Coastal management

Question 1

Selective management

Answer 1

Flooding and erosion of coastlines can have severe impacts, so management is focused on protecting homes, businesses and the environment.
Money is limited so choosing how and which places are defended is based on cost-benefit analysis.
Large settlements and industrial sites are generally favoured over isolated or small settlements.

Question 2

Hold the line

Answer 2

Maintain existing coastal defences

Question 3

Advance the line

Answer 3

Build new defences further out to sea than the existing line of defence.

Question 4

Do nothing

Answer 4

Build no defences at all and deal with erosion and flooding as it happens.

Question 5

Managed realignment

Answer 5

Allows the shoreline to move but manage retreat so it causes least damage.
e.g. breaching an existing defence and allowing the sea to flood the land behind. Overtime vegetation will colonise the land and it will become marshland.

Question 6

Revetments

Answer 6

Slanted structures built at the foot of cliffs, made from concrete, wood or rocks. They cause waves to break, absorbing their energy and preventing cliff erosion.
They are expensive to build but relatively cheap to maintain.
However, they create a strong back wash which erodes underneath them.

Question 7

Sea wall

Answer 7

Expensive to build and maintain.

They create a strong back wash which erodes underneath them.

Question 8

Gabions

Answer 8

Rock filled cages, usually arranged in ‘walls’ at the foot of cliffs. They are cheap but ugly.

Question 9

Riprap

Answer 9

Boulders piled up along the coast that absorb way energy and reduce erosion. They are fairly cheap but can shift during storms.

Question 10

Groynes

Answer 10

Fences that trap material transported by longshore drift. They are quite cheap but can starve areas down drift of sand.

Question 11

Breakwaters

Answer 11

Concrete blocks or boulders deposited off coast. They force waves to break, reducing their power before they reach the shore. They are expensive and can be damaged during storms.

Question 12

Beach stabilisation

Answer 12

This is done by reducing the slope angle and planting vegetation, or by sticking old tree trunks in the beach to stabilise the sand.

Question 13

Dune regeneration

Answer 13

Restoring or creating sand dunes are they act as a barrier between sea and land.

Question 14

Land use management

Answer 14

e.g. using wooden walk ways and fencing off areas to prevent vegetation on sand dunes from being trampled on.

Question 15

Marshland

Answer 15

Planting appropriate vegetation in mud flats to stabilise sediment.

Question 16

Hard engineering

Answer 16

Involves built structures.

Expensive and disrupts natural processes.

Question 17

Soft engineering

Answer 17

Cheaper and is designed to integrate with the natural environment. Creates important habitats like marshland and sand dunes.
More sustainable as it has low environmental impacts and economic costs.

Question 18

Shore line management plans

Answer 18

A plan is devised for each sediment cell on how it should be managed, with the aim of protecting important sites without causing problems elsewhere.
All authorities in one cell cooperate in coming up with an SMP.

Question 19

Integrated coastal zone management

Answer 19

Considers all elements of the coastal system when coming up with a strategy. (land, water, people, economy).
It aims to protect in a relatively natural state, whilst allowing people to use and develop it in different ways.
The environment is seen as a whole (water and land)
It considers fishing, industry and tourism
Various levels of authority have an input.
Dynamic- subject to change based on the demands of the area and the environment.