Coastal Management πͺΈ Flashcards
Why are coasts managed?
To protect homes, businesses and environment from erosion and flooding
Reduces social, economic and environment impacts
Money limited so not all coastal areas can be protected
Cost-benefit analysis used to determine which places are protected
Eg ones that have large populations or important transport links
Traditional approaches to coastal management
Hard and soft engineering
Sustainable approaches to coastal management
Shoreline management
Integrated coastal zone management
Soft vs hard engineering
Soft - more sustainable, less environmental damage and economic cost
Hard - unnatural and can impact environment and more expensive
Hard engineering strategies
Sea wall
Revetments
Gabions
Rock armour
Groynes
Breakwaters
Sea walls
Reflects waves back out to sea
Acts as barrier to flooding
+ creates promenade, tourism benefit
- expensive to build and maintain
- intrusive/ unnatural
Revetments
Slanted structures at foot of cliffs
Absorb wave energy when they break on it
Prevents cliff erosion
+ effective
- intrusive
- need maintenance
Gabions
Rock filled cages at foot of cliff
Absorb wave energy so reduce erosion
+ cheap
- unnatural and ugly
Rock armour
Boulders along coast or foot of cliff
Absorb wave energy
Reduce erosion
+ cheap
+ easy to build and maintain
- can shift in storms
- intrusive and unnatural
Groynes
Fences built at right angles to coast
Trap materials transported by long shore drift
Creates wider beaches so slow waves
Reduces their energy so less erosion
+ cheap
- increases erosion down coast, starved of material
Breakwaters
Boulders or concrete off coast
Force waves to break offshore
Waves energy reduced before reaching shore
+ expensive
- damaged by storms
- unnatural and intrusive to boats
Soft engineering strategies
Beach nourishment
Stabilisation
Dune regeneration
Land use management
Creating marshland
Managed retreat
Beach nourishment
Sand and shingle added from elsewhere (eg offshore)
Creates wide and high beaches
More wave energy absorbed
Reduced erosion
+ natural
+ tourism benefits
- need maintenance
- involves dredging seabed, bad for ecosystem
Beach stabilisation
Stabilises sand on beach - reducing angle, vegetation etc
Allows more deposition so wider
Absorb more wave energy
Reduces erosion
+ cheap and sustainable
+ creates habitats
- people walk on dunes and damage them
Dune regeneration
Dunes created or restored
By nourishment or stabilisation of sand
Provide barrier between land and sea to reduce flooding
Absorb wave energy to prevent erosion
Land use management
low value land in at risk areas
allowed to flood
Creating marshland
allowing land to flood
Planted vegetation on mudflats to stabilise sediment
become sat marsh
Creates barrier to reduce flooding
Absorbs wave energy and slows waves to reduce erosion
+ protects higher value land behind
- loss of and, agriculture loss