Rising sea levels are also threatening rocky coasts, according to the study

According to British researchers, the rise in sea levels due to global warming also threatens to accelerate the erosion of rocky coasts dramatically. This is the result of a study by Imperial College London published in the journal Nature Communications.

According to this data, rocky shorelines could recede as much as 10 times faster than previous erosion by the year 2100 – depending on how much global warming progresses. According to the calculations, in two parts of the British coast this is likely to cause the rock formations to recede by at least 10 to 22 meters by 2100 – with dramatic consequences for people and infrastructure.

Coasts around the world are home to hundreds of millions of people and have hundreds of billions of dollars worth of infrastructure such as housing, businesses, nuclear power plants, transportation links and agriculture. There has been no comparable erosion of rocky shores in 3000 to 5000 years. Rocky coasts account for more than half of the coastline worldwide.

The scientists say the study is one of the first to look at the decline of rocky coastal areas. So far, the effects on sandy coasts have been studied.

For their study, the scientists calculated the decline of two stretches of rocky coast in the counties of Devon and Yorkshire based on the expected sea level rise in different scenarios, depending on the degree of global warming. They compared the data with the knowledge they had gained from exploring the coastlines over the past 8,000 years. Using this data, they had previously also shown a clear link between sea level rise and the erosion of rocky coasts.

According to the authors, the results of the study can be applied worldwide, because the rock types found on the studied coasts are common worldwide. The erosion of rocky coasts is mainly caused by waves, the height and strength of which are likely to increase with rising sea levels, the scientists said. If greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, average global sea levels are expected to rise by more than a meter by 2100. (sda/dpa)