To test if processes of deposition are stronger than processes of erosion on the beach.

The size of a wave depends on its fetch. The fetch is the distance a wave travels. The greater the fetch, the larger the wave. Wind also has a significant effect on the size of waves. The stronger the wind, the larger the wave. As a wave approaches a beach it slows. This is the result of friction between the water and the beach. This causes a wave to break. Deal is very special as it has waves approaching it from two different directions. From the north and from the south. The waves from the south will have a large fetch because they have travelled over the Atlantic Ocean, whereas the waves from the north, will have a smaller fetch because the waves have to travel over the North Sea, which is a much smaller size compared to the Atlantic Ocean.

Fieldwork Method

The fieldwork experiment we used for the first aim was to determine the frequency of the waves on the day of our visit. We were looking to see if they were constructive or destructive. To do this we had to pick a point out that was fixed so we could count how many waves crashed at that point. For this experiment, we used the Groynes. They were obviously in a fixed stationery position, so they were ideal to use. Every minute, we recorded the number waves, for 10 minutes. This way we could produce an average very easily.

As I had mentioned earlier, there were limitations to this fieldwork method. The first point was as I was using the Groynes to help count the waves, the Groynes could have been interfering with the wave. Another interfering object was the pier. As the Groynes sometimes ran down the middle of a wave, it would split the wave in half, so there would be a different number of waves on each side. Therefore, it was important that I only counted the waves on one side, and stuck with that. The fixed object was going to be ranging pole, which we would hold in position, in the sea. The weather conditions however, limited us from doing this.

These interferences with the waves could have ruined the results for us and then the conclusion, which in theory, could have disproved or proved our hypothesis without it being totally true.

Results  - Wave Frequency

TOAL NUMBER OF WAVES IN 10 MINUTES = 114

AVERAGE 11.4 WAVES PER MINUTE

(Please find accompanied with this sheet, a graph for these results)

Analyse

By looking at these results, I can see that there is a clear average between the results because they are all roughly 10 to 12. There is only one anomaly, which is the recording after eight minutes, which are 9 waves. This isn’t very important, it may just be where the person counting the waves, missed a wave. Besides that, there is nothing wrong with the results we managed collect

Conclusion

I can conclude from my results that due to the average number of waves being above 10, the kind of waves hitting Deal beach are destructive. This means that as the waves break on the beach, instead of depositing material, they are in turn, eroding the beach away.

Relation to Hypothesis

After concluding my results I found out that the waves breaking at Deal Beach are eroding it away, instead of depositing onto it. My hypothesis is ‘to see if Deal is being shaped more due to the process of L.D (if we found L.D present on our visit) or by human activity on the beach’. MY results show that deal is being shaped by L.D, rather than human activity, because the waves are destructive, meaning they are eroding the beach.