Since the earliest explorations of the Colorado Plateau, geologists have suspected that cliffs are retreating back laterally. Clarence Dutton envisioned “the beds thus dissolving edge wise until after the lapse of millions of centuries their terminal cliffs stand a hundred miles or more back from their original position” when he wrote about the landscape in 1882. While many geologic studies have determined how fast rivers cut down through the Plateau, only a few studies have calculated how quickly cliffs retreat laterally, and geologists have been arguing since the 1940’s what exactly drives cliffs to retreat in the first place. We study the Book Cliffs in central Utah, and in particular remnant landforms and deposits related to a 120,000-year history of erosion and deposition, which we date by optically stimulated luminescence methods. Our dataset shows that deposits along the Book Cliffs are preserved especially during times of climate instability, which suggests that escarpment retreat locally is driven by climatic disturbances. This disproves older hypotheses suggesting escarpments retreat in response to local factors regardless of shifts in climate, and it is consistent with the few other well-studied escarpment records globally. We also constrain the rates of cliff retreat via a new measurement approach and luminescence age control, showing that the Book Cliffs have retreated at 1-3 meters per thousand years while local toeslope drainages have incised at about 0.5 meters per thousand years, which confirms that cliffs of shallow-dipping, layered rock retreat laterally faster than streams lower the landscape vertically.

The coastline along Högklint and Gråberget, Gotland, Sweden, was examined in order to establish therate of cliff erosion, erosion patterns, as well as some of the driving factors of the erosional processes in the area. Picture comparisons of the coastline reveal some major geomorphological changes in the area over the last 100 years, and the coast is still changing. At present, gardens are slowly disappearing over the cliff edge, and during storms Buske fishing place is threatened to be destroyed.Cliff retreat values could be obtained on two locations with the help of a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system. Scans were made with the LiDAR in January and May 2013. The scans were latercompared in CloudCompare and a mean erosion rate of 0.159 m/a was obtained for the Högklint siteand 0.123 m/a for the Gråberget site. The cliffs were also studied with a Schmidt hammer that clearly showed how that the cliff face was more eroded below the visible groundwater table than above it. With Gemini Tinytag data loggers temperatures were measured from October 2012 to May 2013 at the surface of the cliff face and inside the cliff at a depth of 4.5 cm and 9.5 cm. It could be concluded that tempera- tures were within the frost-cracking window (-10 to -3 ºC) for 19.7 Julian days, not consecutive. Due to the visibly high water content in the cliff and temperatures within the frost-cracking window, ice segre- gation within the cliff is a possible eroding factor in the area.The cliffs are subjected to erosion caused by ground-, melt-, and rainwater in a significant degree, possibly even more so than by the impact of breaking waves. It is important that the municipality ofGotland takes action to prevent further damage on personal property and to prevent personal injury. Todo this further studies needs to be done on how future climate change will effect the coast and rate oferosion. / Kuststräckan längs med Högklint och Gråberget, Gotland, Sverige, undersöktes för att etablera erosionshastighet,erosionsmönster och de drivande erosionsprocesserna i området. Genom återfotografering ochbildjämförelse av kuststräckan konstateras stora geomorfologiska förändringar de senaste 100 åren.Kustförändringarna är en pågående process. I dagsläget försvinner trädgårdar bit för bit över klintkantenoch vid varje storm hotas Buske fiskeläge att förstöras.Med en Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) radar erhölls data över hur mycket som försvunnitfrån klinten på två platser längs området. LiDAR- skanningarna gjordes i januari och maj 2013. Mätningarnajämfördes sedan i CloudCompare och visade på ett medelvärde av erosionshastigheten på0,159 m/a för platsen vid Högklint och 0,123 m/a för platsen vid Gråberget. Klintarna undersöktes ocksåmed en Schmidt-hammare. Resultatet visar hur klippväggen är mer eroderad under den synliga grundvattennivånän över den. Mellan oktober 2012 och maj 2013 mättes temperaturen på klintväggen, samt4,5 cm och 9,5 cm inne i berget, med hjälp av Gimini Tinytag datainsamlare. Resultatet visar att temperaturenlåg inom spannet för frostsprängning, dvs -10 till -3 ºC, i sammanlagt 19,7 dygn. Dessa lågatemperaturer tillsammans med den höga andelen synligt vatten i klinten möjliggör för bildandet avsegregationsis inne i klinten. Detta kan vara en bidragande orsak till uppluckring av klintväggen ocherosion i området.En betydande del av klinterosionen längs med kusten sker på grund av grund-, smält-, och regnvatten,kanske till och med i högre grad än brytande vågor. Det är viktigt att Gotlands kommun vidtar åtgärderför att förhindra skada på egendom och personskador. Mer studier behövs för att ta reda på hur framtidaklimatförändringar kommer att påverka klintarna och erosionshastigheten längs med kusten.