The cliffs at Hunstanton have been eroding for thousands of years, but there seems to have been an acceleration in cliff-falls in the past year.
The cliffs took a battering in storms in early 2014 and several holes were punched in sand dunes along the coast.
We had a walk along the beach this week and I took these images of the cliffs. There's significant undercutting in places and some big chunks waiting to fall.
The cliffs are very distinctive with different-coloured rock strata. It's a geography teacher's dream.
The bottom (base) layer is grey/green Carstone with two layers of limestone on top. The middle layer is Red Chalk from the Lower Cretaceous period with White Chalk (Upper Cretaceous) on top. This is capped by a thin layer of soil.
The limestone is quite soft and easily eroded and the borders between the layers seem to be particular weaker areas. The winter storms of early 2014 brought down fresh chunks of rock and also clumps of topsoil which have been washed down the beach along the north-facing coastline.
The cliffs took a battering in storms in early 2014 and several holes were punched in sand dunes along the coast.
We had a walk along the beach this week and I took these images of the cliffs. There's significant undercutting in places and some big chunks waiting to fall.
The cliffs are very distinctive with different-coloured rock strata. It's a geography teacher's dream.
The bottom (base) layer is grey/green Carstone with two layers of limestone on top. The middle layer is Red Chalk from the Lower Cretaceous period with White Chalk (Upper Cretaceous) on top. This is capped by a thin layer of soil.
The limestone is quite soft and easily eroded and the borders between the layers seem to be particular weaker areas. The winter storms of early 2014 brought down fresh chunks of rock and also clumps of topsoil which have been washed down the beach along the north-facing coastline.
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