Dungeness

Dungeness Spit is built from sand and gravel that has been delivered to its base by waves for millennia. That sediment had to come from somewhere and that happens to be a long reach of high, eroding bluffs to the west.

But bluff erosion has implications. Erosion results in the gradual, though jerky, retreat of the top edge of the bluff. We talk of retreating from eroding shorelines, and we should, but this is just a reminder that retreating is one thing if you have wheels or legs, but not quite so easy if you have a foundation or otherwise lack mobility. In which case, we often abandon instead of retreat.

In the case of a small gravel parking lot and a wooden fence, this may not be a big deal, but if it's houses and hotels and highways, it is both a societal and a practical mess. This is not a new challenge - but it's a challenge that may overwhelm us in the next century.