Coasts EQ4 Flashcards
What are the economic losses from coastal flooding?
- Housing damage
- Infrastructure damage
- Argiculture damage
- Business disruption
What are the social losses from coastal flooding?
- Relocation
- Loss of lives / injuries
- Less deseriable location
What is the relationship between developing / developed countries and social / economic costs.
Developed countries usually have higher economic costs.
Developing countries often have higher social costs.
What areas are most at risk from sea level rise?
It is the small island nations, that are most at risk from sea level rise
What issues do these smaller nations often face?
- Loss of land and a lack of money for coastal defences
- Coral reef bleaching which reduces the natural defences against storm surges
- Salt water incursion which reduces the freshwater supply
- Loss of tourism
What are Groynes?
Hard engineering – Built perpendicular to the shore to trap LSD sediment and wave energy.
Advantages:
- Not as expensive as other HE methods.
- Builds beaches back up, improving tourism potential.
Disadvantages:
- Causes Terminal Groyne Syndrome (sediment starvation further along the coast).
- Needs maintenance.
Seaford
What are Sea Walls?
Hard engineering – Walls with curved or stepped surfaces that absorb and reflect wave energy.
Advantages:
- Highly effective at protecting the coastline.
- Can create walkways, benefiting tourism.
Disadvantages:
- Very expensive to build and maintain (around £6000 per meter).
- Ugly and intrusive to the landscape.
8% of UK coastline defended by them - longest in Plymouth
What is Rip Rap/Rock Armour?
Hard engineering – Large concrete or granite boulders placed at the foot of a cliff to break wave energy.
Advantages:
- Cheaper than sea walls.
- Can be used for recreation, such as fishing.
Disadvantages:
- Dangerous when people climb on the rocks.
- Rocks from elsewhere can be intrusive to local geology.
Bigbury
What is Beach Nourishment/Replenishment?
Soft Engineering - Adding sand or shingle to a beach to widen it, creating more surface area to absorb wave energy.
Advantages:
- Looks very natural.
- Bigger beaches attract tourism.
- Relatively inexpensive.
Disadvantages:
- Material is subject to constant erosion and longshore drift, requiring lots of maintenance and monitoring.
- Dredging can negatively impact local ecosystems.
Seaford … Miami
What are Revetments?
Hard engineering – A sloped or ramp-like structure that dissipates wave energy.
Advantages:
- Cost-effective compared to other hard engineering methods.
Disadvantages:
- Needs lots of maintenance.
- Unnatural-looking.
- Slopes can be dangerous.
Jurrasic Coast
What are Offshore Breakwaters?
Hard engineering – A rock barrier located slightly offshore to dissipate wave energy before it reaches the coast.
Advantages:
- Effective at protecting the coastline.
- Located away from the beach, so it doesn’t disrupt tourism.
Disadvantages:
- Can create a navigation barrier in harbor areas.
Hastings, UK.
What are the 4 options UK agencies use when managing the shore?
Hold the line: maintaining the position of the coastline using mostly hard engineering methods
Advance the line: extending the coastline out to sea by building up the beach and land reclamation
Managed retreat: deliberate flooding of particular areas to manage coastal retreat
Do nothing: letting nature take its course
What is Cliff Regrading and Drainage?
Reducing the angle of the cliff to stabilize the slope and draining water to prevent mass movement.
Advantages:
- Cost-effective.
Disadvantages:
- Can look unnatural due to the unnaturally flatter cliff.
- Effectively creates cliff retreat.
- Dried-out cliffs may collapse.
Jurrasic Coast
What is ICZM?
Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM)
What is Marsh Creation?
Soft Engineering - Land is allowed to flood and form a salt marsh that absorbs wave energy and creates a buffer to rising sea levels, protecting higher-value land.
Advantages:
- A cheap option.
- Creates important and unique wildlife habitats.
Disadvantages:
- Agricultural land is lost, leading to a need for compensation.
Somerset
What is Dune Stabilisation?
Soft Engineering - Planting species like Marram grass to bind the dunes and absorb wave energy, protecting the land behind.
Advantages:
- Cheap and sustainable.
- Creates habitats for wildlife.
- Maintains a natural environment.
Disadvantages:
- Dunes can be damaged by people walking on them.
- Planting is time-consuming, and plants take time to become established.
North Norfolk Coast
What is sustainble management?
Sustainable management of the coastal zone is wider than preventing erosion. It involves a range of strategies including:
- Mitigation of flood and erosion risk using a range of techniques
- Adaptation to erosion and flood risk
- Education of local communities
- Supporting livelihoods dependent on the coastal zone such as fishing
- Monitoring of coastal changes
Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) is based on the idea of sustainable coastal management
In an exam question, this is better than both HE / SE.
Who are usually the winners in Coastal Management?
Property and businesses are protected
The environment is conserved
Farmland is protected
Who loses out after coastal management?
People have to relocate
Homes and businesses are lost
Farmland is lost
Habitats are destroyed
(this is if “do nothing” takes place!!!)
