphological Processes and Landscape Change E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Serie: RGS-IBG Book Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 498

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The expert contributors to this cutting edge volume provide an overview of geomorphological process activity and landscape change in Britain over the past 1000 years. The range of the book is unusually broad, encompassing hillslope, valley floor and floodplain, fluvial, estuarine and coastal processes. * Provides an overview of geomorphological process activity and landscape change in Britain over the past 1000 years. * The range of the book is unusually broad, encompassing hillslope, valley floor and floodplain, fluvial, estuarine and coastal processes. * Considers the relevance of technological and conceptual approaches to understanding landscape dynamics. * Examines key process environments highlighting significant trends and the influence of human activity, and incorporating examples and modelling. * Encourages geographers to look forward to the challenges that geomorphology faces in the new millennium. Find out more information about the RGS-IBG journals by following the links below: AREA: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0004-0894 The Geographical Journal: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0016-7398 Transactions of the Insititute of British Geographers: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0020-2754

Leseprobe

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Contributors

Preface

Figure Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 A Brief Time of HistoryDavid L. Higgitt

1.1 Aims and Objectives

1.2 The Millennium in Perspective

1.3 Evidence for Geomorphological and Climate Change

1.4 The Structure of the Book

REFERENCES

Chapter 2 Back A’long: a Millennial GeomorphologyDenys Brunsden

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Tectonic and Stress Fabric Control

2.3 Base-level Control

2.4 Form Adjustment

2.5 Episodic Cause

2.6 Formative Events

REFERENCES

Chapter 3 The Evolution of Hillslope ProcessesDavid K. C. Jones

3.1 Introduction

3.2 The Background to Hillslope Evolution Over the Last 1000 Years

3.3 Temporal Influences on Natural Slope Processes: Mass Movement

3.4 The Human Impact on Landforms

3.5 Slope Processes and Evolution Over the Millennium

REFERENCES

Chapter 4 Valley-floor and Floodplain ProcessesBarbara T. Rumsby

4.1 Introduction

4.2 The Context: Environmental Changes Affecting Valley Floors and Floodplains in the Last 1000 Years

4.3 Valley-floor and Floodplain Response

4.4 Recent Developments

4.5 Conclusions

REFERENCES

Chapter 5 Fluvial ProcessesJanet M. Hooke

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Sources of Evidence

5.3 The Causes, Chronology and Effects of Changes

5.4 Processes and Rates of Adjustment

5.5 Spatial Patterns of Change

5.6 Case Studies

5.7 The Future

5.8 Conclusions

REFERENCES

Chapter 6 Estuaries and Coasts: Morphological Adjustments and Process DomainsE. Mark Lee

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Domains of Coastal Change

6.3 The Impact of Humans

6.4 The Nature of Future Changes

REFERENCES

Chapter 7 Sediment Transfer in Upland EnvironmentsDavid L. Higgitt, Jeff Warburton and Martin G. Evans

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Upland Slope Processes

7.3 Periglacial Activity

7.4 Aeolian Processes

7.5 Mining Impacts

7.6 Upland Sediment Budgets

7.7 Conclusion

REFERENCES

Chapter 8 Fine Particulate Sediment Transfers in Lowland Rural EnvironmentsIan D. L. Foster

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Temporal Changes in Sediment Yield

8.3 Sediment Delivery

8.4 Sediment Transfers

8.5 Discussion and Conclusion

REFERENCES

Chapter 9 Living with Natural Hazards: the Costs and Management FrameworkE. Mark Lee

9.1 Introduction

9.2 The Historical Record

9.3 The Impact on Society

9.4 Management Responses: Individuals and Private Enterprise

9.5 Management Responses: State Intervention

9.6 Discussion

REFERENCES

Chapter 10 Geomorphology for the Third MillenniumDavid L. Higgitt and E. Mark Lee

10.1 The Geomorphology of the Last Millennium: a Review

10.2 Human Impact

10.3 Geomorphological Challenges

REFERENCES

Geographical Index

Subject Index

RGS-IBG Book Series

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Book Series provides a forum for scholarly monographs and edited collections of academic papers at the leading edge of research in human and physical geography. The volumes are intended to make significant contributions to the field in which they lie, and to be written in a manner accessible to the wider community of academic geographers. Some volumes will disseminate current geographical research reported at conferences or sessions convened by Research Groups of the Society. Some will be edited or authored by scholars from beyond the UK. All are designed to have an international readership and to both reflect and stimulate the best current research within geography.

The books will stand out in terms of:

the quality of researchtheir contribution to their research fieldtheir likelihood to stimulate other researchbeing scholarly but accessible

Published

Geomorphological Processes and Landscape Change: Britain in the Last 1000 Years

David L. Higgitt and E. Mark Lee (eds)

Globalizing South China

Carolyn L. Cartier

Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001

Editorial matter and arrangement copyright David L. Higgitt and E. Mark Lee 2001

The moral right of David L. Higgitt and E. Mark Lee to be identified as authors of the editorial material has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published 2001

24681097531

Blackwell Publishers Ltd

108 Cowley Road

Oxford OX4 1JF

UK

Blackwell Publishers Inc.

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Malden, Massachusetts 02148

USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Geomorphological processes and landscape change: Britain in the last 1000 years/edited by David L. Higgitt and E. Mark Lee.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p.)

ISBN 0-631-22273-1 (hbk: alk. paper)

1. Geomorphology—Great Britain. I. Higgitt, David L. II. Lee, E. Mark. III. Title.

GB436.G7 G45 2001

551.410941—dc21

2001001196

Figures

2.1 (a) A general structural and current uplift map of the British Isles. (b) Estimated current rates of crustal movement in Great Britain.

2.2 (a) Changes in mean sea level during the Holocene at the Essex coast, based on radiocarbon, lithological, faunal and geotechnical data. (b) Recent sea-level changes.

2.3 An outline of major climate events during the Quaternary and late Tertiary.

2.4 The sunspot number for the last millennium, drawn to emphasize the ‘grand maximum’ and the Sporer and Maunder Minima.

2.5 Summaries of general trends in climate for the British Isles in the last millennium.

2.6 The evolution of Dungeness, AD 300–1900.

2.7 Human regulation of rivers and the coast in the last 300 years.

2.8 Examples of effective land ‘forming’ human activity during the last millennium.

2.9 Recent climatic trends and cycles for the British Isles. 49

2.10 A geomorphological event record, which shows an apparent rise in the number of events towards the present.

2.11 A cartoon of the changing relationship between humans and the natural environment.

3.1 Population growth in England and Wales during the last millennium.

3.2 The division of the lowland zone of England and Wales into Ancient Countryside and Planned Countryside.

3.3 The distribution of landslides in Great Britain (a). ‘Active’ (b) and ‘youthful’ (c) landslides in Great Britain.

3.4 A tentative portrayal of the changing degree of naturalness of the landforms of Great Britain.

3.5 A simplified portrayal of anthropogeomorphic cycles.

3.6 A preliminary model of the human impact on landforms over the last millennium.

4.1 Linking time and space scales of channel and floodplain development, the River Feshie, Scotland. 4.2 A schematic diagram illustrating factors influencing fluvial response to environmental change.

5.1 A map of mills in Hampshire at the time of the Domesday survey.

5.2 Channel changes on the River Bollin, Cheshire.

5.3 The chronology of changes on four constrasting streams.

5.4 The morphology of the River Dane, Cheshire.

5.5 A map of lower part of the River Meon, Hampshire, showing historical influences upon the present channel.

6.1 Models of coastal change.

6.2 Representative annual cliff recession measurements on the Holderness coast, UK.

6.3 The morphology of East Coast estuaries.

6.4 Channel change in the Colne estuary, 1918–1949.

6.5 A framework for explaining morphological changes within estuaries.

6.6 A schematic model of the fragmentation of coastal cells on the West Dorset coast.

6.7 A schematic model of the development of the East Devon coast since the seventeenth century.

6.8 A model explaining contemporary changes at Monmouth Beach, Lyme Regis.

6.9 A summary of the ‘knock-on’ effects of coast protection works on shingle beaches.

7.1 A schematic chronology of landscape change in the uplands of northern England in the last 1000 years.

7.2 Phases of peat erosion in the British Isles during the last 1500 years.

7.3 The revegetation and stabilization of gullied peat over a 40 year period, Burnt Hill, Moor House National Nature Research, northern Pennines.

8.1 Reconstructed sediment yield histories in (a) Merevale Lake and Seeswood Pool, North Warwickshire, (b) the Old Mill Reservoir, Devon, (c) Fillingham Lake, Lincolnshire and (d) Ponsonby Tarn, Cumbria.

8.2 A sediment loss model for bank-sourced sediment in the Culm.

9.1 A F/N (frequency/number) curve for flood-related deaths in Great Britain since 1899.

Tables

1.1Reservoir flood and wave standards by dam category.1.2The percentage probability of the N-year flood occurring in a particular period.1.3The generalized climatic characteristics of the last millennium.2.1The correlation of landslide activity with periods of climatic deterioration during the last millennium.3.1The relative frequency of landslides of different ages in Great Britain, as revealed by the Department of the Environment sponsored review of research into landsliding in Great Britain.3.2A proposed classification scheme of geomorphic ‘naturalness’.4.1Anthropogenic influences in river basins in the last 1000 years, listing indirect and direct alterations and their potential impact.4.2The applicable age ranges of various methods available to date valley-floor and floodplain landforms and sediments over the last 1000 years.4.3Overbank sedimentation rates on British floodplains, showing average mean annual sedimentation rates based on137Cs and unsupported210Pb measurements.5.1River response to anthropogenic influences in the last 1000 years.5.2The ratio of depositional to erosional areas on the Upper River Severn in various periods.6.1A selection of reported average recession rates around the coast of England and Wales.6.2Measured trends in Chesil Beach from 1852 to 1990.6.3Average cliff recession rates north and south of existing protection works at Hornsea and Withernsea, Holderness.6.4An estimated habitat loss/gain account for SAC/SPA and Ramsar sites in England and Wales.8.1Sediment delivery data for arable fields on various soil types in southern Britain.8.2The UK soil series from which sediment has been observed in subsurface land drains.8.3Sediment accumulation rates for selected lowland UK lakes and reservoirs, estimated using dated sediment cores.8.4Estimates of the total annual storage of sediment on floodplains and mean annual suspended sediment yields for 1995 and 1996.8.5Estimates of channel-bed storage in UK rivers.8.6The estimated contribution from bank erosion to the suspended sediment output of the River Culm at Rewe, 1980–1.8.7Load-weighted mean contributions of each source type to the suspended sediment samples collected from downstream sampling sites on the rivers Swale, Ure, Nidd, Ouse and Wharfe (November 1994–February 1997).8.8Fine particulate sediment transfers in lowland UK drainage basins.9.1Indicative criteria for the classification of significant events.9.2Fatal dam failures in Great Britain.9.3Examples of flash flood events in the Scottish Highlands.9.4Direct damage for flooding in and around Perth, February 1990.9.5Examples of major sand migration events in Great Britain.9.6Indicative standards of flood protection.9.7An indication of the expenditure on flood and coastal defences, in England and Wales.

Contributors

Denys Brunsden, Emeritus, Department of Geography, Kings College London, The Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK

Martin G. Evans, School of Geography, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

Ian D. L. Foster, Centre for Environmental Research and Consultancy, NES (Geography), Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK

David L. Higgitt, Department of Geography, University of Durham, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

Janet M. Hooke, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Buckingham Building, Lion Terrace, Portsmouth, PO1 3HE, UK

David K. C. Jones, Department of Geography and Environment, The London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK

E. Mark Lee, Department of Marine Sciences and Coastal Management, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Ridley Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

Barbara T. Rumsby, Department of Geography, The University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull, HU6 7RU, UK

Jeff Warburton, Department of Geography, University of Durham, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

Preface

The idea for a volume exploring the nature of geomorphological process activity on the British landscape during the last 1000 years arose from discussions among the executive committee of the British Geomorphological Research Group (BGRG). BGRG is the professional organization for geomorphologists in the British Isles, but also has a large overseas membership. It aims to provide a community for all those involved in teaching and research in geomorphology, and has a long history of producing publications, including the group’s journal, EarthSurface Processes and Landforms. For an organization concerned with the promotion of teaching and research in geomorphology, the approach of the millennium transition offered an excuse to celebrate the geomorphology of Britain and the achievements of its geomorphologists. Perhaps more importantly, an appraisal of what is known about the operation of different process environments over the millennium timescale is timely. Although not renowned expressly as a group to ‘party like it’s 1999’, there seemed no reason for geomorphologists entirely to shun the hyperbole of reviewing the past and toasting the future that characterised much activity as Millennium Eve drew closer. And so, in the cold light of the dawn of the third millennium, a number of speakers travelled to Brighton, on England’s South Coast, to participate in a BGRG meeting that formed part of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Annual Conference at the University of Sussex.

Historians are divided on whether the approach of AD 1000 led to widespread terror and apprehension. There seems, to some, evidence from parts of Europe that on New Year’s Eve AD 999, groups of terrified peasants maintained vigils, fearful that the Apocalypse was about to be unleashed. One thousand years later and society braced itself for (a) the difficulties of hiring a taxi and (b) the possible infliction of the ‘Millennium Bug’, a computing software glitch that was forecast to cause untold chaos. In the event, most computers survived intact and the real millennium bug turned out to be a virulent form of influenza that swept through the conference venue and prevented some of the contributors from making it to the stage. Nevertheless, the meeting was well attended and discussion was lively.

The development of a volume necessarily requires the support, cooperation and goodwill of a number of people, some of whom are mentioned below. The role of the RGS (IBG) in enabling the meeting to take part in the Sussex Annual Conference is acknowledged. Lorraine Craig, on behalf of RGS (IBG) made great efforts to advise and encourage publication. Tony Fielding and Cherith Moses made local arrangements at Sussex. The Local Organizers also indulged Denys Brunsden’s desire to appear in the programme affiliated to the Free University of Chideock. In these days when every university boasts an obligatory statement on its stationery about the superlatives of its research and teaching, Chideock’s banner of ‘A Thatched Roof University and Cider of Excellence’ is more original than most. The notion of the British Geomorphological Research Group preparing a publication to mark the millennium was encouraged by Tim Burt and Ian Foster, the latter becoming a contributor. David Jones (also a contributor) was involved in early discussions. Alan Werritty, Tony Parsons and Tim Quine helped to move BGRG involvement forward. Staff at Blackwell have shown much patience as contribution and editing deadlines rattled past.

Much inspiration has been generated from conversations with colleagues. DLH wishes to thank Keith Richards, Richard Tipping, Jeff Warburton, Bob Allison, John Rowan, Mark Macklin, Paul Carling and Tim Stott. Many of these conversations were prompted through discussion meetings of the BGRG Upland Sediment Budget Working Group. EML offers special thanks to John Pethick, for sharing his perceptive vision of our changing coastline and estuaries, particularly during the course of many a long journey. The Design and Imaging Unit, University of Durham, prepared the figures for chapters 2, 6, 7 and 9. The Cartography Units of LSE, Portsmouth and Coventry are thanked for figures in chapters 3, 5 and 8, respectively.

David Higgitt

Mark Lee

Durham, November 2000

Figure Acknowledgements

The editors and publishers are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material.

Figure 2.1(b) is reproduced from J. Sheenan 1989: Holocene crustal movements and sea-level changes in Great Britain. Journal of Quaternary Science, 4, 77–89, by permission of Pearson Education Limited. Figure 2.2(a) is reproduced from J. T. Greensmith and E. V. Tucker 1973: Holocene transgressions and regressions on the Essex coast, outer Thames estuary. Geologie en Mijnbouw, 52, 193–202, figure 1, copyright 1973 Kluwer Academic Publishers, with kind permission from Kluwer Academic Publishers. Figure 2.2(b) is reproduced from R. W. G. Carter 1988: Coastal Environments: an Introduction to thePhysical, Ecological and Cultural Systems of Coastlines, by permission of Academic Press Limited, London. Figure 2.5 is reproduced from H. H. Lamb 1997: Climate, History and the Modern World, by permission of Routledge. Figure 2.6 is reproduced from B. W. Cunliffe 1980: The evolution of Romney Marsh: a preliminary statement. In F. H. Thompson (ed.), Archaeology and Coastal Change, 37–55, by permission of the Society of Antiquaries, London. Figure 2.8(a) is reproduced from P. Doody and B. Barnett (eds) 1987: The Wash and its Environment. Peterborough: Nature Conservancy Council, by permission of English Nature. Figure 2.8(b) is reproduced from P. Burrin 1985: Holocene alluviation in southeast England and some implications for palaeohydrological studies. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 10, 252–72, copyright 1985 John Wiley & Sons Limited, by permission of John Wiley & Sons Limited. Figure 4.2 is reproduced from A. G. Brown and T. A. Quine 1999: Fluvial processes and environmental change: an overview. In A. G. Brown and T. A. Quine (eds), Fluvial Processesand Environmental Change, 1–27, copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons Limited, by permission of John Wiley & Sons Limited. Figure 5.1 is reproduced from H. C. Darby and E. M. J. Campbell 1962: TheDomesday Geography of South-East England, by permission of Cambridge University Press. Figures 6.1(b)and 6.1(c) are reproduced from J. Pethick 1992: Natural change. In M. G. Barrett (ed.), on behalf of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Coastal Zone Planning and Management. London: Thomas Telford, 49–63, by permission of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Figure 6.2 is reproduced from J. Pethick 1996: Coastal slope development: temporal and spatial periodicity in the Holderness Cliff Recession. In M. G. Anderson and S. M. Brooks (eds), Advances in Hillslope Processes, Vol. 2, 897–917, copyright 1996 John Wiley & Sons Limited, by permission of John Wiley & Sons Limited. Figures 6.3 and 6.4 are reproduced from J. Pethick 1996: The geomorphology of mudflats. In K. F. Nordstrom and C. T. Roman (eds), Estuarine Shores: Evolution, Environments and Human Alterations, copyright 1996 John Wiley & Sons Limited, by permission of John Wiley & Sons Limited. Figure 6.5 is reproduced from R. W. G. Carter 1992: Coastal conservation. In M. G. Barrett (ed.), on behalf of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Coastal Zone Planning and Management. London: Thomas Telford, 21–48, by permission of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Figure 8.2 is reproduced from D. Ashbridge 1995: Processes of river bank erosion and their contribution to the suspended sediment load of the River Culm, Devon. In I. D. L. Foster, A. M. Gurnell and B. W. Webb (eds), Sediment and Water Quality in RiverCatchments, 229–45, copyright 1995 John Wiley & Sons Limited, by permission of John Wiley & Sons Limited.

Chapter 1

A Brief Time of History

David L. Higgitt

1.1 Aims and Objectives

The landscape of Britain displays an enormous variety of scenery in a comparatively small space. The diversity of rock types, the influence of geological structure and the impact of successive glaciations in moulding the uplands and redistributing material provide the student of geomorphology with a wide assortment of landforms to inspect and appreciate. Numerous volumes have been conceived to celebrate and explain the geology and landforms of Britain (Trueman, 1949; Goudie and Gardner, 1992; Goudie and Brunsden, 1994). It might be considered somewhat ironic that so many geomorphologists should inhabit an island where the inland contemporary geomorphology is, to all intents, dominated by low-intensity processes operating on an essentially relict landscape. Tectonic processes are almost negligible, with volcanic activity last experienced in the Tertiary. The impact of natural hazards is mercifully low, if not entirely absent. In short, there are more exciting parts of the Earth to investigate active geomorphological processes. What relevance, therefore, does a volume on geomorphological processes in Britain during the last 1000 years hold?

Students of scenery, in its broadest sense, can point to the varied and profound changes that have occurred during the last millennium. Regional forest clearance may have been well under way by 1000, but deforestation continued, and agricultural activity expanded into the hills as climate warmed, then switched to grazing as the climate cooled. Many villages and towns expanded, while some settlements were abandoned. Fields were enclosed. Mining produced both wealth and large quantities of sediment supply. Water resources have been exploited from the development of mills through to the construction of reservoirs. Again, there are numerous volumes that examine the evolution of agriculture, townscapes and settlement patterns and the shaping of the cultural landscape of Britain (Hoskins, 1955; Coones and Patten, 1986; Whyte and Whyte, 1991). In these narratives the physical landscape is often treated as a backcloth upon which human activity adapted and created scenery. But to what extent did the operation of geomorphological processes in the physical landscape constrain human use of the land or react to human-induced changes? What evidence is available to reconstruct geomorphological process activity in the past 1000 years?