Investigate the beach characteristics and costal defences at St Dunstan's Steps.
Physical Fieldwork Location - Site 1: St Dunstan's Steps Aim - To investigate the beach characteristics and costal defences The first site we visited on our field trip was St Dunstan's Steps. The first task we did was a 'Particle Size and Type Analysis.' This involved selecting a random sample of pebbles and recording the average size, shape and orientation of the pebbles. To help us during this task we used a flexible tape measure, and a compass to find the direction the pebbles were facing. We also had a chart to make it easier to determine the shape of the pebbles. The results for this first task were... Average Size (cm) Average Shape Orientation Waters Edge Mid Beach Top Beach Waters Edge Mid Beach Top Beach Waters Edge Mid Beach Top Beach Site 1 9.5 2.5 7.5 Rounded Sub-Rounded Very-Rounded South Southeast East These results tell us that the majority of the wave deposited material gets deposited orientated towards the Southeast. This shows therefore that the material is more likely to have travelled to the beach from a Westerly direction. The fact that the smallest and roundest pebbles were at the top of the beach shows that they have been submitted to the most erosion. When it is high tide, as well as these pebbles eroding each other in the form of attrition, and being eroded by corrosion, they will also be eroded as the waves cause the pebbles
A study of sea defenses along the Lincolnshire coastline after the 1953 floods
A study of sea defenses along the Lincolnshire coastline after the 1953 floods For my project I am going to look at sea defences along the Lincolnshire coastline since the 1953 floods. I will look at what defences are currently in place and how, if at all, they have changed since the floods in 1953. I am going to look at the beaches at Huttoft and Sutton on Sea which are located on the Lincolnshire coastline. As I am looking at the sea defences I will not need to collect very much raw data. I will take notes on how the sea defences work and document them in my project. I will need to collect mainly photographs of sea defences that are in place on the two beaches. I will collect these using a digital camera for myself which is primary data and using pictures from other sources e.g. other people in my group and websites that may already have pictures of sea defences which would be secondary data. I have also collected measurements of the beach itself using raging pole and a clinometer. Ranging poles and clinometer. Ranging poles To take angles of the slopes on a beach and therefore record its profile you need to place the two ranging poles a set distance apart, 4m will be fine, and then stand at one pole with the clinometer and level it up with one of the lines on the pole. Then you look through the clinometer and line up the line inside with the same point on the
How does the percentage of bare earth (and therefore the percentage of earth covered by vegetation) vary moving inland from the high tide level?
Geography Coursework Question How does the percentage of bare earth (and therefore the percentage of earth covered by vegetation) vary moving inland from the high tide level? Hypothesis With movement inland from the high tide level, I expect percentage bare earth to decrease, due to more species of vegetation being able to survive, so this will result in less earth being left bare. This is due to the change in conditions affecting both type and quantity of vegetation present change. Figure 1 is a table to summarise these changes. Figure 1 Condition Change with Reason Movement Inland Near the sea, shells made of calcium carbonate pH Decreases create alkali conditions. Inland there are less shells so pH decreases. Moisture Increases Water is less salty inland so has higher water Availability potential so plants can take up water more easily. Strength Decreases Strong winds blow inland from the sea, so with of wind movement away from high tide level, strength of wind decreases. Decreased strength of wind, higher moisture Soil Quality Increases availability, and less acidity means more humus can accumulate and soil can develop better. Changes in the above conditions contribute to an increase in quantity and type of vegetation, therefore the percentage of bare earth decreases inland. Risk Assessment Taking measurements on the sand
How and Why are Sea Defences being used in North Norfolk?
GCSE Coastal Studies Geography Coursework Introduction How and Why are Sea Defences being used in North Norfolk? The topic I have chosen for my project is on coastal erosion. This is an important topic to study because it affects all the agriculture and inhabitants of the coastal areas. Coastal erosion can take the form of many different problems e.g. flooding, physical erosion on the beaches and general cutting away from the coastal areas. Coastal defence has many different methods to counteract the growing problem of coastal erosion. Such defences like groynes, dumping, gabions, rock armouring, flood embankments, revetments and vertical seawalls. All of these forms of coastal defences are costly and the local council often dislike paying for them if they are considered unreliable. There is a constant threat of coastal erosion because of the green house affect and global warming and the melting of the polar ice glaciers, threatening to raise sea level therefore flooding unprepared or low lying areas. This is a big problem for the UK because it is an island therefore will be more affected. My overall question on this project is the title 'How and Why are sea defences being used in North Norfolk?' and I will be answering this question using the data I collected on my field trip to North Norfolk, this is data from beaches including pictures and measurements on the
To investigate the effects of coastal management, and to investigate the effects of longshore drift.
Year 11 G.C.S.E Geography Coursework (Umar Sheikh 11GS) Aim: 1. To investigate the effects of coastal management. 2. To investigate the effects of longshore drift. Introduction This coursework is on the fieldtrip to Somerset, Nettlecombe to investigate the effects of coastal management and longshore drift. Porlock Bay is in the south west of England just below Wales. This course work is mainly on the coastal processes and management which deals with the protection of land from the sea. As we went to Somerset we did field work to collect data on longshore drift to investigate its effects. We explored longshore drift along the coastline of Porlock Bay in Somerset. Coastal management is important in this area because of longshore drift. Longshore drift is transport along the coast when waves move material across a beach; we will go over longshore drift in more detail later. Longshore drift causes one part of a coastline to gain more of beach by deposition. Deposition is the dumping of material. Longshore drift is caused by waves. In response to LSD they have built groynes, sea walls and boulder barriers which are all types of sea defence. There is a lot of tourism in Somerset. One place were there is a lot of tourism is in Lynmouth which went through a vicious flood. There is a lot of agricultural in Somerset as it is not as modern as the city of London.
Dune Evaluation
Dunes: Artificially defended; naturally retreating. How do humans influence dunes? What management strategies are in place for coastal dunes in Nova Scotia, Canada? Nature is not static, thus it would make sense that coastlines, too, would be in constant fluxuation. For millions of years the morphology of Nova Scotian [see Figure1], as well as global, coastlines have been changing. Beaches are a fine balance between accretion and depletion of sediments but go through cycles of creation and destruction (Taylor). Dunes, the accrual of beach sediment, act as a barrier against storm surges and as a habitat for coastal species, including many types of dune grass, birds and insects. Generally the dunes in Nova Scotia are moving landward (Taylor). However, it is when costal erosion interferes with human development, that it becomes a problem. Humans have the ability to protect the forty-five dunes, over a kilometer in length in many different manners (Hale), including hard and soft defenses or leaving an area to the course of nature. Of the wide variety of hard defenses, groynes are arguably the most effective at creating dunes. While deposition generally equals erosion on the leeside, a properly placed groyne can be extremely successful. Waterside, Pictou County, has the fastest growing dune system in Nova Scotia, due to a groyne [See Photo 1]. The groyne is ideally
Describe and explain how waves influence beach profiles.
Describe and explain how waves influence beach profiles (25) Waves are the main factor of shaping the coast. Their erosive capacity is partly due to the effect of impacts of water against the coast and partly due to the action of beach material moved by the waves themselves. Nevertheless, there are several factors that influence the erosive force of waves: Strength of wind, length of time wind blows and the fetch. Waves with a large fetch and subjected to strong winds are generally known as destructive waves. These waves are steep and tend to break downwards onto the beach. They possess both a strong swash and a strong backwash, the latter being sufficient to erode the beach yet the former being able to build a large berm by adding material to a zone, which the backwash cannot reach. Therefore, destructive waves tend to erode the beach yet leave a constructional feature at the highest point reached by the waves during their period of occurrence (usually a storm). Destructive waves erode the coastline via a number of processes. The most powerful and active form of wave erosion is hydraulic pressure (Wave Quarrying). This occurs when waves break against the face of a cliff and cause the air in rock cracks to be compressed with pressures reaching up to 50 kg/cm2. The retreat of the wave causes rapid expansion of the compressed air, exerting a huge force, which can be
With reference to a specific area and its ecosystem(s) explain how the natural environment can be used, abused and conserved.
With reference to a specific area and its ecosystem(s) explain how the natural environment can be used, abused and conserved. An ecosystem can be described as the relationships between the biotic or living members of a community, e.g. plant life, birds and the abiotic or non-living elements, including water and soil which form the natural environment. The essay will examine the ecosystems of Sand Bay and surrounding shoreline, including Sand Point and Middle Hope. The essay will comment on evidence of land use, misuse and attempts to conserve the habitat, based on evidence gathered during a field visit to the site during December 2001. For ease of identification, I have referenced some locations described on the enclosed map. Location Sand Bay is located in the county of North Somerset in the south west of England. The area of Sand Bay and Middle Hope occupies an approximately 2 mile long stretch of coastline on the south side of the Seven Estuary, approximately 4 miles north east of the seaside resort of Weston Super Mare and 18 miles west of Bristol. Ecosystems There are a variety of ecosystems along the Sand Bay coastline, the major ones are the marine ecosystem, the salt marshes (1) on the north side of the bay, the sand beach, Swallow Cliff and the surrounding grassland. There are many smaller ecosystems within these major ones, including the rock pools and
Find out the geological appearance, structure and composition at Peacehaven, Newhaven and Rottingdean.
Index Page 1: Cover page Page 2: Index And Introduction Page 3: Peacehaven profile Page 4: Newhaven West profile Page 5: Newhaven East profile Page 6: Rottingdean profile Page 7: Explanation to Peacehaven profile Page 8: Explanation to Newhaven West and East and Rottingdean profiles Page 9: Data and Calculations and explaining the problem of using an average figure Page 10: Graph representing data collected Page 11: Problems of cliff retreat + solutions Page 12: More solutions Page 13: More solutions + Different views on the solutions Introduction In this coursework we hope to achieve many aims and we will accomplish these by visiting cliffs at Peacehaven, East Newhaven, West Newhaven and Rottingdean. Our aims are to find out the appearance, structure and composition at Peacehaven, Newhaven and Rottingdean. What the wave processes and types evident at each site are. How wave processes and cliff characteristics affect the appearance of the cliffs. What effects the physical processes on these cliff lines had on the people in the locality and what the likely consequences are and what steps could be taken to reduce the erosion hazard in these areas and what the cost and benefits are for local communities. Explanation Of Profile 1, Peacehaven Here there are many joints, faults and lines of weakness and on these faults there are many flint modules much like all
The Holderness coastline is the fastest eroding coastline in Europe, what is the best plan of action for those living nearby.
The Holderness coastline is the fastest eroding coastline in Europe. The people who live on it are worried that their houses and land may shortly fall into the sea and they want the council to protect the coastline. In some places they have built different defence systems but, what about those peoples houses and land that aren't protected, the value of their houses has fallen and no one wants to buy a house that is going to fall into the sea, they want their houses to be protected. The reason that we have conducted this investigation is to decide whether we agree with the hypothesis "The best policy along the Holderness coastline is to do nothing". The way in which we have decided to make our minds up is by visiting three different areas along the coastline. These places were Barmston, Mappleton and Withernsea. We visited Barmston first which was a long and wide beach but the only reason for this was the sea defence mechanisms in place. There were groynes placed about every half a mile down the beach, which has helped keep the sand on this particular area of the coastline. When we first got off the coast we could not really see what the problem was until we walked down the steep slop leading to the beach: We could see pipes that were once attached to houses jutting out of the side of the cliffs. Plus behind the groyne further along the beach the strip of sand
