Hornsea Fieldwork: Physical Enquiry Flashcards
State the title of your physical geographical enquiry/hypothesis:
Hard engineering is controlling longshore drift at Hornsea.
Explain how the focus of your physical enquiry is linked to geographical theory.
- Linked to the geographical theory of longshore drift (the movement of eroded material by the sea)
- How groynes, as a coastal management method, act to stop longshore drift, trap sediment, build up a beach and therefore prevent or reduce erosion.
Assess the suitability of the choice of fieldwork location.
+ Reasonably close proximity to school.
+ Has a beach and groynes that are accessible, allowing us to test our hypothesis.
+ Practical size of study area (manageable).
-Further than ideal to travel to.
Justify the inclusion of primary data used in your physical enquiry.
- Firstly, I collected primary data on the HEIGHT of SEDIMENT next to a selection of GROYNES on the beach at Hornsea to show me how the beach is building up/whether the groynes are STOPPING longshore drift or not at Hornsea (also to see the main DIRECTION of LSD at Hornsea).
- Secondly, I collected primary data on the LENGTH of the BEACH either side of the GROYNES, again, for me to be able to assess the effectiveness of the groynes in TRAPPING sediment and stopping longshore drift.
- Overall, it was important for me to include primary data because it was RECENT, should be RELIABLE and I could see for MYSELF how the groynes were working.
Justify the use of one sampling strategy used in your physical enquiry.
•I used a BIASED sampling strategy to collect my data on SEDIMENT height/DROP on the North and South sides of a selection of groynes along the beach at Hornsea.
•I used this strategy because it was the most PRACTICAL sampling strategy for me to use within the TIMEFRAME given to collect my data.
SYSTEMATIC sampling would’ve taken me a lot LONGER to complete and, with knowing the tide times previously, I knew time would not allow this.
•I also used this strategy to enable me to be able to see the MOST representative DIFFERENCE between sediment height/drop either side of the groynes. This would allow for effective data PRESENTATION and analysis.
What data will you collect to prove/disprove your physical hypothesis?
(Hint- sediment height either side of a groyne)
- Picked the point along the groyne where the most obvious height difference exists.
- Measured the drop at each side of the groyne to the sand.
- Recorded measurements in a table.
(BIASED sampling)
What data will you collect to prove/disprove your physical hypothesis?
(Hint- beach length either side of a groyne)
- As close to groyne as possible, measured the length of the beach from start of groyne to swash zone.
- Recorded measurements in a table.
(STRATIFIED sampling)
Risk assessment for physical hypothesis
RISK: student falling on/near groynes.
PRECAUTION: Work in groups, sensible footwear, take care where walking.
RISK: drowning.
PRECAUTION: Stay above the ‘swash zone’ when collecting data, work in groups.
Assess how effective your presentation techniques were in representing the data collected in this enquiry.
(Hint- sediment height either side of a groyne)
- Comparative bar chart was an EFFECTIVE way of representing the data on the drop either side of the groyne.
- Allowed me to COMPARE the drop on the North side with the drop on the South side for each groyne.
- It was relatively EASY to complete the graph and it provides a CLEAR visual representation of all 15 groynes.
Assess how effective your presentation techniques were in representing the data collected in this enquiry.
(Hint- beach length either side of a groyne)
-Area graph used to represent the data on the length of the beach at each groyne CLEARLY shows the outline of the beach.
However, it was not in a perfect zigzag pattern, so it clearly shows some ANOMALIES.
-A bar chart may have been a MORE effective way of representing the data to make a CLEARER comparison on the length of the beach between the North and South side of the groyne.
Analyse what your results show.
F
