Langland Bay (Rotherslade)
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Climate exposure
This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.
Coastal habitats are exposed to sea-level rise and storm erosion. Where hard sea defences sit behind them, there's nowhere landward to retreat to — a squeeze that keeps compressing the habitat no matter how well it's managed.
Geology & landscape
Geological Feature: Raised Beach · Geological Period: Quaternary
Landscape processes: Coastal, Glacial
Description
Description At Langland Bay (Rotherslade), two kilometres west of Mumbles Head on the South Gower peninsula, a series of well exposed sections records the best evidence available for the limit of Late Devensian glaciation on east Gower. Ipswichian raised beach sediments occur near the base of the exposures and are overlain by head and glacial deposits. The interpretation of these sediments is crucial both to the understanding of Late Pleistocene events and to the reconstruction of the Devensian ice margin in the area. The sections at Langland Bay provide contrasting evidence to that at Hunts Bay and Western and Eastern Slade which demonstrate ice-free conditions during the Devensian. The precise origin of the glacial sediments is unresolved and adds to the interest of the site.