Coastal Geography, Coastal Management

Question 1

What is the main problem of many coastal management strategies?

Answer 1

Many coastal solutions are static and don’t account for dynamicism. All solutions, reagrdless of their success, modify the environment, and will therefore produce consequences that may be unintended

Question 2

What are the four main approaches to coastal management

Answer 2

Hard structures, soft structures, relocation/retreat, and do nothing

Question 3

What are the three types of hard structures for coastal management?

Answer 3

Seawalls, groynes, and breakwaters

Question 4

What are seawalls and how do they operate?

Answer 4

Seawalls are built on the coast to protect the land behind the beach. Rubble is often placed in front of the wall to pre-break the waves before they come into contact with it, thus reflecting the wave energy

Question 5

What are the four main problems with seawalls?

Answer 5

1. Reduced accessibility to the beach
2. Complete loss of beach and its beauty
3. Lock up sediment behind the wall so beach-dune system interaction is prevented
4. During storms, the wall is useless and is more likely to erode due to the higher tide

Question 6

What are groynes and how do they operate?

Answer 6

A perpindicular strucure to the shore that is designed to catch sediment moving alongshore by slowing longshore currents. They are often used in association with seawalls

Question 7

What is the main problem of groynes?

Answer 7

Although sand still collects on the updrift side, the downdrift side is deprived of sand and will continue to erode since sediment cannot bypass the terminal groyne

Question 8

What are breakwaters and how do they operate?

Answer 8

A structure that is placed in the surfzone to reduce wave energy. They take many forms, such as small walls parallel to the coastline, artificial surfing reefs, and reef balls

Question 9

What are the two main problems with breakwaters?

Answer 9

1. Similar to seawalls, they reduce the beach’s beauty
2. If in the form of a wall, they are very easily eroded since they constantly absorb the waves’ energy

Question 10

What are the two types of soft structures for coastal management?

Answer 10

Beach replinishment and dune rehabilitation

Question 11

What is beach replinishment and how does it operate?

Answer 11

Replaces lost sand/sediment with new sediment that is either the same or of a courser texture. Sources include estuaries and areas way offshore. Sediment cannot be taken near the shore otherwise waves won’t break before reaching the shore

Question 12

What are the three main problems with beach replinishment?

Answer 12

1. Is only a temporary fix and is often done to fix past mistakes
2. Incredibly expensive and causes the beach to become closed to the public
3. The new sand/sediment has to be taken from another environment

Question 13

What is dune rehabilitation and how does it operate?

Answer 13

Replanting sand dunes in order to recreate dune systems. This form of coastal management is relatively cheap and utilsied community involvement and upkeep. It also preserves (if not adds) to the beach’s beauty

Question 14

What the type of zones are involved in relocation/retreat?

Answer 14

Setback zones

Question 15

What are setback zones and how do they operate?

Answer 15

Removing and/or relocating buildings and infrastructure away from the coast. This type of managed retreat is not commonly done, espically in urban/more concentrated regions

Question 16

How does ‘doing nothing’ for coastal management work?

Answer 16

Many hard structures such as seawalls cause beach loss or make it completely inaccessible. By doing nothing instead, preperty/land may be lost but the beach is still maintained

Question 17

What does accomodation mean in the context of coastal management?

Answer 17

Learning to live and adapt with changing sea levels

Question 18

What is the best option for coastal management?

Answer 18

Depends on physical and socioeconomic factors. Not all coastlines (and the its people/occupants) are identical. However, soft structures such as dune rehabilitation seems to be the most enviornmentally sustainable approach