Should the coast between Overstrand and Sheringham be protected at any cost, or should nature be allowed to take its course?

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By Neill Patel

        Mill Hill County High School - 12262                    

Year 10 - Geography Coursework

Should the coast between Overstrand and Sheringham be protected at any cost, or should nature be allowed to take its course?


Contents

Section        Page

Part 1 – Introduction        2

Part 2 – Methodology        6

Part 3 – The Problem & Management        9

Data Presentation and Interpretation        12

Part 4 – Evaluation and Conclusion        27

Part 5 – Bibliography and Appendices        31


Part 1 Introduction

Part of the Geography GCSE syllabus contains coursework that relates to Coastal defenses around the Norfolk coastline.

The purpose of the coursework is to establish whether the value of the coastline in the study areas justify the money spent protecting them? Or should nature be allowed to take its course?

The 3 areas studied are shown on the map below: (Figure 1)

The North Norfolk coastline is designated an area of outstanding natural beauty and is 68km in length, a coastal frontage stretching from Holkham in the west to Horsey in the southeast.

Sheringham (Grid ref. TG159436) is the second largest cliff-top settlement on the North Norfolk coastline. West Runton (Grid ref. TG186432) has important geology, being an area of several important archaeological finds. Overstrand (Grid ref. TG24741) is a small village; it is import due to the experimental nature of a lot of its sea defences.

Below are two maps showing where the Norfolk Coastline is in relation to the 3 areas investigated (Figure 2)

Geographical Theories & background information

On North Norfolk's cliffed coastline, the major problem is erosion of the cliffs. The prevention of coastal erosion is termed coastal protection and is provided by Maritime District Councils. The council is responsible for both constructing and maintaining the defences on its frontage, in line with the guidance and criteria provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) now called the MAFF.

The North Norfolk cliffs are basically comprised of a contorted mix of silts, sands, clays and gravels that were deposited during the glacial and interglacial phases of the last 2 million years.

The cliffs provide little resistance to the action of North Sea waves, which erode the base of the cliffs. In addition, when the cliff material has a high water content it becomes unstable and, together with wave action, this results in slips & slides of large amounts of material along the coastline, leading to a general retreat of the cliff line.

The settlements investigated, Sheringham, West Runton & Overstrand all sit atop the cliffs. Together these developments include a huge number of properties and associated infrastructure that would be destroyed if natural cliff retreat were allowed to continue. To avoid the major financial and social implications of these losses, defences have been constructed to limit coastal erosion and protect coastal developments.

The defence strategies that are being used at Sheringham are promenades with a groynage system in front. Rock Armour has been placed along the base of the seawall to provide protection against wave attack. The groynes at Sheringham include both wooden and rock structures. Numerous cliff drains are also present at Sheringham.

The defence strategies that are being used at Overstrand Beach are timber revetment, rock-Armour groynes and gabion cages.

The North Norfolk coasts between Sheringham and Overstrand consists of steep cliffs of easily eroded glacial deposits. During periods of heavy rainfall the cliffs become unstable and as a result of mass movement, it collapses. This is a natural coastal process. The most dramatic recent collapses have been near Overstrand. Despite the cliff being artificially protected by a sea wall and groynes the land retreated by 80 meters between 1990 and 1994. Later, when the wind is in the northeast, waves will transport the collapsed material along the Norfolk coast. The material in a river can be carried in solution and suspension or moved by traction and saltation.  There are also coastal flooding processes.

Hypothesis & Key Questions

Should the coast between Overstrand and Sheringham be protected at any cost, or should nature be allowed to take its course?

In order to answer the above hypothesis, below are the key questions:

What is the economic and environmental value of the land in the study areas?

What types of coastal defenses are there in the areas studied?

How effective are these defenses in protecting the coastline?

How effective are they in helping to maintain the local industry?

How do local people feel about the existing shoreline management plan?

Does the value of the coastline in the study areas justify the money spent protecting them?

Does protecting these areas help protect any other areas of high economic value?

Data Collecting Techniques

Below are the four Data collection techniques used to answer the key questions?

  • Beach Profiles
  • Land-use maps
  • Field Sketches
  • Questionnaire – EQI index

On the right is a picture of how beach profiling is achieved. This is done by putting two ranging poles five metres apart and using a clinometer measure the gradient between the two marked points.

Beach Profiling (Figure 3)

Part 2 Methodology

Three different locations were visited to along the North Norfolk coastline to collect the required data in order to answer the questions set out in Part 1.

The investigation was carried out in one day on Saturday the 4th October 2003.

Four different sites at three locations were visited; they were Overstrand Beach, Overstrand (Clifton Way), West Runton and Sheringham.

Techniques used to collect data

  1. Beach Profiles

Breach profiles help you to measure the gradient of beaches.

How to collect data?

To do this, we use a ranging pole and measure different points of the beach that were 5 meters apart. A ranging pole is held upright at one point and another 5 meters apart. The gradient of the beach can then be measured and recorded using a clinometer. The clinometer is then placed on the highest divide between the red and white bands on the 1st ranging pole. Looking through the clinometer and tilting it until the line matches up with the same divide on the other ranging pole.

The clinometer reading (in degrees) can then be recorded on a recording sheet.

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This can be repeated several times to get an accurate measurement of the beach gradient.

What data to collect?

The data collected is the distance between the ranging poles and the angle (in degrees) for each site.

Why data is collected?

The data is collected to measure the gradient of the beach and it can be useful to indicate how much extra material has been added to the beach.

Where and when data is collected?

The Beach Profile technique was used at Sheringham and Overstrand beach on Saturday the 4th of October 2003 and it was primary data.

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