The sensitivity

Sea caves can vary in size, from only a few meters to more extensive systems which may extend hundreds of metres into the rock. There may be tunnels or caverns with one or more entrances in which vertical and overhanging rock faces provide the principal marine habitat.

Sea Caves are intermediate features of coastlines which 'have been significantly changed by wave action and other marine processes after the sea level has stabilised' (Garrison 1996). Erosional forces from air, land and sea work together to change a rough and irregular primary into a modified secondary coast. The temporary state of these features should not, however, infer that their protection from potential impacts of human activities is secondary to that of other more static habitats.

At any given place on the secondary coast, cliff formation will be influenced by the nature and structure of the rocks and their level of exposure to the relative weathering forces such as wind, rain and wave action. Caves provide the most striking evidence of weathering and undermining. There are few stretches of coast along which the rocks are equally resistant to wave attack. Caves are excavated along belts of weakness of all kinds, and especially where the rocks are strongly jointed (e.g. Fingal's Cave - Outer Hebrides). Joints which run roughly parallel to each other form areas of weakness along which wave action can be especially effective.

This historical and long term evolution of the coastline and the development of sea caves is a natural result of erosion. From current research it would seem highly unlikely that any human recreational activity could have any significant impacts on the development of these features. However, this is not to say that other human actions, for example industry and coastal development, could not affect the rock strata which form the cave or the tidal flows which aid the development of the cave respectively.

The tables below summarise the potential threats to sea caves from land and waterborne processes:

Water based processes

Land based processes

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