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Coasts, they form some of the U.K.'s most beautiful
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and inspiring landscapes.
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Places of interaction between the land and ocean,
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and between humans and the physical processes
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that shape and change our landscape.
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We're on a journey along the most dynamic
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and fastest eroding coastline in Europe,
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the Holderness Coast.
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From Flamborough Head at its northern point
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to the Humber Estuary,
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we're going to look at the natural processes
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that affect this landscape
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and also the people who live and work along the coast.
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Every year on the Holderness Coast,
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the sea erodes and transports
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around three million cubic metres of material.
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That's enough sand, gravel,
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and rocks to fill Wembley Stadium three times over.
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All this material is then transported south,
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by coastal transport processes.
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The material ends up 60 kilometres away at Spurn Point
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in the Humber Estuary,
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where it is deposited to form a huge sand spit.
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As geographers and scientists, we want to understand
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why this happens,
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what are the processes that erode rock
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and transport all this sediment
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over 60 kilometres down the coast.
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How do those processes shape the iconic coastal landforms
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that we see?
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How do they affect the lives of people
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who live along the coastline?
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(calming music)
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We begin our journey here, at Flamborough Head,
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the only chalk sea cliffs in the north of England.
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These cliffs are made from rock that formed
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between 70 and 90 million years ago.
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How do we turn a coastline made of hard rocks like these
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into tiny particles that can be transported by the sea?
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And how do we see that process at work along this coast?
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It all comes down to the erosive forces
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of the ocean and the weather,
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which are continually attacking the coastal zone,
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or littoral zone, the area affected by coastal processes.
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This is what makes this part of the landscape
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a very high energy environment.