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sinking coastline

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by brushstroke (U14041781) on Thursday, 6th August 2009

  there is a lot in the news about east coast erosion, but when i recently mentioned this to someone they said the british isles is also rising on the western side can anyone throw any light on this

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• Message 2

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  Posted by Stoggler (U1647829) on Thursday, 6th August 2009

  Afraid I can't give a proper answer now, but type "isostacy" or "isostatic sealevel change" into Google and you'll get the answer - it's due to the weight of ice being removed from the land mass when the ice melts when the last ice age ended.
  
  Northern Britain is slowly rising (there are raised beaches in Scotland, where former beaches are now tens of feet above sea level), whereas the south east of England in particular is slowly sinking (and consequently the sea level is rising regardless of any global sea level changes).

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• Message 3

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  Posted by Stoggler (U1647829) on Thursday, 6th August 2009

  Or, simply is local sea-level change and is sea-level change on a global level.

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• Message 4

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  Posted by giraffe47 (U4048491) on Friday, 7th August 2009

  We need to get all those fat Londoners to move to the Western Highlands to balance it up . . .

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• Message 5

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  Posted by LairigGhru (U5452625) on Friday, 7th August 2009

  A graphic explanation I saw in a TV doc used the analogy of a cushion representing the British mainland. When a huge weight was placed on the top half of the cushion (i.e. Scotland), the lower edge of the cushion (i.e. the southern half of England) rose up. This situation occurred in the last ice age, the huge weight of ice pushing the rocks downwards.
  
  When the weight was removed at the end of the ice age, the rocks of Scotland sprang up - a process still continuing today, and by the same token the southern half of England is sinking.

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  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Wednesday, 12th August 2009

  Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Scotland News have been going on about this for soem wtime, interviewing a number of people who insist something should be done to prevent the coastal erosion. I am fairly sure that the remains of Stone Age settlements have been found underwater off the east coast of Scotland whih cwoul dsuggest that this has been goingon for quite some time.
  
  Also, was Dogger Bank not once above sea level?

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• Message 7

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  Posted by Stoggler (U1647829) on Wednesday, 12th August 2009

  Also, was Dogger Bank not once above sea level?Β 
  
  It certainly was! It was habited by humans up until the Mesolithic, and North Sea trawlers often trawl up animal and even human remains and tools.

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• Message 8

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  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Monday, 24th August 2009

  Thanks, Stoggler. I thought so.
  
  The world around us is constantly changing and the complaints of those who want to somehow prevent coastal erosion do rather remind me of King Canute.
  
  It does, of course, work the other way in places. Ephesus used to be a port in Roman times but is now several miles inland.

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• Message 9

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  Posted by Stoggler (U1647829) on Monday, 24th August 2009

  It does, of course, work the other way in places. Ephesus used to be a port in Roman times but is now several miles inland.Β 
  
  As are some of the old Cinque Ports on the south coast - Rye in Sussex for example is now a mile inland! And where William of Normandy landed at Pevensey used to be a big bay but is now mostly just low-level farmland.

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