Essex

Introduction

Much of the Essex coast is low-lying and estuarine, and there has been extensive embanking and reclamation of former marshland. Salt marshes persist on the shores of estuaries, and on parts of the outer coast where there is a wide intertidal zone, but on the more exposed sectors there are beaches of sand, sometimes with shingle or shells. There are only a few cliffs, mainly cut in glacial drift, and some of these have been stabilised as bluffs behind sea walls, particularly at seaside resorts such as Clacton. North of the Thames estuary there are several long estuarine inlets, some of which may be inherited from former mouths of the Thames.

Mean spring tide range diminishes downstream in the Thames estuary from 6.0 m at Tilbury to 5.7 m at Thames Haven and 5.2 m at Southend. It also diminishes northward along the Essex coast from 5.0 m at Burnham on Crouch to 4.8 m at Bradwell-on-Sea, 4.6 m at Brightlingsea, 4.1 m at Clacton, 3.8 m at Walton on the Naze and 3.6 m at...