Coastal hazards and their management Flashcards

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1
Q

What are some types of hard engineering?

A
  • sea walls
  • gabions
  • groynes
  • rock armour
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2
Q

What are the advantages of sea walls?

A
  • effective at protecting the base of the cliff

- sea walls usually have promenades so people can walk along them

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3
Q

What are the disadvantages of sea walls?

A
  • waves are still powerful and can break down and erode the sea wall
  • expensive: approx. £2000 a metre
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4
Q

What are the advantages of rock armour?

A
  • cheaper than a sea wall and easy to maintain

- can be used for fishing

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5
Q

What are the disadvantages of rock armour?

A
  • look different to the local geology, as rock imported from other areas
  • the rocks are expensive to transport
  • can gather rubbish and look unsightly
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6
Q

What are the advantages of gabions?

A
  • cheap

- absorb wave energy

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7
Q

What are the disadvantages of gabions?

A
  • not very strong

- look unnatural

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8
Q

What are the advantages of groynes?

A
  • the build a beach

- trap sediment being carried by longshore drift

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9
Q

What are the disadvantages of groynes?

A
  • look unattractive

- by trapping sediment they starve beaches further down the coastline, increasing rates of erosion elsewhere

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10
Q

What are sea walls?

A

concrete walls that are placed at the foot of a cliff to prevent erosion, they are curved to reflect the wave energy back into the sea.

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11
Q

What is rock armour?

A

large boulders placed at the foot of a cliff, they break waves and absorb their energy

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12
Q

What are gabions?

A

rocks held in mesh cages and placed in areas affected by erosion

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13
Q

What are groynes?

A

wooden or rock structures built at right angles into the sea

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14
Q

What are some types of soft engineering?

A
  • beach nourishment
  • beach reprofiling
  • sand dune stabilisation
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15
Q

What are the advantages of beach nourishment?

A
  • blends in with the existing beach

- larger beaches appeal to tourists

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16
Q

What are the disadvantages of beach nourishment?

A
  • needs to be constantly replaced

- sand has to be brought from elsewhere

17
Q

What are the advantages of beach reprofiling?

A
  • cheap and simple

- reduces the energy of the waves

18
Q

What are the disadvantages of beach reprofiling?

A
  • only works when wave energy is low

- needs to be repeated continuously

19
Q

What are the advantages of sand dune stabilisation?

A
  • maintains natural-looking coastline
  • relatively cheap
  • encourages wildlife and vegetation to establish and thrive
20
Q

What are the disadvantages of sand dune stabilisation?

A
  • can be damaged by storm waves

- areas have to be zoned off from the public

21
Q

What is beach nourishment?

A

when sand is pumped onto and existing beach to build it up

22
Q

What is beach reprofiling?

A

when the sediment is redistributed from the lower part of the beach to the upper part of the beach

23
Q

What is sand dune stabilisation?

A

when marram grass is planted on sand dunes and stabilises the dunes, and helps to trap sand to build them up

24
Q

What are the two different approaches to coastal management?

A
  • hold the line

- retreating the line

25
Q

What is holding the line?

A

this is when coastal defences are built or maintained to protect a coastline against the impacts of sea level rise and coastal erosion/flooding. Often a mixture of hard and soft engineering strategies is used. This is often expensive but popular with local residents.

26
Q

What is retreating the line?

A

this is when people move out of the dangerous, most vulnerable areas and there is no defence against the elements. The coastline is often eroded inland creating salt marshes. This is less expensive but not always popular with local residents.