Hard Engineering and Soft Engineering Flashcards
What is hard engineering
Building artificial defences, usually out of concrete, to interrupt natural processes or to reduce the energy of the waves to lower their impact on the coastline
Name an advantage for hard engineering
Lasts for a long time
Name disadvantages for hard engineering
Expensive and can create eyesores.
What is soft engineering
Takes a more natural approach allowing processes to work and land to change in a more environmental sustainable way.
Name advantages for soft engineering
Tends to be cheaper than hard engineering and is environmentally friendly
Name a disadvantage for soft engineering
Often needs replacing
What is the technique ‘sea wall’
A wall made out of a hard material like concrete that reflects waves back to sea
Name advantages to ‘sea wall’
prevents erosion and is a big barrier to flooding
Name disadvantages to ‘sea wall’
Creates a big backwash, which erodes under the wall and they are very expensive and hard to maintain
What is the technique ‘rip-rap’
big boulders piled up (rock armour) its like a sea wall which lets water through and absorbs it
Name advantages of ‘rip-rap’
By absorbing wave energy, it reduces erosion + flooding as well as it being fairly cheap
Name disadvantages to ‘rip-rap’
Boulders can be moved by waves, so need replacing and no material to replenish beaches, gradually lowering the beaches
What is the technique ‘Beach Nourishment’
sand and shingle from elsewhere (e.g from the seabed) or from lower down the beach and are added to the upper parts of the beach
Name advantages to ‘beach nourishment’
Creates wider beaches, slowing the waves and has a greater protection from flooding and eroding
Name disadvantages of ‘beach nourishment’
can kill organisms like coral, very expensive and has to be repeated
What is the technique ‘managed retreat’
Removing an existing defence allowing the land to flood this land becomes marshland which then protects the land behind from flooding and erosion
Name advantages of ‘managed retreat’
Cheaper in the long run, doesn’t need maintaining and marshland provides new habitats for animals and plants
Name disadvantages of ‘managed retreat’
Areas to flood can cause disagreements like flooding fields, affecting farmers live-li-hood and saltwater damages existing ecosystems
What is the technique ‘groynes’
Wooden or stone fences thar are built at right angles to the coast, trapping material transported by long shore drift helping to build up at the beach
Name advantages of ‘groynes’
Creates wider beaches which slow the waves - protecting the land from flooding and erosion, fairly cheap.
Name disadvantages of ‘groynes’
Starve beaches further down the coast of sand, making them narrower. Narrow beaches don’t protect the coast as well, leading to greater erosion and floods.
