Coasts

Question 1

Why is Bangladesh vulnerable to flooding?

Answer 1

Monsoon rainfall.
Land is below sea level.
Himalayas trap rain.
Deforestation of mangrove trees for tourism.
46% of population live in towns/cities less than 10m below sea level.

Question 2

What are SIDS and where are they?

Answer 2

Small island developing states.
South China Sea, Caribbean, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean.

Question 3

Describe the Maldives as a SIDS.

Answer 3

Population - 223790.
Size - 298km sq.
Adapting to CC - 70% renewable energy.
Mitigating to CC - testing approaches on how to sustainably manage natural systems to conserve biodiversity.

Question 4

Describe Tuvalu as a SIDS.

Answer 4

Population - 11639.
Size - 26km sq.
GDP - $55 million.
Adaption to CC - creating 7.3 hectares of raised land.

Question 5

What happened around the Nile Delta after the Aswan dam was built?

Answer 5

Erosion rates increased by 10 times.
Sediment was trapped in the reservoir and dam as the water moved slower.
Water withdrawals for cities/industry from Lake Nasser.
River discharge fell from 35 billion cubic metres a year to 10 billion.
Sediment volume fell from 130 million tonnes - 15 million tonnes.

Question 6

What is the background for Happisburgh?

Answer 6

‘No active intervention here’ - against the wishes of the local residents where houses had been lost.
Very low house value so people cannot move away.

Question 7

What coastal defences were given to Happisburgh?

Answer 7

Campaigning by the CCAG raised awareness and a council bid for government led to a £3 million grant.
This was spent on giving Beach Road residents grants to help them move - £2000.
These houses were demolished to make a buffer zone, and new homes were constructed on farmland to keep population size the same.

Question 8

What was the cause of the 2013 storm surge?

Answer 8

Very deep depression moved South East -> North Sea.
140mph winds in Scotland.
Very low air pressure.

Question 9

What are the impacts of the 2013 storm surge?

Answer 9

15 deaths.
2500 homes/businesses flooded.
Scottish rail network shut down.
Coastal flooding in Boston, Hull, Skegness.

Question 10

What were the responses to the 2013 storm surge?

Answer 10

500 evacuated properties in Kent.
Repaired sea defences.
36 flood warnings.
6 people rescued from the pier.

Question 11

What was the cause of the 1953 storm surge?

Answer 11

Low lying land.
Depression moving South across the North Sea.
Rivers to the North Sea were flooded.
Spring tide.

Question 12

What were the impacts of the 1953 storm surge on England?

Answer 12

The Thames storm barrier was built.
Sea wall was breached.
24000 properties destroyed and 307 people killed.
1600km of coast was damaged.

Question 13

What were the impacts of the 1953 storm surge on the Netherlands?

Answer 13

All coastal defences in 67 places were breached.
1367 km of flooded land.
1800 people died.
47,000 buildings were damaged.

Question 14

What geology is there at Swansea Coast?

Answer 14

There are limestone, cliffs, border, clay, red sandstone and blown sand.
There are wave cut platforms, headlands, and sandy bays.

Question 15

Describe the Great Tor on the Swansea Coast.

Answer 15

It’s a headland with almost vertically, dipping limestone, strata. Vertical beds have created a sheer rock face. Bedding planes provide a surface along the layers to slide away from the rock mass.

Question 16

Describe the Gower along the Swansea coast.

Answer 16

In a storm, wave environment, and these landforms are fed by material, which has been eroded by wave action.

Question 17

Describe how a dalmatian coastline is formed.

Answer 17

A concordant coastline produced by the geological structure of folds, parallel to the coast.
Tectonic forces produced by collision of African and Eurasian plates, compressed carboniferous limestone.
The created folded up ridges, (anticlines) and the folded down valleys (synclines) are parallel to the coast.
Sea level rise overtopped the low points of the anticlines and the sea flooded synclines.
This produces lines of narrow islands, parallel to the coast, formed by projecting sections of anticlines.

Question 18

Describe how a haff coastline is formed.

Answer 18

Deposition produces unconsolidated, geological structures, parallel to the coast.
During the Devensial glacial period, the sea level was about 100 m lower than today, as water was retained in ice.
Melt water, rivers on land beyond the ice deposited, thick layers of sand and gravel onto outward plains.
The Holocene interglacial, constructive waves, pushed the rise of sand and gravel landwards as sea levels rose.
Sandwich formed bars across some bees and rhythm mouths with trapped river water forming a lagoon behind.

Question 19

What is the geology of the Flamborough cell?

Answer 19

Soft boulder clay and chalk, which is easily eroded.

Question 20

What is the fetch like at the Flamborough cell?

Answer 20

Exposed to winds and waves from the north east, with a small fetch of 500 to 800 km along the north Sea.

Question 21

What processes is Flamborough cell affected by?

Answer 21

Chemical weathering.
Slumping.

Question 22

What are the impacts of coastal management at Flamborough cell?

Answer 22

The beach at Mappleton is starved of material, and its cliffs are exposed to greater wave attack due to terminal groyne syndrome.
Seawall and rock armour protect Hornsea, however, interrupts the flow beach material by longshore drift.

Question 23

What are the losses at Flamborough cell that will occur due to erosion?

Answer 23

Economic and social:
Chalets fall into the sea.
200 homes will be lost in 80 years.
No compensation for loss of private property and land.
Available help:
Assistance grants for property adaption.
Relocation packages.

Question 24

What positive feedback occurs at Flamborough cell?

Answer 24

Spurn’s head sand dunes can create blowouts, which allows more wind damage to dunes and erosion, which may be increased with a lack of regeneration.

Question 25

What negative feedback because at Flamborough cell?

Answer 25

If Flambourough head collapses, then the chalk at the bottom of the cliff slows the erosion.
Major erosion of Spurn’s head could lead to increased deposition of offshore bars, which decreases wave energy and allows the spit to recover.

Question 26

Describe the case study of Hemsby.

Answer 26

It used to be a tourism spot in the 1970s, where there would be 12000 people on the beach which created £100 million for the economy. It was built on a vegetated sand dune and the beach has been almost fully eroded.
That is 1 m of erosion per year at Hemsby and 70 m of the coast has disappeared since 1970s.

Question 27

Describe Bridlington as an economic and social reason for coastal management.

Answer 27

There are 50 hotels.
Hold the line.
4.7km of sea wall.
Revetments+sea wall combined.
Largest population on Holderness (35000).
5 million tourists.

Question 28

Describe Skipsea as an area with no coastal management.

Answer 28

No active intervention.
2.7 m of erosion each year.
Population is 600.
Less than 1000 tourists.

Question 29

Describe Mappleton as an area for political coastal management.

Answer 29

10 rip raps.
Average house cost is £200,000.
All 342 people vote, conservative.

Question 30

Describe Easington as an area for economic coastal management.

Answer 30

There is £4.5 million of rip wrap there.
Population is 2000.
No tourists.
70% of the U.K.’s gas comes from Easington terminal.

Question 31

Describe, Spurn’s Point as an area for environmental coastal management.

Answer 31

There are groins and rip wrap from the 1950s.
Salt marsh and sand dunes creates negative feedback to keep spit in place.
Small seawall around the lifeboat station.
10 families and 40,000 tourists.