Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
FIG 25. Beach barrier on Scolt Head Island, Norfolk. (Photograph held at Cambridge
University Collection of Air Photographs, Unit for Landscape Modelling)
The aerial photograph of part of Scolt Head Island (Fig. 25) in north Norfolk
shows the succession of zones parallel to the coastline typical of a recently flooded,
gently sloping landscape. On the beach, coast-parallel ridges and hollows (runnels)
have been created during recent storms, and are draining water as the photograph was
taken at low tide. The crest of the barrier is capped by wind-blown dunes, which have
been stabilised by marram grass, but also shows signs of erosion during recent storms.
Behind the barrier are salt marshes, generally sheltered from storm waves and devel-
oping tidal channels. The salt marshes are forming around the remains of various sand
and gravel spits that date from a landscape before the present beach barrier was there.
The far side of the salt marsh is marked by a gently curved sea wall built within the
last two centuries to reclaim some land by keeping high tides out. Behind that is the
boundary between the present flat seaward zone of young sediment and the older ter-
rain, marked by a complex field pattern that is underlain by Chalk bedrock.
DEVELOPMENT BY PEOPLE
My concern in this topic is primarily with natural landscapes, and I will tend to com-
ment on the development by people since the Bronze Age only where this relates to
the natural features in an interesting way. However, in reviewing the appearance of
the whole of Southern England, I have been struck by an intriguing distinction made
by some landscape historians: the distinction between ancient and planned countryside
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