| Abstract: | Salt-marsh cliffs in the muddy Severn Estuary are mostly strong and tall. They are retreating in response to the erosive attack of wave and tidal currents chiefly through toppling failures and rotational slips. In the sandy Solway Firth and Morecambe Bay systems, marsh cliffs are strong only in their upper parts, where a dense root-mat of marsh grasses binds the sediments. Here cantilever and toppling failures are the main response of the cliffs to tidal and wave erosion The differences between the three estuarine systems in the mechanisms of marsh-cliff erosion are partly reflected in the mode of preservation of the cliffs on the restoration of the conditions leading to renewal of marsh growth. |
