Fieldwork (6) Coastal Flashcards
Overall objective of fieldwork?
To investigate costs and benefits of different coastal management strategies within Start Bay
What were the 4 locations investigated? Which order did we visit them in?
Hallsands
Beesands
Sunnydale
Torcross
What sampling strategies were used during our investigation?
Stratified sampling - sites chosen after finding out what was at each location
Systematic sampling - beach profiles
How long were we there for and at what time of year?
5-6 hours, middle of May
Methods of defence at each location
Hallsands: rock armour
Beesands: sea wall and rock armour
Sunnydale: gabion baskets in front of houses
Torcross: large sea wall and rock armour
Whatbwere the 3 hypothesis’?
- Most cost effective coastal management located in…
- Risk of flooding and erosion highest in…
- Sea defences have a positive/negative environmental and social impact
What method(s) were used to determine where the most cost effective coastal defence is?
Bipolar survey of management methods
Cost-benefit analysis of defences
What method(s) were used to determine where the risk of flooding and erosion was highest?
Flood Risk Survey
What method(s) were used to determine whether sea defences have a positive/negative environmental and social impact?
Beach profiles
Lithology survey
Field sketch of Torcross
How was the Bipolar survey presented?
Radar diagram
How were the Beach profiles presented?
Line graph
Was most of the data quantitative or qualitative
Quantitative - eg. Bipolar survey, flood risk survey
Field sketch was qualitative
Examples of secondary data used
Cost-benefit analysis used actual prices of coastal defences
Zoopla used to estimate house prices
Average lifespan of defence
Lithology map
Describe the bipolar survey
Allowed us to evaluate coastal defences
Scored each coastal defence between -3 and 3 against a range of criteria
The higher the overall score, the better the coastal defence method
Describe the radar diagram
Used to present the bipolar survey results
Allowed us to add multiple scores for multiple criteria on one graph
Results for each location were overlayed to make for easy comparison
The larger the shape, the better the coastal defence method
Describe how the cost-benefit analysis was carried out
We counted the number of windows to decide whether properties were large or small
Calculated the value of properties at the location using values from Zoopla
Cost of defence calculated using the lifespan of the defence
Cost-benefit calculation: higher score = more cost-effective
Name some disadvantages of the flood risk survey
Had to estimate distances from sea to buildings (not very accessible) - inaccurate
Height of buildings above sea level changes with the tide - not very accurate
Describe how the flood risk survey was carried out
Used a tape measure to estimate the distance from the sea to the buildings
Had to estimate how high above sea level the buildings were
Why was the lithology map useful?
Allowed us to see where sediment had come from
Allowed us to identify which processes are shaping the coastline
Helps us understand the possible influence of the coastal defences and whether they are suitable for each location
How was the lithology survey (sediment sample) carried out?
Collected 10 rocks from the beach with our eyes closed
- not representative of a large area
- one type of rock likely to be prevalent in one single area
How was beach profiling carried out?
Person A holds clinometer, Person B is other person
Person A holds clinometer near the sea whilst Person B stands at the closest point where the gradient changes
Takes reading of the gradient
Measure distance between points using tape measure
Repeat at next point of incline
Disadvantages of the beach profile
We didn’t have ranging poles - our reference point was a facial feature on another person’s face: inaccurate readings due to height differences and inconsistent reference points
Clinometers calibrated incorrectly led to inaccurate gradient measurings
Inaccurate distances between changes in gradient
Conclusions from hypothesis’:
Torcross had the highest overall bipolar score, Sunnydale had the highest cost-benefit analysis score
Torcross had the highest flood risk score
Hallsands beach had the largest cross-sectional area, beach material was mostly flint as a result of marine transgression
