2. Geomorphologies of the German North Sea Coast

The North Sea coast is one of the most recent landscapes in Germany. With its great variety of landforms—ranging from the barrier islands of East Frisia, through the large estuaries of the Inner German Bight, to the prograding marshland coasts of Dithmarschen and the strongly eroded and ruined coastal zone of the North Frisian Islands with both sand and hard rock cores—it has only been formed during the past 7000 years or so. The Wadden Sea acts as a unifying element along the entire coast and represents a unique natural and cultural heritage. This chapter first provides an introduction to the overall geological and geomorphological formation of the coast and then presents examples of intense human–environment interactions that have been responsible for the development of a rich cultural landscape. The role of extreme storm events which, especially during medieval times affected many parts or the intensively used coasts, causing long-term damage and loss of land and largely controlling the overall geomorphological setting. Since its colonisation the cultural landscape of the German North Sea coast has the experienced an increasing vulnerability, both due to increasing massive anthropogenic impacts and growing effects of climate change. It is certainly one of the most endangered landscapes in Germany and has literally always been on the edge of the habitable world.