Hard And Soft Engineering Beaches And Coasts

Question 1

What is a gabion

Answer 1

Are steel mesh wire cage filled with pebbles and rocks the other place at the back of a sandy beach to create a low wall like structure water enters the cage and this absorbs and reduces the rate of erosion gabion can be placed on Cliff

Question 2

Why use gabions

Answer 2

the cheapest 110 pounds per square metre

easy to build
last up to 25 years and blends well with the environment
you can cover it with sand or vegetation

Question 3

Cost of using gabions

Answer 3

Only use for sandy beaches
Rocky beaches would be really easy destroyed with it
I needs fixing all the time
birds may become injured if the mesh broken
cages will rust after 10 to 5 years

Question 4

Riprap aka rock armour

Answer 4

Thousands of tonnes of huge boulders of hard rock like the money act like a barrier from the sea to land it deflects the sea wave energy when water enters the gaps between the boulder pressure is released and reduces the wave energy so there is little erosion

Question 5

Benefits of rock armour

Answer 5

Relatively cheap
quick and easy to build
last long if well maintained
can be used with other techniques e.g. sand dunes

Question 6

Disadvantages of using Rock armour

Answer 6

Getting to the beaches difficult
people can get injured if they are trying to reach the beach
it looks ugly
litter can get trapped rocks
from Norway and Sweden are imported making it more expensive

Question 7

Groynes

Answer 7

Are wooden stone structures built on the beach to appear as fences or walls
they are built on a right angle to the beach and are spaced out in regular intervals approx
they trap sediment transported by longshore drift this builds up the beach on the updrift s side of the groynes
works well with beach nourishment

Question 8

Groyne advantages

Answer 8

Acts like a windbreak 
used as a fishing point 
quite cheap £5,000 
last up to 40 years great laws beaches
 which look attractive

Question 9

Groynes disadvantage

Answer 9

Interrupts longshore drift so they starve the beaches that further along
might be considered unattractive
don’t work too well stormy conditions
regular maintaining
may increase erosion and other parts of the beach

Question 10

what is a sea wall

Answer 10

A barrier between ways and the land it is place along sides of the beach
recurved walls are expensive but they rotate the ways backwards so they can deflect the waves

Question 11

Benefits of sea walls

Answer 11

Give people security 
and be used as a pathway 
last many years
very effective by stopping Waves 
and doesn't affect other location

Question 12

What is beach nourishment

Answer 12

It is the replacement of Lost sediments sand or shingle is dredged offshore and transported to the coast this shingles is then dumped onto the beach

Question 13

Benefits of beach nourishment

Answer 13

Cheap and easy to maintain
nice to the environment
Increases tourists numbers

Question 14

What is beach re profiling

Answer 14

Once shingles is then dump onto the beach and is shape by bulldozer beach reprofiling is the artificial reshaping of a beach using existing material

Question 15

What is sand Dune regeneration

Answer 15

Sand Dune regeneration is the artificial creation of dunes or restoring existing do they act like a physical barrier from the sea and beach

Question 16

What is management retreat

Answer 16

Deliberately allowing the sea to flood or a road and area relatively low value land it allows natural Processes to take place

Question 17

Benefits of management retreat

Answer 17

Low-cost
new salt marshes and beaches which can defend the coastline
salt Marshes create wildlife habitat

Question 18

Benefits of sand Dune regeneration

Answer 18

Cheap
popular with people and wildlife
marram grass can be planted to stabilize fences can be also used to stop people from going on the beach

Question 19

Beach reprofiling benefits

Answer 19

Cheap and easy to maintain
blends nice with the environment
reduces the energy of destructive waves and reduces sediment lost
brings in more tourists

Question 20

Disadvantages to beach nourishment

Answer 20

Needs continuous maintenance
structure can be built to maintain sediment better
This adds to the cost

Question 21

Disadvantages to beach reprofiling

Answer 21

May introduce beach debris
needs constant maintenance for constructive beach
damage to the local ecology
£5,000 per 100m Square

Question 22

Disadvantages to sand Dune regeneration

Answer 22

Easily damage and destroyed
time consuming 2 add marram grass and fences
people don’t like not being able to go to the beach this can reduce tourism
can be easily destroyed by storms
£200 to £2,000 per metre squared

Question 23

Disadvantages to management retreat

Answer 23

People need to be compensated for the loss of their land e.g. land owners
£1,000 to £10,000 per hectare